How Cincinnati Baseball Has Proved Everyone Wrong in 2024
This past weekend, the Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team won their 30th game of the season after their series sweep over BYU. But what you may not know is that the team they beat had something in common with them not that long ago.
Back in late January, the Big 12 baseball preseason poll came out. And if you wanted to find Cincinnati, you would have had to look all the way at the very bottom. There, you would have seen Cincinnati picked to finish tied for 12th with BYU.
Despite being picked to finish last together, neither team has had anything in common since that moment. While Cincinnati just won their 30th game of the season, BYU has yet to win 20. In fact, the Cougars’ conference record this season is an abysmal 6-21, and the Bearcats are sitting at 16-11.
One of the big reasons why this team has had success in conference play has been their consistency on both sides of the plate. The Bearcats are sixth in team batting average and fourth in team ERA.
Offensively, they have three of the top 20 hitters in Big 12 action with Chrisitan Mitchelle, Josh Kross, and Josh Hegemann. Mitchelle is eighth in the conference in batting average (.341), while Josh Kross has hit 16 homers this season.
I am really impressed with this team’s defensive play. Their fielding percentage is tied for first in the conference, and they have made the fewest errors (18).
While their season ERA numbers may not be the best, this Cincinnati pitching staff has been playing well. True freshman Nathan Taylor has posted a 2.57 ERA in his last three starts and in his last nine starts, he has only given up more than three runs twice.
Along with Taylor, Tommy Boba has really come on strong as well. After nearly throwing a no hitter earlier in the season, Tommy has really heated up as of late. In his last four starts, he has posted an ERA under three. Of course, I have to give some credit to their bullpen as well.
Perhaps most of the credit should go to head coach Jordan Bischel. He’s been a winner at every school he’s attended. Before coming to Cincinnati, he was at Central Michigan, where he led that program to three regional appearances in five years. One of those years didn’t count due to COVID-19.
While this may be his first season at Cincinnati, he has this team in a spot that nobody thought they would be in. Not only is this team a game back of third place, but they are in a great spot to make the postseason, especially if they can beat Oklahoma this weekend.
If you were like me and thought that this would be a transition year for Cincinnati, you were dead wrong. This team crumbled that preseason poll and threw it right back in our faces, saying, “Watch this.” Well, Cincinnati, you had my curiosity, and now you have my attention.
No matter what happens from here on out, this team proved the entire college baseball world wrong. This game is not about preseason polls or opinions, it’s about playing good baseball. And that is exactly what is going on in Cincinnati right now and I can’t wait to see where it takes them.
