Arlington, Texas – Two new programs and old foes of the American Athletic Conference in the Big 12 Tournament faced off in Northern Texas, with the University of Central Florida Knights senior catcher Danny Neri mounting three home runs and beating the University Cincinnati Bearcats 6-5 in 11 innings.
Neri is the first player in Big 12 Conference tournament history to hit three home runs in a game.
“I just happen to be the guy in the position to take the big swings. If you had told me at the beginning of the day or even at the beginning of the year, that I would hold any kind of home run record I would not have believed you. I just feel incredibly fortunate to have been in the right position, gotten the right pitches and put the swings on those balls to give us the chance to win a game like that,” Neri told World Baseball Network during the postgame press conference.
Cincinnati and UCF were in the AAC since 2013 before joining the Big 12.
During the top of the first inning, UCF got on the board first when first baseman Lex Boedicker lifted a sacrifice fly to Cincinnati center fielder Josh Hegemmann as leadoff hitter second baseman Andrew Brait came in to score for the first run of the game.
In the top of the second inning, UCF senior catcher Danny Neri launched a solo home run into the right field seats to extend the lead to 2-0.
A few moments later, Cincinnati head coach Jordan Bischel came out of the dugout and called upon relief pitcher Seth Logue to replace starting pitcher Nathan Taylor. Taylor threw 1.1 innings and allowed four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and two strike outs.
UCF added another run on the board in the top of the third inning when right fielder Jack Zyska struck an RBI single to left field, scoring designated hitter Matt Cedarburg to make it 3-0.
Cincinnati did not get on the board until the bottom of the fourth inning when designated hitter Christian Mitchelle roped a double to left-center field, scoring left fielder Hunter Jessee for the game’s first run. Mitchelle advanced to third base on his double after UCF left fielder Matt Prevsk tried to pick up the ball with his glove and bobbled.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, UCF starting pitcher Dom Stagaliano gave up a leadoff double to Cincinnati second baseman Max Palmieri and walked first baseman Tommy O’Connor as head coach Rich Wallace came out of the dugout and called on southpaw relief pitcher Dominic Castellano.
Stagaliano threw four innings while facing and allowed three hits, one earned run, two walks, and three strikeouts.
During the top of the seventh inning, UCF extended the lead to four runs as Neri launched his second home run of the game for a two-run shot over the right-center field wall, scoring Zyska to make it 5-1.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Palmieri roped a double to right field, scoring designated hitter Christian Mitchelle to cut the lead to three runs at 5-2.
The Bearcats had their backs against the wall coming into the ninth inning down by three runs, and coach Wallace decided to let relief pitcher Kris Sosnowski pitch the bottom of the ninth to attempt a seven-out save opportunity.
Sosnowski was taken out of the game after walking Cincinnati left fielder Hunter Jessee as the fifth batter of the inning with two outs.
Wallace called upon relief pitcher Spencer Bauer in the bottom of the ninth and looked to capture their first win in their first game of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
Kramer faced Mitchelle in his first batter of the inning and gave up an RBI single to left field scoring catcher Josh Kross to make it 5-3.
The next batter, Cincinnati center fielder Josh Hegemann hit a ground ball to UCF shortstop Mikey Kluska and beat out the throw to first base. Kluska made a miscue on thinking of stepping on second base with Brait not covering the bag on time and forcing him to go to first base, which resulted in shortstop Lauden Brooks scoring from third base and pinch runner Dalton Pearson scoring for second as the tying run to make it 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth.
The third game of the Big 12 Conference tournament at Globe Life Field went to extra innings with the two first-year programs.
“We talked about it a lot, that just staying within us and that doesn’t make any moment bigger than the other, whether it’s the first inning or the ninth inning. I think that really keeps us on course for that big inning to hit and it happened to be in the ninth, which was great, but us just being us. Every inning of the game just turns that into us scoring three runs tightly,” Mitchelle told World Baseball Network during the postgame press conference.
In the top of the 11th inning, Neri came up with two outs and pounded his third home run of the game with a solo home run to right field to make it 6-5 off of Cincinnati relief pitcher Griffin Hugus.
Relief pitcher Kyle Kramer came out in the bottom of the 11th inning in an attempt for a three-out save.
Kramer got Michelle to hit a little dribbler back to Neri as he threw over to Boedicker for the final out of the game to beat their former AAC foes 6-5.
Cincinnati is on the brink of elimination and will play No. 24-ranked Texas on May 22 at 5 p.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
UCF will play the winner of No. 2 Oklahoma State University and No. 10 Texas Tech University at 8:30 p.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ on May 23.
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 19 in the Top 25 rankings.
