Box score

ATHENS, Ga. – Austin Bembnowski struck out six in seven innings to lead the University of South Alabama baseball team to a 3-2 win over Cincinnati Sunday in the Bulldog Invitational at Foley Field.

Bembnowski (1-0) allowed two runs on four hits and issued one walk to go along with his six strikeouts to earn his first win of the season. Jaguar left-hander Shane McKinley recorded the final two outs of the game in the two batters he faced to earn his first save of the year. UC left-hander A.J. Olasz (0-1) allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks in 4 1/3 innings in the loss.

"Austin was really good today," head coach Mark Calvi said. "It was very reminiscent of last year. One of the things I told him is the thing he needs to correct moving forward is that he will let his guard down and get to feeling good about the game, and that's when he gets hurt. It happened again today, but he responded. He is toughing it out. He had a bad high ankle sprain, and it's not an easy thing to come back from so I give him a lot of credit. I loved the way he responded. I didn't like the fact that he kind of backed off and gave up the home run, but he came right back and looked like a real guy out there before and after that. I was super proud of the way he responded. Overall, I'm very proud of his day and the team as well."

USA (6-1) threatened in the top of the first inning when Cole Billingsley singled to center field with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch from UC right-hander David Orndorff and advanced to third on a flyout to right-center off the bat of Jared Barnes. But Orndorff left him stranded at third with an inning-ending strikeout of Danny Martinez.

South Alabama broke a scoreless tie when it pushed across a pair of runs in the second inning. Drew LaBounty drew a leadoff walk, and scored one batter later when Adam Wolfe lifted a 1-2 pitch from Orndorff over the left field wall for a two-run home run – the first of his Jaguar career – and a 2-0 lead. 

Cincinnati (0-6) answered to tie the game in the bottom-half of the third. R.J. Thompson led off the inning with a single to center field, and scored one batter later on a two-run home to center field by A.J. Bumpass.

USA scored the decisive run of the game in the top of the seventh inning. Jason Cryar pinch-hit for Travis Swaggerty and reached on a leadoff walk before moving to second on a groundout to first by Billingsley. Martinez drew a two-out walk before a hit by pitch from Olasz to Carter Perkins loaded the bases. The Bearcats then called on right-hander Jarod Yoakam to pitch to Ben Gann, who delivered an RBI single to right field to score Cryar for a 3-2 Jaguar lead.

However, UC did not go quietly in the ninth inning. Devin Wenzel led off the inning with a single into shallow right-center field off of Jaguar right-hander John Barr, and Connor McVey followed with a single to center field. Barr induced a popup into foul territory off the bat of Woody Wallace that Barnes caught near the backstop for the first out of the inning before McKinley entered in relief and recorded a flyout to center field for the second out of the frame on the first batter he faced. The southpaw then closed out the game with a grounder to shortstop, which LaBounty fielded and stepped on second for the final out of the contest.

Billingsley went 3-for-3 to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Wolfe added a home run, two RBI and a run scored, and Gann finished with one hit – extending his hitting streak to 10 games dating back to last season – and one RBI. Bumpass homered, drove in two runs and scored once to lead the Bearcats offensively.

"All in all, I look at it and we won two out of three (games) and we could have very easily swept this weekend," Calvi said. "We made some mistakes yesterday as a program, but if it causes us to win a ballgame down the line after what we did then I am all for losing a game early if it helps us win a bunch down the line. And I think that will be the case."

South Alabama will return to action Tue., March 1, when it hosts Southern Mississippi in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Stanky Field. 

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).