Cincinnati Bearcats baseball sweeps BYU to reach 30 wins. Big 12 tourney lies ahead

With the Wasatch Range in the background, the Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team thoroughly enjoyed their time in Provo, Utah sweeping the BYU Cougars Thursday through Saturday.

In doing so, they've reached 30 wins for just the 10th time in program history, though it's been a routine for first-year coach Jordan Bischel. Take away the 2020 COVID-19 incompleted season at Central Michigan and the UC skipper's now done it in seven straight springs at UC, CMU and Northwood.

Perhaps it will become the norm at Cincinnati which not only won its fourth straight conference series for the first time since 2016 but clinched a spot in the upcoming Big 12 tournament.

"When everyone kinds of pulls the same rope in the same direction good things can happen and we're seeing that with the guys right now," Bischel said.

Brooms at BYU

Early this season, fans might have been less enthusiastic about this series given both the Bearcats and Cougars were picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12 pack. Predictions on BYU were accurate, but way off on Bischel's Bearcats who now hover in the fourth to fifth-place range with a week left in the regular season.

UC started off Thursday night by scoring the game's final seven runs to make up a 5-2 7th-inning deficit and win 9-5. Landyn Vidourek blasted a home run that sailed to the steps of BYU's basketball arena, The Marriott Center. He then stole a home run that got him featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10.

Vidourek and former Badin high school teammate Josh Hegemann have continued their act at UC. Both have a flair for tracking down flies and swiping bags. The "Badin Bandits" are tied for the team lead with 15 stolen bases.

Getting the win in relief on night one was Moeller's Carson Marsh who is now 4-2 as a true freshman.

Krossed up

Eastern Michigan transfer Josh Kross now has 16 homers on the year to lead UC and his shot Friday helped the Bearcats to a 4-2 win.

"In effect, he's repeated the same numbers as last year against higher competition," Bischel said. "That's not an easy jump to make. It's a credit to how much he works."

Tommy Boba went to 5-5 on the mound, striking out seven in 5 1/3 innings while allowing just two hits. Two-way player Christian Mitchelle was 2-for-4 and earned his team-leading sixth save.

Brooks bombs

Saturday, Lauden Brooks came into the game having not homered. He left Larry Miller Park with a couple of dingers, six runs batted in and a wide grin. Kerrington Cross also homered and was 4-for-5 while freshman ace Nathan Taylor, throwing heaters at West Clermont a year ago, is now 8-1.

The Big 3-0

The 2024 squad becomes the 10th Bearcat team to get there. The last was Scott Googins' 2019 team that won 31. Before that, Brian Cleary did it six times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008 and 2011). In 1995 Bruce Gordon reached 34 and in 1987 Jim Schmitz won 31.

The key to the success of Bischel-ball? Keep'em loose.

"It's a hard game to play," Bischel said. "There's a lot of failure and a lot of time to think. When I got the job I said we'd play with a lot of energy, enthusiasm and excitement. It makes it so much easier to play good baseball when you just trust yourself and play and don't worry about potential bad results."

In a city known for Charlie Hustle, the Bearcats hustle and run. A walk results in a "hard 90" to first base. Some teams don't care for it. Bischel could care less.

"Pete Rose did everything hard," Bischel said. "He did everything with aggression and explosion. If there's a guy you want to be compared to, I'd love for every one of our guys to be compared to that guy in terms of how we played the game."

Texas two-step

Friday's win clinched the Bearcats a spot in the upcoming Big 12 tournament at Globe-Life Stadium in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers. Should the Bearcats close this week strong, a few Big 12 tourney wins could catapult them to an NCAA Regional.

UC hasn't been an NCAA regular

While the program gave baseball Hall of Famers Miller Huggins and Sandy Koufax along with major leaguers like Kevin Youkilis, Ian Happ, Josh Harrison, Tony Campana, Eddie Brinkman and even NCAA basketball champion Carl Bouldin, NCAA tournaments have been few and far between.

The 2019 Bearcats of Googins won the American Athletic Conference tournament to earn the last bid. At the time it had been 45 years since UC got an invite to baseball's "Big Dance". UC beat top seed Oregon State 7-6 in the Corvallis Regional but then lost to No. 3 seed Michigan 10-4 and No. 2 seed Creighton 6-1 to finish the season 31-31.

Before that, the Bearcats made it in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1967, 1971 and 1974.

Time to add-on

UC can help its tournament resumé this week before heading to Arlington. The latest NCAA tournament projections from DI Baseball has the Big 12 getting seven teams invited, none of them named UC. Baseball America says TCU, Kansas State, UCF, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas are their seven, listing Cincinnati as "next four out" or needing help.

Consensus has Connecticut (11 a.m. Tuesday) and Oklahoma (Thursday and Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at noon) as tournament teams, so some home-field May magic might help.

"We're going to keep playing energetic baseball," Bischel said. "Wherever that leads to, it leads to."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Jordan Bischel-ball at 30 wins now at UC after Big 12 sweep of BYU