Cincinnati was held to five singles from senior Jamel Scott, sophomore T.J. Jones, junior Chris Peters, senior Beach Brooks, and junior Justin Riddell.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A five-run fifth inning by Florida Atlantic University proved to be too much to overcome as the University of Cincinnati baseball team dropped its [...]]]> Associated Press

Cincinnati was held to five singles from senior Jamel Scott, sophomore T.J. Jones, junior Chris Peters, senior Beach Brooks, and junior Justin Riddell.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A five-run fifth inning by Florida Atlantic University proved to be too much to overcome as the University of Cincinnati baseball team dropped its series finale 9-0 to the Owls Sunday afternoon at FAU Baseball Stadium.

The Cincinnati (1-2) offense was unable to manufacture any runs as the Bearcats registered five hits on the day, while Florida Atlantic (2-1) scored nine runs on 12 hits.

For the second day in a row, the Bearcats fell behind early as a two-run home run by FAU’s Colby Gratton in the bottom of the first quickly placed the Owls in front, 2-0.

FAU added a run in both the second and third innings before a five-run fifth widened the Owls lead to nine, 9-0, and ultimately sent the Bearcats to their second-straight defeat.

All five hits for Cincinnati were singles from senior Jamel Scott, sophomore T.J. Jones, junior Chris Peters, senior Beach Brooks, and junior Justin Riddell.

Four pitchers saw their first action in a Bearcats uniform in freshman Chris McElroy, freshman Thomas Gentile, junior Josh Godfrey, and freshman Zach Isler. Isler pitched well in an inning of relief striking out one batter, while senior Kevin Johnson finished the game with two strikeouts in his only inning of work.

Cincinnati has four days off before returning to the state of Florida Feb. 26-28, to compete in the 2010 Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge hosted by the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission. The Bearcats will open the three-day event on Friday, Feb. 26, at 1 p.m. against Penn State, before closing out the tournament against Purdue and Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 27, and Sunday, Feb. 28, respectively. Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games will begin at 1 p.m.