CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team is defying expectations.
Competing in the Big 12 for the first time this season, UC was picked in the preseason poll to finish in last place. With only three conference series left in the regular season, Cincinnati is in the top half of the conference and competing for an NCAA Regional berth.
“Underdogs. That’s all I got to say,” Josh Kross, senior first baseman, commented on the motivation the preseason poll provided to himself and his teammates.
What makes the Bearcats' success even more surprising, is that the man leading the charge — head coach Jordan Bischel — is in his first year at UC.
“I think our staff is a bunch of underdogs," Bischel said. "I was a small Division III school player. I had to really work my way up, really never envisioned I'd be coaching at this level. I had a lot of great people to help me along the way to get there. But I think I've always kind of been an underdog."
Bischel said he looks at other teams in the league — whether blue bloods or underdogs — and knows there are multiple ways to win.
"What we've seen is being the underdog doesn't mean you can't win, it just means you have to take a little different path to it and that path is a lot of fun,” Bischel said.
One of the brightest spots in this Bearcats team has been the fast-learning success of freshman starting pitcher Nathan Taylor. The West Clermont alum is currently boasting a 6-1 record in his first collegiate season. Taylor was recruited by the previous UC coaching staff but chose to stay at Cincinnati because he felt it was the best “big” baseball school close to home.
"We have way more energy than I think they did last year," Taylor said. "I mean, like just the random stuff like the dugout parties and all the stuff we do."
A dugout party is an over-the-top celebration to celebrate the positives in a game that players so often fail in.
"We've been called a softball team a few times and, and it's supposed to be an insult, but to me it's a compliment. Softball teams go out and have a ton of fun and a ton of energy. What's wrong with that?" Bischel said. "I think 18- to 22-year-old college athletes sometimes take themselves pretty seriously and I think that's part of my job is to make them realize … can I just let myself be a goofball? It's amazing how much better you play when you just let yourself be you."
Cincinnati sits in sixth place with an 11-10 Big 12 record. The Bearcats play second-place West Virginia this weekend, followed by a series in Provo against last-place BYU and a finale at home against first-place Oklahoma before heading into the Big 12 tournament.
