It was another busy week in Cincinnati, with a dominant FCC win, a chaotic week for the Reds, UC Baseball officially making it to the NCAA tournament for 2 years in a row! We hope you all were able to stay warm and dry during this rainy week! Read below to find all that has happened in the Queen City in the last week and what is to come.
Pro Sports
Bengals: Nothing notable occured this week, we will have a breakdown of the AFC North and a schedule preview out soon!
FCC: The Garys hosted Orlando this weekend and absolutely dominated, winning 6-2. However, Orlando struck first, with Martin Ojeda putting in a PK in the 16th minute. The game would stay at 1-0 until nearly half, when Kenji Mboma Den put the game at even (42′). Just after, Evander put one in the back of the net to take a 2-1 lead into the half. Coming out of the half, Martin Ojeda struck again (48′), making it 2-2. Only four minutes later, Mboma Den scored his second goal of the match, giving FCC the lead. In the 58th, Evander scored again, his second of the game and ninth of the season. In the 77th, Kevin Denkey added a goal, his ninth of the season as well. In extra time, Tom Barlow scored for Cincy to close out an excellent Saturday night at TQL.
FC Cincinnati does not play another match until July 22nd due to the World Cup.
Reds: The Reds had quite the chaotic week, going 3-2. Here is a recap of each game below.
5/18 | Phillies beat Reds 5-4 | Citizens Bank Park
This game started out hot, with the Phillies scoring two runs in the first inning. The Reds stuck back with two in the second off a Tyler Stephenson RBI single and a TJ Freidl sac-fly. Cincy took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth thanks to a Sal Stewart home run and a Spencer Steer RBI double. However, Philadelphia stole the lead back and took game one.
5/19 | Reds beat Phillies 4-1 | Citizens Bank Park
Chase Burns was his usual self here, allowing one run through six innings. The bullpen threw three hit-less innings to close it out. As for the Reds offense, two runs were brought in off sac-flys, one on a fielder’s choice, and one off a bases loaded walk.
5/20 | Reds beat Phillies 9-4 | Citizens Bank Park
The Reds offense showed out on Wednesday, highlighted by Nathaniel Lowe’s three RBI day, PJ Higgins’ two RBI singles and a 441 foot two-run home run by Sal Stewart.
The Reds were meant to have a three-game series with St. Louis, but the weather only allowed them one day of baseball.
5/23 | Cardinals beat Reds 8-1 | Great American Ballpark
The Cardinals dominated the Reds, putting up eight unanswered runs. The one highlight was a Nathaniel Lowe home run.
5/23 | Reds beat Cardinals 7-6 | Great American Ballpark
The Reds needed to bounce back after their defeat early in the day. This was quite the rebound for Cincy. Elly De La Cruz started the Reds’ scoring off in the fifth with a three-run bomb. The same inning, Nathaniel Lowe hit one of his own to make it 5-1. Dane Myers doubled in the sixth to make it 6-4. The Cardinals were able to tie it up 6-6 and the game went to extras. The 10th was scoreless, but in the 11th, the Redlegs won off a fielder’s choice hit by Blake Dunn,
The Reds final game with the Cardinals was rained out and is rescheduled for August 17th.
The Reds face the Mets and Braves this week, previews of both teams below.
May 25th-27th | Reds @ Mets | Citi Field
New York has been struggling greatly this season, as they find themselves at 22-31 (last in NL East. The Mets are only top five in one team stat, at fifth in strikeouts with 487. They also have no players in the top five of any individual stats. However, their main weapons on offense are Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Bo Bichette. Therefore, they have the firepower needed to win games. This is still a series where the Reds have a real chance of taking all three games.
Goal: Three Wins
May 29th-31st | Braves @ Reds | Great American Ballpark
The Braves have been arguably the best team in baseball this year. They are at 36-18, which is the second best record in baseball. They are tied for first with the highest batting average in the MLB (.260), second in home runs (72), first in RBIs (276), first in hits (482), and first in ERA (3.04). You get the point, these guys are elite. Individually they have: Matt Olson (4th in RBIs with 42), Chris Sale (tied second in wins with seven and fifth in ERA with 1.89). This is a huge test for the Reds for whether or not they can compete with the top level.
Goal: One Win
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College Sports
Xavier
XU baseball played in the Big East tournament this week, which was significantly altered by the weather. X’s first game was a 5-1 win over UConn before they lost to St. John’s. Their final game of the year was Saturday night where they fell to Creighton and were eliminated. St. John’s went on to win the tournament.
5 Muskies earned all-Big East honors:
- Clay Burdette – 1st team
- Luke Hammond – 1st team
- Garrett Helsel – 1st team
- Ryan Piech – 1st team
- Ashton Chronister – 2nd team
Xavier’s golf team finished +6 and 10th out of 13 teams in the Corvallis Regional, ending their season.
Cincinnati
A massive piece of basketball recruiting news for the Bearcats as Kam Mercer, a Princeton High School 5* recruit committed to the bearcats! Originally, he was in the 2028 class, but has moved to the 2027 class! Read about Kam here: https://sansomsportsmedia.com/2026/05/21/hometown-hero-2027-5-recruit-kam-mercer-commits-to-cincinnati/
For the first time ever, Cincinnati’s baseball team is dancing 2 years in a row! We won’t spend any time on the Big 12 tournament, as it was an extremely late night and quick exit for the Bearcats. They will now head down to play Louisiana in Starkville, Mississippi. Their game will be at 7:00 on ESPN+. The winner of that matchup will play the winner of Mississippi State and Lipscomb before them. As a reminder, it is double elimination, and the Bearcats will play at least 2 games!
Seven Bearcats earned Big 12 honors this year! Enzo Infelise won the Big 12 freshman of the year!
- Infelise was joined by Connor Blue and Ryan Tyranski on the all Big 12 freshman team.
- Infelise was also a first team honoree in the conference, joined by Quinton Coats and Nathon Taylor.
- Jack Natili and Adam Buczkowski earned 2nd team all-Big 12 honors!
The Bearcat golf team finished 10th out of 14th and +8 in the Bryan regional, ending their season.
NKU
The NKU baseball season came to a rough end this week in Dayton for the Horizon League tournament. The Norse went 0-2 in the tournament and were rather disappointing overall. However, that doesn’t take away from the solid year the program had!
NKU had the Horizon League Player of the year this year in Jake Paulick! He was joined by Pierce Bauerle on the Horizon League first team.
The second team featured 4 Norse players: Ethan Thomas, Marcus Harrison, Josh Williams, and EJ Miramontes. Sam Bond was announced as a finalist for the Sportsmanship Award!
Miami (OH)
The Redhawk baseball season ended quickly this week, with losses to Northern Illinois and Kent State in their two games. They did not qualify for the NCAA tournament as an at-large.
Miami took home a plethora of honors from the MAC this week!
- Head Coach Brian Smiley won his second consecutive coach of the year award
- Tommy Harrison won MAC player of the year, and was All-MAC first team
- Diego Cruz, Austin Berggren, and Marcus Dierks joined Harrison as first-team selections
- Carson Raether, Evan Appelwick, and Clayton Burke were second-team selections
- Diego Cruz and Marcus Dierks took home All-MAC defensive honors
The Miami Golf team finished 13th out of 14th and +18 in the Bryan Regional and saw their season come to a close.
Expanded Coverage:
Reminder, as we add in further teams, they will start as higher level overviews of things with the more in-depth coverage being for the “core four”. However, other than Xavier, I am open to bringing in an intern to work with me for any of the teams we cover! Have an idea or want to contribute? Reach out!
Kentucky
The UK basketball team received a massive boost as Malachi Moreno announced he is withdrawing from the draft and returning to school!
For baseball, the team earned it’s fourth straight NCAA tournament bid this year. They will play Wake Forest in Morgantown, WV on Friday at Noon on ESPN2.
The women’s golf team played in the NCAA Championships this weekend, finishing T23 out of 30 teams in the country. They came in seeded 25th.
The men’s golf team placed 10th in the Bermuda Run Regional, which will not be enough to advance. However, Jacob Lang had a 9-under performance for the week and was the best finisher on a non-advancing team, meaning he moves on to the national ctournament this week in Carlsbad, California!
Louisville
The Louisville basketball team received cofirmation that Flory Bidunga will be withdrawing from the NBA draft (as expected) on Monday.
The baseball team lost to Pitt in the opening round of the ACC tournament, ending their season.
The men’s golf team finished 26-under par and 2nd in the NCAA Athens regional, meaning they will head to the NCAA championship in Carlsbad, CA this week!
Ohio State
Ohio States baseball team beat Rutgers to open the Big Ten tournament before falling to Michigan to end their season.
The women’s golf team was in Carlsbad, CA for the NCAA Championship this weekend where they finished 27th!
Wright State
The Wright State baseball season came to an end this weekend after trying to fight back from an early loss. The Raiders were unable to beat Milwaukee in the tournament.
The men’s golf team finished 13th out of 13 teams in the Columbus regional.
Dayton
The Dayton men’s golf team announced Collin Toner as their next men’s coach!
Things will start to considerably slow now and the Sansom Sports Media team will be diving deeper into upcoming seasons and position-by-position breakdowns, so make sure you subscribe!