Cincinnati Bearcats head baseball coach Ty Neal has agreed to a contract extension that will take him through the 2019 season. UC made the official announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

This comes as welcomed news considering the rumors that had been flying about him being a top candidate for the vacant Indiana Hoosers job. Former head coach Tracy Smith left Bloomington to accept the same position at Arizona State. Considering just a year prior Ty Neal was his right hand man and the leading recruiter on the Hoosers’ staff, it only made sense that Indiana would fill the vacancy with the current Cincinnati skipper. But IU went with Chris Lemonis from Louisville and for UC it seems like this contract extension will keep Neal in Clifton for the near future. Once again, I have to tip my cap (my baseball cap) to Santa Ono and Mike Bohn for providing stability to yet another Bearcats program.

Cincinnati baseball’s on-field results were a bit underwhelming this past season. The Bearcats finished with a 22-31 record with just 6 wins in the AAC. But behind the scenes, in the program’s first season in years with a full array of scholarships, Ty Neal was doing all kinds of work.

The UC head coach made it a priority to play as many underclassmen as possible and they stepped up to the challenge nicely. While his young team took their lumps in 2014, Neal laid the groundwork for an experienced, talented program in the coming years. Additionally, the recruiting class he built includes the #1 shortstop in Maryland along with several other capable prospects. The upward trajectory of Bearcats baseball is certainly encouraging and I hope Ty Neal is there to guide it every step of the way. By the looks of it, this contract extension will go a long way to accomplishing exactly that.

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