The Bobcats will take the field at Bob Wren Stadium for the first time this season when West Virginia State comes to town Tuesday.
Ohio (3-7) is coming off series splits against Davidson and Presbyterian last weekend and is entering its 23rd year of putting a Division II team from the Mountaineer State on the schedule.
The Bobcats play the Yellow Jackets every year because of the proximity to West Virginia State, which is close to Charleston and less than 100 miles away from Athens.
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said West Virginia State is a good team and is fundamentally sound. He called the Yellow Jackets a Division II program that is close to Ohio’s level, and he is a friend of coach, Calvin Bailey.
Bailey had been the coach at West Virginia State since 1978. The Yellow Jackets have won 17 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships, and since 1990, the team had averaged 30 wins a year.
The Bobcats beat the Yellow Jackets 12-4 last year. West Virginia State comes into Athens with a record of 2-6 and is riding a four-game losing streak. This is the team’s first away game of the season.
Carbone said he had no idea whether the yearly matchup against the Yellow Jackets would continue after he retired at the end of the season. He said he would like for the series to continue, but he said the decision will be out of his control.
As will be the case for most midweek games, Tuesday’s contest will be a chance for players who did not play much last weekend to log some innings. He added that the game will be taxing because Ohio played two extra-inning games during the weekend.
“We normally play three games on a weekend, and we played four on a weekend along with an extra-inning game, so we really almost played five,” Carbone said. “We’re kind of out of pitching for Tuesday.”
Of the 16 Bobcat pitchers on the roster, Ohio used 12 against Presbyterian and Davidson last weekend. The Bobcats played 10 innings against the Wildcats on Saturday in the second half of a doubleheader and 14 innings on Sunday against the Blue Hose.
The game against West Virginia State will allow some regular players to rest up until the Bobcats host their first weekend home series against Oakland Friday through Sunday.
“A lot of guys that didn’t get a chance to play on a weekend will get a chance to play,” Carbone said.
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