Bats and brooms serve two fundamentally different purposes, but Ohio used the former to bring out the latter this weekend with a sweep of Northern Illinois.
The Bobcats (16-15, 6-3 Mid-American Conference) outscored the Huskies 35-13 during the weekend series — bolstered by active bats, strong starting pitching and erratic Northern Illinois fielding.
In the opener, Ohio totaled 13 hits and converted an equal number of runs to steamroll Northern Illinois by an 11-run spread. Starter Brent Choban (4-2) allowed six hits, struck out three and walked four during his 6-2/3 innings.
Reliever Brett Barber was even more impressive, allowing only one of the seven batters he faced to reach base.
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said that Choban wasn’t working with “his best stuff” but was able to pull out the win because of consistency and a strong defensive showing behind him. The starter forced nine groundouts.
The Bobcats scored nine runs during Friday’s final two innings, but little of their offensive momentum carried over into Saturday’s game.
Ohio strung together only eight hits but managed to escape with a win because of mostly defensive means.
Senior hurler Jason Moulton (2-2) gave up only three hits during his 4-2/3 innings. However, the most impressive pitching came from sophomore reliever Sean Kennedy, who worked up until the final out and relinquished only a pair of base knocks. Senior Shane Cole earned his second save of the season when he retired the Huskies’ final batter.
Senior centerfielder Ethan Newton had one of his best performances of the season in Saturday’s game, as he totaled his third three-hit game of the season and crossed the plate as many times.
Carbone praised not only his performance at the plate, but his fielding and presence on the base paths, as well. Newton has stolen a team-high 13 bases this season.
“Sometimes you just outslug people, and he’s someone that we can steal some runs here and there,” Carbone said.
Freshman second baseman Ian Mezlak picked up where Newton left off in Sunday’s game, belting a grand slam and recording six RBI. The rest of the Bobcats followed suit, racking up a 19-10 victory.
Junior pitcher Seth Streich (2-3) made his first appearance on the mound since March 17, allowing six hits and three earned runs in 3-2/3 innings of work.
Carbone said that he is still not at 100 percent and has “a long way to go” until he gets there.
Senior right fielder Jensen Painter also extended his streak of reaching base safely to 31 games.
The series sweep catapulted the Bobcats into second place in the MAC East, a mark Carbone saw as important heading into the weekend.
“We have to take it about one game at a time,” Carbone said. “We played pretty well this weekend. To come out with three and play three good games we feel very fortunate.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
