In a game that went down to the wire, the Bobcats had a couple of opportunities but couldn’t crack into the Buckeyes’ lead.
Ohio (16-16, 6-3 Mid-American Conference) lost Wednesday night to in-state opponent Ohio State (19-12 5-4 Big Ten). The Bobcats had their chances to come back in the midweek contest but left nine runners on base en route to a 6-5 loss.
Coach Joe Carbone said that any time teams use a lot of pitchers, it is going to be tough to get acclimated to the hurler on the mound.
“(When) you start using a lot pitchers like they were and we were, guys are going to come in and not be comfortable,” he said. “Offensively, we took a couple called-third strikes with men in scoring position.
“It’s something that we preach about, putting balls in play with two strikes. There were a couple key situations where we didn’t put the ball in play.”
Freshman first baseman Jake Madsen opened the scoring for the Bobcats with a home run in the top of the second inning. The Buckeyes answered immediately, tying the score on a sacrifice fly by Brad Hutton.
Carbone said before the game that limiting the big inning would be a key to success. The Buckeyes tacked on three more runs in the third to open up a 4-1 lead and would add another run in the fourth inning.
The Bobcats loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with no outs when junior third baseman Dan Schmidt came to the plate as a pinch hitter. He proceeded to clear the bases with a double to pull Ohio within one run at 5-4.
The plan was to give Schmidt a rest in the game, but the situation dictated otherwise.
“Dan’s been battling some leg issues all season. I was trying to give him a rest before the weekend,” Carbone said. “But we had a bases-loaded situation and I thought, ‘Well, let’s see if he can square one up for us and help us out.’ ”
Ohio State then scored its final run in the bottom of the fifth on a Kirby Pellant single that scored Hutton, while Buckeye relievers Paul Geuy, Andrew Armstrong and Trace Dempsey silenced the Bobcat bats from the sixth inning to the eighth inning.
Ohio mounted one last rally with a leadoff double from Schmidt in the ninth.
Garrett Black pinch ran and scored on a Madsen single to pull within one run.
But Logan Cozart grounded out on the fielder’s choice to strand the tying run on base.
Ohio next returns home for a weekend series against Ball State that begins Friday at Bob Wren Stadium.
nr225008@ohiou.edu
