Ohio senior center fielder Ethan Newton hit a leadoff single to begin the Bobcats’ game against Eastern Kentucky Tuesday, and everything looked good for Ohio.
But that was the end of the good news for the Bobcats.
By the time Newton got settled in at first base, a cold reminder came his way courtesy of Colonels (18-19) pitcher Cody Creamer, who picked him off. It was a clear message: Don’t get too comfortable.
Ohio (22-18) surrendered 18 hits — three times as many as it produced — in its 12-1 loss to Eastern Kentucky. The defeat, which served as an unwelcomed wake-up call, snapped a streak in which the Bobcats had won eight of their last 10 games.
“We just got beat,” Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. “They swung the bats better than we did. We were ready to play and played hard, but they got on the ball more than we did.”
The Bobcats’ misery was not limited to only the batter’s box, though. Starting pitcher Shane Dedig had a rough appearance. In less than a full inning of work, he surrendered six hits and seven earned runs while facing only nine batters.
Relief pitcher Shane Cole had a more respectable outing, but still allowed two runs in as many innings for the Bobcats.
Carbone turned to relievers Shane Henkel, Marck Paliotto, Tyler Backstrom and Tyler Stage to round out the game. Pailotto and Backstrom were the most successful, as they each pitched a hitless, shutout inning.
But there were not too many positives that Carbone could pull from the defeat, other than the fact that tomorrow’s a new day — one in which the Bobcats can get back to basics and begin two straight days of practice.
He said that the team would focus on putting the bat on the ball Wednesday before moving into situational play Thursday in preparation for a weekend series against Bowling Green. Carbone also noted that the Bobcats were connecting well with the ball, but were hitting right to the Colonels’ defenders. Ohio racked up seven strikeouts in the game.
“It was a little bit of both,” Carbone said about the Colonels’ pitching power and the Bobcats’ lack of offensive output. “They pitched pretty well and they weren’t connecting. We were trying to move the ball around with one and no outs.”
After walking and advancing to second on a wild pitch with one out in the fifth inning, freshman second baseman Ian Mezlak came around to score on a Newton single that rolled through the right side of the infield.
Newton produced a third of the Bobcats’ offense, as he had two of their six hits of the day.
The Bobcats were able to turn to several of their bench players against the Colonels, as freshman catcher Cody Gaertner, sophomore third baseman Garrett Black and junior third baseman Dan Schmidt did not appear in the game.
Carbone did not use that as a means for explaining the loss.
“That’s no excuse, because everyone wears Ohio on their jerseys,” he said.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
