Scoring first can be important in the game of baseball because it can set the tone for the rest of the game. But drawing first blood is not necessarily a priority for the Bobcats.
Head coach Joe Carbone said he is not concerned with how scoring first affects the rest of the game but, instead, focuses on the game as a whole.
“Whoever scores first, it makes you feel better, more confident,” he said. “ The key is whoever scores the most at the end of the game. We are trying to score in every inning.”
So far this season, Ohio is 9-5 when it scores first. But when the opponent opens the scoring, Ohio’s record slumps to 7-10.
During midweek games, Carbone generally likes to start his younger pitchers so they can get some innings. Inexperience can lead to giving up runs early in the game, and it might put extra stress on the pitching staff.
Despite this, Carbone said that does not influence his relief corps much.
“I don’t know that it has any effect,” he said. “You can’t give up the big inning. Someone is going to score a run here or a run there. It’s inevitable. Our concern, mostly, is not giving up a big inning to another team rather than who scores first.”
Tuesday’s challenger, Ohio State, uses speed to pressure its opponents, which could lead to a big inning.
The Buckeyes have swiped 50 bases, and have only been caught 10 times this season. Carbone highlighted Ohio State’s stolen base leaders, Kirby Pellant, Joe Ciamacco and Tim Wetzel, who have 17, 9 and 7 stolen bases, respectively.
“They run a lot, they steal more bases than we do. I think they have twice the amount of stolen bases that we do,” Carbone said. “That is our biggest concern — making sure they don’t run us out of the game. We are going to give up some stolen bases, but we can’t let them run rampant on us.”
On the season, Ethan Newton has 13 steals, which is more than half Ohio’s total for the season.
