It is often said that any day at the ballpark is better than a day at the office. But Ohio has plenty of labor to put in on the diamond before entering its final two Mid-American Conference series during the next two weeks.
The Bobcats (23-25, 12-9 MAC) dropped their sixth straight game Tuesday against Xavier by a score of 9-4. The loss pushed the Bobcats another game below the .500 mark that they had previously eclipsed by as many as five games earlier in the season.
In other words, things aren’t looking good for Ohio.
“You just have to keep plugging along and sticking to the fundamentals,” said Ohio coach Joe Carbone. “That’s all you can do.”
There is a pair of positives that Carbone could pull from Tuesday’s defeat, though. The Bobcats’ relief pitching has been shaky over the past couple games, but pulled through with a good performance against the Musketeers, allowing only four hits and half as many runs in five innings of work.
Tyler Stage, who relinquished a home run during his two innings of work, headed off the relief effort. Behind him, Sean Kennedy allowed a pair of hits and a single run, while Tyler Plys and Scott White finished the game off with a pair of scoreless innings from the mound.
Ohio starting pitcher Marck Paliotto did not have as favorable of an outing, as he was pulled from the game after only three innings of work. During his time on the hill, Paliotto surrendered five earned runs on eight Xavier hits.
“I thought some of the guys came in and did very well for us,” Carbone said. “Paliotto didn’t do that badly but there were a couple bad hops and ground balls that we just didn’t quite get to.”
On the other side of the ball, senior right fielder Jensen Painter, who has been struggling at the dish lately, blasted his first home run since April 1 to score the Bobcats’ first two runs.
“Last week had been a stressful and frustrating week,” Painter said. “We swung the bat alright but hit it right at those guys. The game just went their way today.”
Ohio senior center fielder Ethan Newton and senior pinch hitter Doug Holmes had an RBI apiece in the eighth inning. But by then, it was too little, too late for the Bobcats, who rounded up only one more hit off the Musketeers’ hurlers.
Xavier starter Scott Klever had a top-notch outing, in which he allowed two earned runs on as many hits in five innings.
jr992810@ohiou.edu
