A record of 6-24, the worst in the Mid-American Conference, suggests a team that is struggling on all cylinders, failing to produce with the glove, arms and bats.
That is not the case with Ohio’s baseball team.
The offense meets the league average, ranked seventh in the MAC with a .254 batting average and is averaging five runs per game, which is also sixth best in the conference.
Several individual performances have stood out at the plate as well, with senior shortstop Dan Schmidt rebounding from a slow start to have a 12-game hitting streak that recently ended against Xavier last Tuesday.
Sophomore first baseman Jake Madsen has been the bedrock of Ohio’s ever-changing lineup, consistently batting in the third spot in the lineup the entire season. Madsen is the team leader with a batting average of .333, putting him as the eighth-best hitter in the MAC who has started in at least 25 games.
“It’s just about working,” Madsen said before a March 12 game against Kentucky. “Coaches give us all these drills to do in the cages and (you have to) buy into the process. It’s just about getting the repetition that I need.”
But the offensive standout recently has been freshman Nick Squires. During the weekend against Kent State, he reached base every game, hitting 3-11 with three runs scored and five runs batted in.
Against Xavier, Squires put up one of the most impressive days a batter has had for Ohio this season, tallying five hits in six at-bats and scoring three runs.
He partially credited that performance to three consecutive off-days in a series against Eastern Michigan that allowed him to be refreshed and rebound from a cold stretch he had in a three- game set against Toledo, where he went 1-12.
“I think (the rest) had a lot to do with it,” Squires said after the Xavier game. “When I come into the game, I’m not trying to go five for six, or anything like that. I’m just trying to hit the ball hard and the (goal) just seems to be finding open spaces.”
Even sophomore catcher Cody Gaertner has caught fire of late on offense, hitting 10-24 in his last five games and recording four RBI.
However, the offense means nothing if the team can’t execute it in the field and on the mound.
Ohio’s pitching continues to plague a team that is severely undermanned in the pitching department, as they continue to have a strong hold of last place in the MAC’s earned run average category with a 5.94 mark. The next closest team is Akron, whose ERA is 5.40.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
