Weather delays and cancellations have become second nature to the Bobcats this season.
After having its initial home-opener against Marshall cancelled Wednesday, Ohio is now set to open its home campaign at Bob Wren Stadium with a four-game series with St. Bonaventure from Thursday through Sunday.
The Bobcats have now had seven of their 18 originally scheduled games either postponed or cancelled due to weather, which amounts to almost 40 percent of their games.
“As far as the bad weather goes, there’s not much you can control,” freshman outfielder Mitch Longo said. “The days that we have gotten rained out we got a lot of good workouts in. We’re chomping at the bit to start getting out into some good weather and start playing some teams.”
St. Bonaventure started the season with eight consecutive losses and has only been able to grab one victory so far, which came in a 6-4 victory against Lehigh on March 3. The Bonnies have not played in the 11 days since then.
Ohio is coming off a four-game series against Longwood in which it dropped three games after recording inconsistent performances. The Lancers outscored the Bobcats 14-12, but won a pair of games by at least three runs.
Ohio has been outscored 83-50 this season and the Bobcat pitching staff has an ERA of 5.38.
Bobcat freshman Jake Roehn will start Friday after coming off a 1-0 loss to Longwood last Saturday, where he pitched 9.2 innings, allowing just four hits and one run, which came in the bottom of the ninth.
Roehn holds a 1-2 record and 3.27 earned run average, while striking out 18 batters in four appearances for the Bobcats this season.
The Bobcats have been able to get solid workouts and practices in during the poor weather conditions, which has helped younger players adapt better to the team and the college baseball lifestyle.
“We’ve practiced a lot on the road, so a lot of the younger guys are getting used to playing,” junior outfielder Tyler Wells said.
@ALEX_BUSCH91
AB109410@OHIOU.EDU
