It was the second loss in extra innings for the Bobcats this season.
COLUMBUS — Throughout the evening, Ohio and Ohio State’s dugouts had plenty of reason to question where the game was headed.
But the second the ball left the bat of the Buckeyes’ L Grant Davis in the bottom of the 10th inning, all lingering doubt on both sides was erased.
Ohio fell to Ohio State 7-4 in 10 innings at Nick Swisher Field on Tuesday, dropping its second extra-inning contest of the season. Logan Cozart (2-1) took the loss for the Bobcats in three innings of relief and Ohio’s team record fell to 14-12.
“I’m proud of the effort we gave,” said coach Rob Smith. “Our guys competed. That’s a regional caliber team that we just played, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year. You’ve got to give Ohio State credit; they scratched and clawed back into it late and did what they had to do in extra innings.”
The Bobcats got a chance to strike first when a single and an error allowed Ohio to put a pair of hitters on base to start the second inning. Senior Tyler Wells then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners before junior John Adryan smacked a single to left field to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
Ohio fell victim to some defensive issues in the bottom half of the frame, however, as redshirt senior pitcher Evan Geist airmailed a throw to first and allowed the hitter to reach third on the error, who later scored on a groundout. The unearned runs continued in the third for Ohio State, as an error and three walks allowed two more runners to score.
Geist had entered in the second after a perfect first inning of work by Connor Sitz. Ohio sent eight pitchers to the mound in the contest.
“I was obviously disappointed with the third inning, and the fact that they scored their first three runs without getting a hit,” Smith said. “But we had a lot of guys step up tonight. I was pleased with what we were able to do and happy with the performance they gave us.”
The Bobcats and Buckeyes traded mostly zeroes from that point forward, with the staffs only blinking once in the next four innings when Ohio strung together three hits in the fifth before sophomore Mitch Longo drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Ohio got things going again in the eighth inning, manufacturing a pair of runs to take the lead on just one hit. After moving two into scoring position with just one out, redshirt junior Cody Gaertner hit a groundball to third base to score a run. Wells then hit a line drive that went in and out of the glove of the Buckeyes’ shortstop, scoring the go-ahead run.
Ohio State bounced back quickly, however, and re-tied the game. Cozart remained in the game to pitch the ninth and traded a scoreless inning with Ohio State to force extra innings.
After the Bobcats were retired in order in the 10th, Ohio State put its first two hitters on base. Cozart settled back in, but hung a pitch to Davis with two outs that he drove out of the park to right field.
Cozart pitched the final three innings of the game for Ohio, and gave up four runs on four hits after entering the game with a 0.38 ERA.
Adryan finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Jake Madsen finished 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
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