Ohio hopes to play an error-free series this weekend against Buffalo.
In a season filled with inconsistent starting pitching and costly errors, Ohio is searching for stability.
Logan Jacik has been as stable as any Bobcat of late, and he doesn’t plan on changing that.
Jacik and the Bobcats will resume Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against Buffalo. Ohio (14-12, 2-4 MAC) will travel to Butler, Pennsylvania, to play the Bulls at Kelly Automotive Park because Buffalo’s field is currently under snow.
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Jake Miller (1-1, 3.18 ERA) will get the nod for Ohio in Saturday’s game. Connor Sitz (4-1, 4.59 ERA) will start game one of Sunday’s doubleheader, but game two’s starter had not been named as of press time.
Jacik chalked up his first career outing in an Ohio uniform – 1/3 of an inning, five earned runs on three hits, two walks and a wild pitch – to first-game jitters.
“I’m definitely finding that groove, definitely getting into being myself again and just being more relaxed,” Jacik said.
Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing just 155 pounds, he isn’t a physically intimidating figure on the mound, but his recent statistics show a different story.
Jacik has not given up an earned run in his last six relief appearances. He has scattered five hits and a walk over seven innings in that span.
Though he has just three strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings on the season, Jacik has proven in his recent performances that coach Rob Smith can count on him to pitch consistently.
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“Breaking the game down into three-out segments for guys, sometimes it’s easier to handle than to ask them to go out and do five, six innings,” Smith said of the team’s recent strategy to use a committee of pitchers and have each player only throw one or a few innings.
Smith said the new pitching strategy is something the team will seriously consider using again this weekend.
While lighter workloads for members of Ohio’s pitching staff may help players like Jacik continue to establish consistency, it will not address the team’s recent miscues in the field.
“Our defense up until the last (eight or nine) games was very good,” Smith said. “It’s been a little shaky (recently), but we’re capable, we’ve just gotta play better.”
Ohio has committed 21 errors in its last nine games.
Errors extend innings for opposing offenses and oftentimes lead to runs. The Bobcats have given up 10 unearned runs in the last four games. They lost three of those games, each by three runs.
“As a team, to be honest, it could be better,” Jacik said. “We’ve lost games on little mistakes, but I think we’re definitely gonna pick it up.”
Ohio will hope it can clean up its defensive game in the upcoming weekend series against Buffalo (7-14, 2-4 MAC) to earn some critical conference victories. The Bulls have scored 34 runs in their last three games.
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