Ohio baseball has improved over the past two seasons.
Ohio began its nine-game homestand with a 6-0 win over Eastern Kentucky early Tuesday afternoon. The first pitch was so early that only 15 people were in attendance for the 4 p.m. start.
But over time Bob Wren Stadium slowly began filling as the Bobcats started to add runs to the scoreboard and picked up their 23rd win this season.
Here’s a few points that stood out.
Closing in
After batting 2-4 Tuesday, including a three-run homer, senior first baseman Jake Madsen is now four hits away from tying Ohio’s career hits record.
Madsen currently has 265 hits with former Bobcat Ben Crabtree’s record set at 269.
Only needing five hits to lead the program in the category, he’ll probably surpass Crabtree’s record sometime in the next week.
Madsen’s .345 batting average is second-best on the team, only trailing sophomore left fielder Mitch Longo’s .383 mark.
Assuming the benchmark isn’t met in the near future, Madsen still won’t have any problem mustering five hits in the 14 games left in the regular season.
Pitching
In comparison to the 2014 season, Ohio looks like a completely different team.
There are occasional stumbles, but the offense has been productive and the defense has been efficient.
Throughout the season, coach Rob Smith has said he’d like to see his pitchers match the quality consistent with the other categories. They did just that against Eastern Kentucky.
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Freshman pitcher Logan Jacik made his first start this season, paving the way toward Ohio’s first shutout since 2012 — the first shutout in the Rob Smith Era.
The highlight for Smith was Jacik and the rest of the pitchers’ ability to throw strikes throughout the ball game.
What’s going on?
It was the weirdest play for the Bobcats this season.
In the fifth inning, sophomore reliever Corey Wells struck out Eastern Kentucky’s Doug Teegarden, but Ohio catcher Cody Gaertner dropped the third strike.
Initially, Gaertner tossed the ball back into the infield and the Bobcats began trotting toward the dugout, thinking it was the third out.
Teegarden began walking back to the dugout as well, with the Colonels’ runner on first following suit.
No one knew there were only two outs. By the time Ohio figured it out, the visitors had players on first and second.
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“Cody just had a little bit of a brain lapse,” Smith said. “The ball was in the dirt. He picked it clean out of the dirt, and with two outs, the runner has the right to go to first base.
“Cody just threw the ball back to the mound in excitement for the strikeout and assumed the hitter didn’t initially take off. The umpire didn’t say anything; I just think he thought the play was dead and it wasn’t, unfortunately.”
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
