Ohio’s bats were kept dormant for a full eight innings.
When they finally awoke, however, it was well worth the wait.
The Bobcats mashed three home runs in the top of the 11th inning to defeat Western Michigan 4-1 in Thursday’s Mid-American Conference tournament action in Avon, Ohio. Ohio will have an off-day Friday before resuming play in the winner’s bracket Saturday at 9:30a.m.
An anxious Bobcats fan would have been found pacing back and forth from the first pitch of the game, as Ohio starter junior Jake Rudnicki plunked the Broncos’ lead-off hitter before walking the No. 2 batter to put a pair of runners on with nobody out. The patient fan, however, would have then watched Rudnicki limit the damage to just one run in the first, and then stifle the Western Michigan offense across his next four innings on the mound.
It was the third straight start for Rudnicki in which he’s allowed one earned run or fewer. Rudnicki’s ERA sits at just 1.31 in his last four starts.
Patience was certainly the name of the game on Thursday, as Western Michigan starter Keegan Akin proved to be just as stingy as his opponent, allowing just one Ohio run on a single by sophomore Ty Black single and then holding the score at 1-1 into the seventh.
The respective long relief efforts of the two bullpens were even more dominant than their respective starting pitching predecessors. MAC Pitcher of the Year Logan Cozart came in to relieve Rudnicki with a runner aboard and nobody out in the sixth inning, and immediately began carving away the Broncos’ lineup. Cozart earned the win for Ohio, pitching six shutout innings of relief while allowing just two hits and three walks and striking out two.
Cozart’s ERA sits at 1.42 after his appearance on Thursday, which ranks him eighth in the country.
Cozart and Western Michigan’s Jacob Piechota traded zeroes back and forth through the end of regulation, but it didn’t come easy for either side. Piechota was able to strand a pair of Bobcats in the top of the ninth, before Cozart worked around a one-out double in the bottom of the ninth. Cozart again allowed a runner to reach second with one out in the 10th, and was able to work out of the jam.
Just as the effort to manufacture runs appeared to be tried and failed for both sides, Ohio stepped to the plate in the top of the 11th and was able to begin taking the quickest route to home plate possible.
Senior Jake Madsen led off the inning with a home run off Piechota, before Peyton Gray was brought in as the Broncos’ third pitcher of the day. Junior Cody Gaertner jumped on Gray quickly, taking the first pitch yard and pushing Ohio ahead 3-1. Three batters later, Black found paydirt behind the outfield fences and gave the Bobcats their third solo home run of the inning, and gave Cozart a comfortable cushion to work around in the bottom of the frame.
Madsen went 2-for-5 including the dinger on Thursday afternoon, while John Adryan went 2-for-4 and Black finished the day 2-for-3 with two runs driven in. Western Michigan finished with just five hits in the game.
The victory marks the first time that Ohio has started a MAC tournament 2-0 since 1997, the year that saw the Bobcats capture their only MAC tournament crown in program history. They will play again Saturday against the winner of tomorrow’s game between Bowling Green and Western Michigan.
@_tonywolfe_
aw987712@ohio.edu
