Ohio drops two of three against Northern Illinois behind poor batting.
Baseball is a game of numbers, but sometimes numbers lie.
Coming into its weekend series against Northern Illinois, the Bobcats' earned run average hovered around five while the Huskies’ was more than eight. The Bobcats had the best offense in the Mid-American Conference, and the Huskies were just a few days removed from a 5-2 drubbing.
Three-straight pitching duels weren't expected to happen at Bob Wren Stadium this weekend, but that’s exactly what happened.
Ohio (10-13, 1-2 MAC) dropped two of three to Northern Illinois (6-17, 2-1 MAC) in the first weekend of conference play. The Bobcats' starting pitching shined, but Ohio couldn’t seem to figure out how to swing the bat.
For just the second time this season, Ohio put together a string of solid starts in a weekend series. Jake Miller, Jake Rudnicki and Conner Sitz impressed on the mound just as the three weekend starters had done previously in their last weekend series against Purdue.
Miller threw a complete game Friday night, albeit he earned a 2-0 loss. He allowed two hits and runs, with all of those of coming in the fourth inning.
Rudnicki picked up his third win of the season Saturday, during which he allowed two hits and runs over seven innings pitched.
Sitz struck out three batters and only allowed one earned run Sunday, despite a 3-1 loss.
And despite the performances on the mound, Ohio was plagued by its offense, who seemed to be stagnant all weekend.
“We didn’t compete enough offensively to win this weekend,” coach Rob Smith said. “Statistically speaking, if you look at the scenario, five runs on the weekend would not be acceptable. It was really disappointing offensively what we did this weekend.”
The Bobcats were swinging the bat well and making good contact, but most hard hits seemed to find the glove of a Husky fielder. Ohio managed 18 hits in the three games, but plated just five runners.
John Adryan was the best hitter for the Bobcats this weekend, as his two home runs carried their offense to Ohio’s lone win, which came Saturday afternoon. His seven home runs this season place him among the top in the MAC.
There was a piece of history also made at the plate this weekend, as catcher Cody Gaertner extended his hitting streak to 20 games, clinching the longest hitting streak in program history.
He’s now 19 games short of the longest in conference history, which was set by Toledo’s Chris Dudics in 2010.
“I actually didn’t even know (about the streak) until a couple games ago,” Gaertner said. “I’m just trying to stay within myself and put a bat on the ball.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="7f98ad26-f20d-11e5-935d-47866ae7f418"}}
With their bats sputtering at the plate, Gaertner and Adryan will hope they are not Ohio’s only offensive catalysts when the Bobcats take on Ohio State on Tuesday night.
@efelderstein14
ef684013@ohio.edu
