After two previous Mid-American Conference series sweeps, Ohio desperately needed its pitching to regroup and turn in a quality weekend against a struggling Miami team.
Luckily for the Bobcats, the pitching staff delivered as Ohio escaped with a pair of wins in its three-game series at Bob Wren Stadium against the RedHawks.
In its last two conference series, the Bobcats' pitching staff strayed away from the consistency shown in the first half of the season, where its ERA floated in the mid-3.50 range. In the previous nine games prior to the Miami series, however, Ohio's pitching held the opponent to four or less runs just one time, swelling the ERA to the mid-4.50 range.
With a huge opportunity to rediscover the consistency against a struggling Miami team, the pitching staff did its part in giving Ohio (19-20, 5-7 MAC) a chance to bounce back, as it kept Miami below five runs in each of the three games.
In Friday's series opener, the trio of right-handers Cory Blessing, Jake Rudnicki and Jake Roehn combined for 4 1/3 shutout innings after starting left-hander Gerry Salisbury allowed five runs.
The Bobcats' offense took advantage of the strong efforts by the bullpen and plated four runs in the game's final two innings to secure the win and break the team's six-game losing skid against MAC opponents.
In Saturday's 3-1 loss against Miami (17-24, 3-9 MAC), right-hander Butch Baird went 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits and five walks while striking out six.
The strong start from Baird was pleasing to see, as the junior failed to make it past four innings of work in his previous three starts.
"He found some better sequences and did some better things," coach Rob Smith said. "I thought it was a positive outing for him. He gave us a chance to win and that's all we needed out of him."
In Sunday's series finale, Smith was tasked with managing a pitching staff that was without its usual Sunday starter in Michael Klein, who was out for the weekend with a concussion.
Right-hander Tom Colletti stepped up in his absence and turned in 4 1/3 innings, with two earned runs in his first start of the year. The senior had 20 previous appearances of 29 innings in relief prior to Sunday, before pitching in his longest stint of the season.
Smith was hoping Colletti would pitch in just two or three innings of work, but as Miami continued to struggle against Colletti, Smith wanted to let him go as far as he could.
"He was outstanding," Smith said. "To get us that deep into the game before he wore down, it was just a big lift for us."
Sealing the win for Ohio was Rudnicki and Roehn, as the two relievers combined to finish the game with 4 2/3 scoreless innings and clinch the series.
"This is what they have been doing for the vast majority of the year," Smith said of his bullpen's tremendous bounce back weekend. "They were special this whole weekend."
The Bobcats will have their longest stretch of rest since February, as they will play no midweek games for the first time since February. Then Ohio will travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to play a three-game series against Western Michigan from April 28-30.
