It took an army — eight pitchers and a handful of hitters — to get Ohio its 6-3 win over Marshall on Wednesday. But a win is still a win.
The Bobcats (7-6, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) slipped in the top of the first inning after Cole Williams singled to left field and gave the Thundering Herd an early one-run lead. Marshall’s lead wasn’t much, but Ohio struggled to match it. In the second, third and fourth innings, Ohio went down without a hit and failed to put a run on the board.
Ohio came to its senses in the bottom of the fifth, when Spencer Harbert hit a solo home run to lead off the inning. The hit tied the game and gave the Bobcats a clean slate.
The home run was Harbert’s fourth of the season. Harbert has a knack for launching balls over the outfield wall when Ohio needs it.
“(I) just try to get the job done for my team and do my job in the middle of the order, and that’s driving runs,” Harbert said.
As Ohio rotated through its plethora of pitchers, it stalled Marshall’s (10-7-1, 4-2-1 Conference USA) scoring opportunities. Ohio went through both veterans and freshmen to make the climb to victory. The move was in order to get the bullpen time in a game setting before Ohio’s next conference series.
The relievers went to work, but so did the offense. Marshall brought in Nicholas Weyrich to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but this move proved to be its downfall.
Weyrich gave up a single to Mason Minzey and a walk to Harbert to put two on for the Bobcats immediately. Harrison Johnson walked up to the plate with the intention to lay a sacrifice bunt, but there was no sacrifice to it. Johnson successfully laid a bunt and reached first base on a fielder’s choice after Marshall chose to throw to third. The throw was not successful, though, as it sailed past third base. The ball rolled into left field, and both Minzey and Harbert scored to give Ohio the lead.
Ohio committed an error of its own in the top of the eighth inning to limit its lead to a single run. Third baseman Colin Kasperbauer overthrew first base in an double play attempt, and Marshall scored two runs from the error.
But that was no issue for Ohio.
Treyben Funderburg and Kasperbauer hit back-to-back singles and advanced on a wild pitch to put runners in scoring position. Once again, Johnson stepped to the plate and delivered. The redshirt freshman hit a two-RBI single to extend Ohio’s lead to three runs.
“(The hit) felt really good,” Johnson said “I know we needed it. Coach (Craig) Moore talks about momentum, and we needed that momentum swing to get us into the ninth.”
Ohio entered its eighth and final pitcher in the top of the ninth. Brett Manis gave up two walks to the Thundering Herd, but they never crossed the plate.
At the end of the night, the Bobcats tacked on their sixth nonconference win of the season. After a brief foray into MAC play against Northern Illinois, another win gave Ohio the chance to prepare its younger players for the remainder of its conference schedule.
“We were using (the underclassmen) more to get more depth going into our four-game sets on the weekends,” Moore said. “We’re doing what we feel we need to do to get them out there, put them in some situations, some spots where they’re going to have to pitch their way out of it.”
The Bobcats as a whole were able to find their way out of sticky situations Wednesday. Everything came together for the Bobcats. Now, its a matter of whether or not they can stay consistent.
