If all three of Ohio’s (3-11, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) games against Bowling Green (9-5, 3-0 MAC) ended after the sixth inning Ohio would have outscored the Falcons 10-3, winning two and tying another. However, the repetitive trend of the weekend was Ohio’s bullpen and offense failing to finish, resulting in an 0-3 weekend capped off by a 10-7 loss.
Senior Dillon Masters pitched nearly a perfect six innings to start the game. Masters surrendered a single hit on 100 pitches, not allowing a lead-off batter to get on base until his final inning. Behind him, in three innings, four pitchers allowed eight hits and 10 runs, throwing a single strikeout to Masters’ five.
The first inning was almost perfect from a pitching standpoint. Senior Gunner Antillon would fly out deep into right field before Masters struck the next batter out looking. His one mistake came when he hit sophomore Cam Wright with the pitch, but he made up for it by striking out the next Falcon.
On the other end, while Ohio went scoreless, it wasn’t without the first of many powerful hits. Freshman infielder Matt Ineich – the MAC’s statistically best hitter and Freshman of the Year frontrunner – doubled down the left field line, dropping the ball beautifully between defenders. Sophomore outfielder Ben Slanker, batting fourth, was the only other Bobcat to get on base, ending the inning scoreless.
The second was much of the same. Despite walking two, Masters wouldn’t give up a hit, leaving the Falcons scoreless. Ohio also ended the inning scoreless but would change the flow in the third.
After an Ineich pop out, sophomore shortstop JR Nelson would double, stealing third on the following at-bat. Sophomore catcher Trae Cassidy doubled right after, scoring Nelson. Right after, Slanker lined up a deep ball over the right field wall, scoring himself and Cassidy for a 3-0 lead.
The fourth inning saw Nelson get right back to it on his next at-bat. Masters would allow his first and only hit before ending the top of the inning scoreless. After Bowling Green had swapped pitchers, forcing a lead-off fly out and conceding another Ineich hit, Nelson would walk up right after for his first home run of the season. In the fifth, junior infielder Dylan Shepherd tallied Ohio’s third of four home runs, ending the inning with a 6-0 lead.
Masters ended his day after the sixth inning, bringing in senior Adam Beery. Bowling Green would see immediate dividends, loading the bases with two singles and a walk to set up Antillon for the RBI single. Junior Sam Seidel scored another Bowling Green baserunner on a sac fly and a double from Wright scored two more.
Berry was replaced by redshirt junior Dylan Eggl, who would ultimately come out with the loss after conceding two hits and 3 earned runs in two-thirds innings pitched. In the eighth, he was replaced by junior Landon Price, who gave Ohio a scoreless inning, giving the team a 1-run deficit to overcome in the final inning.
On the mound, redshirt sophomore Kolby Pascarelli, who started the year injured, made his first appearance for Ohio. It was an up-and-down start, conceding a double to the first batter, a single to the third and walking the fourth, eventually giving up a sac fly to give Bowling Green a 9-7 lead. Ohio elected to intentionally walk Wright, loading the bases, before Pascarelli walked the next batter, scoring Bowling Green a final time.
Ohio would suffer a one-two-three in the bottom of the ninth, ending comeback chances swiftly and finishing the weekend 0-3 despite holding leads for a good portion of the series’ innings.
