The second game of a trio series against Bowling Green found Ohio losing similarly to the first. After getting out to a competitive start, taking a tie ball game into the eighth inning, Ohio’s bullpen seceded a massive eighth inning, losing 8-6.
“It seems like the eighth inning is the inning that we’re having some issues with in terms of getting people out or not allowing runs to score,” Ohio coach Craig Moore said.
Senior Hudson Boncal took the mound for Ohio’s first six-and-two-thirds innings, putting together an impressive game. A lead-off batter wouldn’t reach against Boncal until the fifth inning, keeping Bowling Green scoreless in the first four.
Offensively, Ohio coach Craig Moore took the second game to change up the lineup. Freshman infielder Matt Ineich had an impressive game, making his first appearance at the top of the batting order, extending his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games while knocking out his first home run of his collegiate career.
Ohio too would go scoreless in the first inning, although it would rebound in the second, seeing the fruits of the remaining changes. Redshirt sophomore Caleb Karll, who started as a designated hitter, would advance senior catcher Jackson Cauthron on a walk, before sophomore outfielder Pauly Mancino scored Cauthron at the end of the batting order.
In the top of the third, Boncal would allow just his first hit of the game, although it wouldn’t amount to anything for Bowling Green, as the batters surrounding the hit were all caught out. Aside from the Cauthron run in the second, Bowling Green senior Nic Good was doing work to keep Ohio off base early as well.
“That was a good pitcher,” Moore said. “I think we just got out to a slow start. We did have some opportunities there.”
Boncal offered his first of two one-two-three innings in the fourth, before allowing the Falcons to tie the game in the fifth. After senior Zack Horky nearly scored himself, setting for a double, on a ball that just failed to exit Bob Wren, junior Sam Seidel would finish the work with an RBI single.
Boncal would come out part way through the seventh after a one-two-three inning on both sides in the sixth. Despite great fielding from the Bobcats, specifically sophomore infielders JR Nelson and Trae Cassidy, senior Tyler Peck would take the mound with runners in scoring position. Ohio would make it out of the top of the seventh down 3-1, with both runs credited to Boncal.
In the bottom of the inning, Ineich would stamp his night with a home run that flew over the right field wall, scoring not just himself but Mancino, who doubled in the at-bat prior.
“We battled,” Moore said. “We didn’t quit. We kept coming back at them offensively.”
However, the eighth would seal it for Bowling Green. Peck would surrender 5 runs in the inning alone, coming out down 8-3 after home runs from Seidel and sophomore Brady Birchmeier, scoring two and three baserunners, respectively.
Ohio would trim the lead in the bottom of the eighth with big at-bats from sophomore Dylan Shepherd, who doubled while pinch-hitting for Karll, as well as Mancino and Cassidy. However, the hole had been dug too deep, as Bowling Green senior Connar Penrod would pitch a one-two-three ninth.
“We have to find something,” Moore said. “We have to find some sort of combination of one or two guys that can come in and get three outs without giving up runs. I think there’s a lack of confidence right now with some of those guys down there. Not all of them, but some of them.”
