Ohio (7-19, 3-9 Mid-American Conference) took the field Saturday against Eastern Michigan (13-11, 8-4 MAC) with aspirations of a series win. Saturday’s action turned into a doubleheader, with inclement weather expected Sunday in Athens. Despite some impressive offense, Ohio lost both games, the first being 9-5 before an offensive onslaught in game two that saw the Bobcats lose 18-13.
Game One
In game one, Ohio gave the ball to senior right-handed pitcher Hudson Boncal (1-3, 4.83 ERA) for his fourth start and seventh appearance of the season.
Boncal started strong for the Bobcats, as he retired the first seven Eastern Michigan hitters he faced before back-to-back base hits put runners in scoring position. Eastern Michigan scored a run on a sharp ground out to a diving junior infielder, Dylan Shepherd, and took a 1-0 lead.
Shepherd led off the bottom of the third with a double into the right-center gap. The Bobcats threatened after an infield hit by senior outfielder Trent Neuer. Freshman infielder Matt Ineich wasted little time and laced a single to center to score Shepherd and tie the game at 1 run apiece.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bobcats tried some trickery with a double steal. As senior catcher Jackson Cauthron took second, senior infielder Nick Dolan snuck home to steal a run and give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead.
The strategy from the Bobcats continued. Neuer laid down a bunt and hustled down the line to beat the throw, allowing Cauthron to score and the Bobcat lead to grow up to 3-1.
"With Trent Neuer getting the bunt down, that was on his own, he saw that the third baseman was back deep, and took advantage of it, obviously, with two outs, the defense is not expecting a bunt in that situation,” Ohio coach Craig Moore said.
By the end of the sixth, Ohio had jumped out to a 5-1 lead.
Boncal threw seven innings of 1-run baseball, only allowing four hits and striking out three batters. Senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Peck replaced him, working a clean eighth. However, in the ninth, Peck gave up a 2-run homer to left field to cut the Ohio lead to 5-3.
Peck collected one out in the ninth before an error ended his afternoon. The Bobcats turned the ball over to junior left-handed pitcher Landon Price to clean it up. Price could not get an out and was replaced by junior right-handed pitcher Dylan Eggl. Eggl threw his first pitch and hit the Eastern Michigan hitter to walk one home and keep the bases loaded, now up 5-4.
Eastern Michigan was not done there. A two-RBI base hit to left field brought home the go-ahead run. By the end of the inning, Ohio allowed 8 total runs and surrendered what was once a 4-run lead to start the inning.
The Bobcats fell by a final score of 9-5 with the loss credited to Eggl.
Game Two
Ohio ran out senior left-hander Dillon Masters (0-1, 4.71 ERA) for his seventh start in the second game. Eastern Michigan was not quiet to start the matchup, scoring on two RBI singles to right field in the first. This was followed by a two-RBI double down the left field line. Masters escaped the top of the first, but the damage had been done early as Ohio trailed 4-0.
“We talked in between games about not allowing them to get out to a quick start, to where they could keep the momentum going,” Moore said. “Unfortunately, we weren't able to make a couple of plays that could have limited some scoring opportunities for them.”
The Bobcats needed an answer and found one. Ineich sent the second pitch he saw over the right-center wall to cut into the lead, now down 4-1. Masters was removed after two-and-one-third innings of work due to possible injury. He was replaced by senior left-handed pitcher Jacob Tate, who inherited the bases loaded.
Tate faced trouble as he walked in a run, which was followed by a sacrifice fly to left field. Ohio could not escape the jam due to a double to center that allowed 2 more runs to cross the plate. The Eagles took full advantage of a rattled Tate, who later allowed a 2-run home run. Eastern Michigan scored 6 runs in the inning and led by a staggering nine runs, up 10-1.
The Bobcats responded again, scoring 8 runs over the next two innings to cut the lead to just 10-9. However, once again, Ohio’s bullpen faltered in the clutch.
The Eagles pushed the lead back to two in the top of the fifth on a single to left, which pushed the Bobcats to make a pitching change to freshman righty Luke Bryant. Bryant did not have a good outing, allowing 3 more runs to come across as well as scoring every inherited runner. By the end of the fifth, Eastern Michigan had matched Ohio’s impressive 6-run fourth and jumped out to a 16-9 lead.
Ohio put up a zero on offense in the fifth and sent senior lefty Adam Beery to the mound. Beery’s first pitch of the evening was sent hard and high over the left field wall for a home run. The top of the seventh saw another new arm, sophomore right-handed pitcher Ethan Stewart, who allowed another run on a sacrifice-fly, as Eastern Michigan doubled up Ohio, 18-9.
The Bobcats did their best to battle back in the later innings and effectively scored 4 more runs while doing so. However, the 18 runs surrendered by the pitching staff were more than enough to put a close on another disappointing series loss for Ohio. The Bobcats fell by a final score of 18-13.
