Three weeks ago, Ohio (7-20, 3-9 Mid-American Conference) played its first two games against Morehead State (10-17, 1-5 Ohio Valley Conference) to a 20-17 win. The second, played Tuesday night, differed immensely, with just 7 runs scored between the two teams.
“(Morehead State’s ball park) plays a lot different than our ball park,” Ohio coach Craig Moore said. “The wind was blowing out pretty good. I think we had eight home runs, they had five or six.”
Ohio scored 11 runs in the first inning of the team’s first matchup. In the second, it took eight innings for the Bobcats to get one on the board. In the preceding seven innings, Ohio’s pitching staff, which it has had trouble with on previous Tuesdays, did enough to keep Ohio in the game.
“Today was more of a college baseball game,” Moore said. “They neutralized our offense (but) we pitched well enough to put ourselves in position to win the game.”
Freshman Hunter Winston got the start on the mound and put together his most complete appearance. Winston pitched four innings, tallying five strikeouts and allowing a single run, despite being awarded the loss.
“He gave us a great chance,” Moore said. “He had more conviction … over the other couple starts he’s had.”
In the fifth, redshirt junior Dylan Eggl was the first to relieve Winston, taking over a 1-0 deficit. When he left with one out, keeping Ohio’s hands off the bats, his team was down 3-0. Eggl surrendered three hits and a walk to six Morehead State batters before junior Landon Price took over, ending the inning and conceding nothing in the sixth.
On the other end, Ohio had gone four consecutive innings without a hit, with a fifth on the way in the seventh. The team’s only hit came in the second, after senior designated hitter Jackson Cauthron singled to get fifth-year infielder Nick Dolan in scoring position to no avail.
After seven scoreless innings, however, Moore encouraged his team to “keep grinding” and to “stay with the game,” which Ohio would do, keeping it close until the very end.
In the eighth, Ohio was able to show more fight. With two outs, freshman infielder Matt Ineich reset the batting order on a walk, setting up redshirt sophomore infielder Cam Bryant for an RBI double to finally get a baserunner home.
The ninth saw Ohio turn to freshman Julian Robertson on the mound, who had put together nearly four scoreless innings in his last three appearances entering the game. However, this one went much different with a lead-off double scoring on another double two at-bats later, bringing the Morehead State lead to 4-1 before Ohio took over.
Sophomore outfielder Ben Slanker got the Bobcats started right with a walk, before Dolan and Cauthron tallied outs. In a make-or-break at-bat, graduate catcher Blake Reed sent a home run deep out of left field to score himself and Slanker, bringing the game within a single run.
Sophomore infielder Trae Cassidy followed up the huge play with another, doubling before stealing third on a passed ball. With a chance to tie, freshman outfielder Brady Alexander loaded the pitch count, swung and failed to connect.
“The fight was there until the end, til the 27th out, like we always preach,” Moore said. “I appreciate the continued fight from this group. They’re never going to quit. They’re going to keep going.”
Ohio will look to bounce back with better execution in a three-game road series against Northern Illinois, spanning Friday to Sunday.
