Rudy Rott trotted around the Bob Wren Stadium bases. A mob was waiting for him at home plate.
As he inched toward the crowd of his teammates Wednesday, he tossed his helmet aside and braced himself for the water being thrown around and a celebration.
Rott’s one-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth inning gave Ohio a 6-5 victory over Shawnee State.
“First pitch, I never like to sit around and wait too long,” Rott said of his home run.
The home run wasn’t Rott’s only contribution to the offense. Following an 0-2 start, he recorded three hits in his final four trips to the plate, including the walk-off home run.
Rott was just a double short of the cycle — he had a triple in the fifth and a single in the sixth. His performance not only won the game for the Bobcats, but it also helped them break out of them recent offensive slump.
Entering Wednesday, the Bobcats had just three runs in their previous 27 innings played. They were victims of a four-hit shutout Tuesday in their loss to Ohio State. But against Shawnee State, Ohio had 14 hits.
“We did a lot of work today before the game,” Rott said. “We know our offense needs to come around and pick us up a little bit more.”
Rott wasn’t alone in providing the offense. Third baseman Tony Giannini, who was hitless in his last four games, was 4-for-5. It was his first time having more than three hits in a game since March 9, when he had three against Towson.
After Giannini’s single in the fourth inning, the Ohio dugout erupted. The entire team knew it had been 20 at-bats since Giannini’s last hit, so the Bobcats were happy for him.
Although the Ohio offense found its rhythm, the bullpen struggled through the late innings. After entering the eighth inning up 5-2, normal Saturday starting pitcher Michael Klein came on in relief and gave up a run. Coach Rob Smith then brought in closer Jake Roehn, Ohio’s all-time leader in saves, to close the game in the ninth.
Roehn has struggled lately, though. He allowed two runs to cross the plate, registering his third consecutive blown save as Shawnee State sent the game to extra innings.
Although Roehn couldn’t convert the save opportunity Wednesday, confidence in his ability remains high.
“You have to have a short memory,” Smith said of Roehn. “You have to understand that you’re always pitching with the game on the line, and it’s a different kind of thing to have to manage and navigate through. If you’re not mentally able to handle it, you’re really not cut out for the role. Fortunately, he is.”
Rott was then given the opportunity to finish the game himself. The leader on the team in home runs, Rott saw a pitch he liked — the first pitch of the at bat — and belted it into the left field net.
It wasn’t quite the way Ohio wanted the game to end, but with a sputtering offense back on track, Rott is happy with the win, even though his teammates soaked him with water as he touched home plate on a chilly night.
“The water was ice-cold,” Rott said. “They definitely filled it up in the cooler right before.”
