Ohio fell 3-1 to Morehead State on Tuesday night as the offense struggled to feed off of the impressive performances of several Ohio pitchers on the mound.
The loss drops Ohio to 11-8 and puts a slight halt on the momentum the Bobcats built up from winning six of their last eight previous games.
Ohio struggled to find its rhythm offensively as the team failed to plate a single earned run. The lone run came as a result of a Morehead State error in the fourth inning. The Bobcats then had the bases loaded with two outs following the miscue, but failed to plate anymore runs.
Just four of the Bobcats' nine hitters tallied a hit.
"We just have to continue to get better offensively," coach Rob Smith said. "We've got to find ways to score runs and we've got to come up with some two-out hits."
Following the fourth inning, Ohio would notch just five more hits the rest of the game, finishing the night with seven total hits and leaving seven runners on base, a number that stood out to Smith as he read the scoresheet after the game.
"We've got to capitalize on those opportunities when they're presented to us," Smith said.
The Bobcats' pitching staff kept the Eagles off the scoreboard until the eighth inning, when senior Nick Colletti gave up a two-run shot that gave the Eagles the lead. Morehead State scored an insurance run in the ninth inning to seal the win.
Sophomore Rudy Rott was the lone run for the Bobcats; he went 2-for-3 and drew a walk. Rott said after the game that the offense needs to continue focusing on the positives.
"The biggest thing is just to keep grinding out at-bats," Rott said. "It's definitely frustrating in a game like this because it's tough to beat a team like Morehead with one run. We've just got to focus on those at-bats with runners in scoring position."
Ohio's offensive slump erased what Smith called a tremendous game from a pitching standpoint, but he still isn't concerned with Ohio's inconsistent offense this season.
"We didn't give up any free bases," Smith said. "Even in the eighth, it took two hits (for Morehead State) to score those runs and a guy hitting a breaking ball out of the park, so I'm not disappointed with it at all. We (pitch) like that every game and we'll win a heck of a lot."
