On a soggy Wednesday afternoon in West Virginia, Ohio couldn’t find the bats that propelled it to a nine-run game Tuesday.
Despite recording seven hits, the Bobcats (10-29) could only tally two runs and were defeated by Marshall 4-2 Wednesday.
Rain canceled Ohio’s last game against the Thundering Herd in Athens last Tuesday and the rain followed the two teams back to West Virginia, as the fourth inning was extended by thirty minutes due to a driving rain that forced each team back to their locker rooms.
Despite the half-hour delay, coach Rob Smith didn’t see the delay as a distraction for his ball club.
Similar to the strategy Smith has adopted in his recent midweek games, he trotted out normal Saturday starter Marck Paliotto for one inning of work, just like he did in the game against Morehead State on Tuesday.
Paliotto allowed the opening run for Marshall (15-24), as Herd leftfielder Eric Escobedo’s two-out double turned into an inside-the-park home run as center fielder Tyler Wells, who went 0-12 against Northern Illinois, couldn’t locate a fly ball.
Once he found it, the ball bounced off of him far enough to allow Escobedo to round third and score.
After Isaac Ballou drove in the Herd’s second run of the day in the third inning, Ohio countered in a big way in the fourth. Senior third baseman Ben Otto capitalized on an offering that Marshall pitcher Chase Boster left up in the zone and hit a two-run home run to left center, evening the score.
It was Otto’s first home run of the season and put an exclamation point on a 10-game stretch in which he drove in eight runs.
“It did feel good to get that (first home run) out of the way,” Otto said. “I’m just trying not to do too much. I’m really letting the game come to me and I’m having fun with it.”
Nick Plys came into the game after Paliotto and gave Smith the two innings he expected out of him before the game, but the sophomore allowed two runs on six hits and one walk.
Smith used Logan Cozart, Ryan Ferrell and Brett Barber in the final five innings and the group allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk.
“The wind was howling out today and to keep the score down to four runs is a big accomplishment for those guys,” Smith said. “All the pitchers did a nice job today keeping the ball down and keeping the ball out of the air.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
