Ohio will look to finish its five-game road trip and follow up its first series sweep of the season with a win at Youngstown State on Tuesday.
Ohio (13-24, 8-7 MAC) swept Eastern Michigan this weekend on the road and avenged the road struggles that prevented it from building ground in the Mid-American Conference standings. The Bobcats are now fifth in the MAC and, if the season ended today, would have a spot in the MAC Tournament.
It’s a good time for Ohio to get hot and make a tournament push, and Youngstown State (9-31) will be facing a tough challenge.
The Bobcats, who have lost their past two mid-week games, now have a legitimate Tuesday starter in Joe Rock and look like they have figured out how to win on the road. The latest road wins have been largely due to the pitching, which allowed six runs in three games against EMU last weekend.
Rock will be challenged, though. Youngstown State has scored at least five runs in each of its last five games.
The Penguins will start redshirt freshman Jon Snyder, who has started four games this season and has a 17.22 ERA. In his last start, he went just 1 2/3 innings and gave up eight earned runs on four hits against Penn State.
The Bobcats need to capitalize on Snyder’s struggles to capture their fourth straight win and increase their odds to go to the MAC tournament in May.
