The Ohio baseball team has to adjust to a different style of baseball against the Pittsburgh Panthers today in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers (25-11) have hit 13 home runs all season, while the Bobcats (20-11) have blasted 43. Instead, Pittsburgh gets it done playing small ball, Ohio coach Joe Carbone sad.
"They steal a lot of bases," he said. "They have good pitching. They're real good. They've got seven guys hitting over .300 in their starting lineup. That's pretty good, and another guy's hitting .296."
Pittsburgh has five players with eight or more stolen bases this season. Ohio pitcher Dan O'Rourke, one of several pitchers likely to see action against the Panthers, said the Bobcats would have to be especially careful of Pittsburgh's team speed.
"They're going to be a running team," he said. "We're going to have to keep them close on the bases. That's always a challenge, but with (catcher Ben) Crabtree behind the plate, that's always a plus with the great arm."
Crabtree has thrown out 48 percent of runners attempting to steal this season, but Carbone cautioned that Crabtree's arm alone could not limit the Panthers on the base paths.
"Crabtree can only do so much," he said. "The real key is how well our pitchers hold runners on. If they give Crabtree a chance to throw them out, he'll throw them out."
Adam Russell (3-3) is the first pitcher that will face the challenge of holding the Pittsburgh runners on base. Carbone said most of Ohio's other relievers also would pitch in the game. T.J. Gornati (2-0) should start for Pittsburgh.
Gornati and the rest of the Panthers face the challenge of stopping an Ohio offense that produced 37 runs in four games this weekend.
The Bobcats are hitting .328 and only one regular starter - first baseman Omari Briscoe at .296 - is hitting less than .300. The offense has produced an average of more than seven runs per game.
Ohio outfielder Bryan Buck said the Bobcats are excited to play a team of such high caliber.
"We just can't wait to play Pitt because they're really good competition," he said. "We usually raise our game to another level when we play teams like that."
The Bobcats earlier this season won three of four games against Big Ten opponent Michigan State and followed with a victory against Virginia Tech from the Big East.
Ohio looks to add Pittsburgh to the list of major conference teams it has defeated at 3 p.m. today on the artificial turf surface of Trees Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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Lonnie McMillan
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Ohio's Marc Cornell pitches during Saturday's game against Ohio Wesleyen. The Bobcats beat the Battling Bishops 10-1.
