The Ohio baseball team will have yet another thing to react to when the Bobcats travel to play Tennessee Tech this weekend.
That's the weather, which already swept one game off the weekend's three-game series. Five inches of snow hit the Cookeville, Tenn., area, canceling Friday's game. The sun is expected to come out, so Saturday's game will be pushed back until 2 p.m. to give the field more time to recover.
Reacting has been difficult for the Bobcats (1-2) in the fresh season. Against Western Kentucky, batters had trouble adjusting to two-strike counts, fielders struggled to read the ball off the bat and pitchers could not keep the ball over the plate. Pretty much everybody is shaking off winter rust.
We didn't see balls off the bat
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. So we misjudged some balls which is sometimes normal early in the year though we don't want it to happen.
Those things come with practice, something Ohio has been forced to do in batting cages and football fields as opposed to freshly groomed infields and watered grass. Carbone went back to fundamentals during the early part of Tuesday's practice in order to re-establish good habits built during the offseason that unhinged a bit during the live atmosphere.
We need to work on some things
and that's what this week of practice is for
Ohio outfielder Phil Sabatini said.
The problem is that these games count, and so the Bobcats' 26 walks in three games won't do it.
We've got to do a better job of throwing strikes
Carbone said.
Pitchers Chris Bova and Adam Russell will get starts. Rob Harmon was going to start, but he will go back to the bullpen for the weekend. Marc Cornell is not expected to pitch as he continues to build arm strength.
The two-game series against Tennessee Tech is expected to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday in Cookville, Tenn.
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Eric Pfahler
