The Ohio baseball team resumes Mid-American Conference play at 3 p.m. today when it visits Western Michigan.
Ohio (18-14-1 overall, 6-4-1 MAC) is currently second-place in the MAC East division standings and will begin the first of a three-game series today against MAC West division leader Western Michigan (19-13 overall, 9-1 MAC).
Coming off an emotional win Wednesday night at West Virginia, the Bobcats are seeking their 16th win in 19 games.
After starting the season 3-12 Ohio has posted a 15-2-1 record over the last 18 contests.
Wednesday night the Bobcats began the game by taking a 6-0 lead after four innings. However, the Mountaineers stormed back to take a 10-6 lead entering the ninth inning.
Determined not to give up, Ohio loaded the bases with no outs. Catcher Ben Crabtree contributed a RBI base hit before designated hitter Anthony Gressick hit a grand slam to take an 11-10 advantage.
Ohio reliever Yale Silverman shut down West Virginia during the bottom half of the ninth to seal Ohio's comeback victory.
It's a little more inspiring going to Western Michigan having won
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. You're happy about the win and it emotionally carries you into the (next) game.
We've been playing good baseball and we battled back in a lot of games. Hopefully the players have the confidence to play with anybody and win. Hopefully with a little bit of momentum we'll continue to Western Michigan.
Starting today's series opener is No. 1 starter Derek Witt. Witt has been quite impressive this year, leading the pitching corps in wins with 4; strikeouts, 45; and innings pitched, 60.
Following Witt in the rotation this weekend will be Gressick and John Angelicchi.
Gressick has been performing well this year even while splitting time between starting pitcher, designated hitter, and first base. Earlier this season Gressick posted 15 strikeouts over eight and one-third innings both of which are career highs. This effort allowed Gressick to be honored as the MAC East Pitcher of the week.
Angelicchi has also been performing well, coming off a three-inning performance Wednesday in which he allowed only two hits and no runs while striking out two.
Ohio sends Witt to the mound at 3 p.m. today to begin the series at Western Michigan. The series will continue at 1 p.m. on Saturday and conclude at the same time on Sunday.
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Nick Brockman
