After 13 innings of water-soaked play, the Ohio baseball team finally settled for an 8-8 tie against Buffalo on Friday.
The Bobcats (17-14-1 overall, 6-4-1 Mid-American Conference) jumped out to an early lead in the second inning when Bryant Witt reached first base by error with the bases loaded. The following inning catcher Ben Crabtree doubled to drive in Anthony Gressick.
However, in the third inning, Buffalo (11-20-1, 1-6-1 MAC) touched up Ohio starter Derek Witt for two unearned runs that crossed because of two Bobcat errors.
I thought (Witt) pitched very well
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. We just had some tough breaks. We played 13 innings in the rain. We just weren't able to make some plays for him.
The scoring picked up again in the sixth when third baseman Brian Colopy and center fielder Willie Walker combined singles to drive Crabtree in.
Crabtree and Colopy came up with some big hits for us Carbone said.
Following Colopy and Walker, right fielder Phil Sabatini doubled to bring Ohio's lead to 4-2.
In the eighth inning, the scoring continued. Colopy singled and reached second base by an error. Walker allowed Colopy to get to third base by a groundout. Sabatini followed up with a triple, scoring Colopy. Then, first baseman Jon Vondrell bunted Sabatini in, raising the Ohio lead to 6-2.
Witt struggled to maintain the lead as the Bulls scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.
Reliever Dan O'Rourke replaced Witt but gave up another single to give Buffalo a 7-6 advantage and its first lead of the game.
Crabtree stepped up once again to tie the game with a RBI single in the top of the ninth. Colopy followed by driving in the go-ahead run, Gressick, with an infield single.
Once again, the Bulls drove in the tying run the next inning.
Both teams made attempts to take the lead in extras but neither cashed in on its efforts before rain suspended the game.
We played a very good game Carbone said. I thought our guys played with a lot of spirit. I thought we played pretty well.
The game was scheduled to resume Saturday followed by a doubleheader. However, the rain continued and the games were cancelled.
Ohio plays Youngstown State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Bob Wren Stadium.
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Nick Brockman
