Ohio will attempt to redeem itself against a formidable foe as the Bobcats play host to a battle of the MAC versus the MAAC.
LeMoyne, the coaches' pick to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this season, visits Athens this weekend to try to get the best of the Mid-American Conference's Bobcats (3-4) once more.
The 'Cats' 2004 meeting with the Dolphins - a three-game set that LeMoyne swept handily, outscoring Ohio 40-11 - is still fresh in the mind of pitcher Anthony Gressick.
Every time
it seems that we've played LeMoyne they've come and stuck it to us pretty good
Gressick said. They're a solid ballclub. They're one of the top teams in their conference
and they're going to come here and play us hard.
They're very
very good
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. They were in the NCAA tournament; they won their conference championship the last four or five years. They're very well-coached.
The Dolphins are coming off a trip to the Georgia Southern Tournament, where they won two of their three contests to push their season record to 3-5. Team batting leader Keith Connors contributed a home run and four additional hits to improve his average to .433 with 13 hits, including three doubles and two roundtrippers.
Bobby Blevins and T.J. Sheridan, two of the pitchers that the Bobcats will face this weekend, put up solid performances in their appearances at Georgia Southern.
LeMoyne's other two starters, freshman Eric Beaulac, who is making his first ever start, and lefty Michael Falasca, who has a 9.72 ERA in his two starts this season, could provide opportunities for the Bobcats to attack on offense.
Carbone is looking for his team to rebound from a tough loss to Cleveland State on Tuesday that featured four errors.
We're a very young team
Carbone said. We've got a lot of freshman pitchers. We're going to suffer at times with our youth and our inexperience
but that's where we're at right now with our program. We're going to have to work hard to get as mature as we can as quick as we can.
The Bobcats open their four-game series with LeMoyne this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Bob Wren Stadium. First pitches are at 1 p.m. for game one of Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's finale.
- Molly O'Hare
17
