After losing its third conference series of the year, this time to Eastern Michigan over the weekend, the Ohio baseball team hopes to rebound when they play host to Big East opponent Pittsburgh tonight.
The weekend got off to a good start with starter Derek Witt carrying the Bobcats (12-16, 5-7 Mid-American Conference) to a series-opening win. Ohio then lost the final two games of the series.
In recent games, including Ohio's 9-7 loss to Eastern Michigan on Sunday, the Bobcats have dug themselves into holes by giving up early runs, and they have not been able to recover and win those games.
Sunday's game featured four Ohio errors, which contributed to two Eastern Michigan runs.
We made some mental mistakes in the beginning
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said of the Bobcats' 9-7 loss to Eastern Michigan Sunday. We need to eliminate those which will help us at the end of the game.
Ohio has won seven of the 13 games in which the team has committed one error or less.
The Bobcat offense has come alive in the last week, scoring six or more runs in four of its last five games. On the season, Ohio has won nine of 16 games when scoring more than six runs.
Willie Walker has led the Bobcat scoring over the last two weeks, batting .394 in those games. He had the winning hit in last Tuesday's victory against West Virginia, another Big East foe.
Ohio has won three of six all-time meetings with the Panthers with its most recent win coming last year.
Pittsburgh (13-20) enters tonight's game having lost nine of its last ten games, including two of three during a weekend series against Big East opponent Villanova.
Carbone said the Panthers are a talented team, and the Bobcats have to improve in many aspects of the game to come away with a win.
Ohio continues its six-game home stand tonight against Pittsburgh. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Bob Wren Stadium.
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Julie Goldberg
