Joe Carbone realized that he had to make a change in the starting rotation. After a nine-game losing streak where Bobcat pitchers lasted a little over three innings per start, Carbone decided to turn to two of his more reliable relievers.
What we did this year was go with some starters that were older guys who earned the right to start
Carbone said. Now we are going with guys like (Kevin) Mementowski (Chris) Rigo and Zeke Isaacs. We gave them a challenge to be a starting pitcher and we got as good of pitching as we had gotten all year.
While Ohio dropped all three games of its series against Eastern Michigan, the new starters allowed a combined total of two earned runs the entire series and garnered the praises of Eastern Michigan coach Roger Coryell.
The best thing that I heard at the end of the day from coach Coryell was that Mementowksi and Rigo were two of the best pitchers they faced all year and thought that we played harder than any team they faced
Carbone said.
The Bobcats (12-20, 2-10 Mid-American Conference) will look to turn accolades into substance in the win column today against Cincinnati. Rather than pitch one of his starters on short rest, Carbone will go with reliever Adam Goodpasture, and pitch multiple relievers throughout the game.
We have to get all of the relief pitchers who didn't get a lot of innings into the game
Carbone said. What we are going to do is split up the game and have them each pitch one or two innings.
After a stretch of five games where the Bobcats averaged seven runs a game, the Eagles' pitchers shut down the Ohio offense, limiting it to only four runs over the entire series, all of which were scored in the final game of the series.
Third baseman Brandon Besl said that the Bobcats must be more aggressive at the plate against pitchers like they were earlier in the season.
We started off the season mentally ready to play and we were poised
he said. Right now we are second-guessing ourselves
and we need to get back to where we were.
The Bobcats are on a five-game losing streak and haven't won on the road this season. Cincinnati is 12-3 at home.
Ohio appears to be at a significant disadvantage on the base paths. While Ohio has 29 stolen bases on the season, Cincinnati has snatched 93 bases on the year, led by outfielder Tony Campana who has 42.
Carbone said that the Bobcats must limit the Bearcats' ability to steal and added that it starts with the pitchers on the mound.
We have to get better at holding runners on
Carbone said. They are stealing bases when (catcher Chris Klimko) doesn't have a chance to throw people out.
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