Matt Stiffler's name has been cemented into coach Joe Carbone's lineup for years.
But when the Bobcats begin their season tomorrow in Davidson, N.C., the Ohio coach will have to break out the chisel.
Stiffler was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 27th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June. He hit .354 with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs last season for the Bobcats.
Replacing Stiffler is something Ohio is ready for.
Matt Stiffler is one of the best hitters we've had here in a long while
Carbone said. But everyone else will have to pick up the pieces so to speak.
Taking over for Stiffler in center field will be Gauntlett Eldemire. The sophomore will be moving over from left field.
It's going to be hard filling Stiffler's shoes Eldemire said. He led the team in homers and RBIs. I was talking with coach and he said I just have to be more of a leader out there.
The move to center shouldn't be a problem for Eldemire.
The Shaker Heights native was a star centerfielder for his high school team two years ago. He was ranked as the top right-handed hitting centerfielder in Ohio. Eldemire did not commit an error in his senior season.
Helping make up some of Stiffler's lost production will be Marc Krauss.
Playing next to Eldemire in right field, Krauss is coming into the season as one of the most highly decorated Bobcats of all time.
On Monday, Krauss was named to Baseball America's
Preseason All-America Third Team. The junior is the only player from the Mid-American Conference to make any of Baseball America's All-America teams. He is one of only nine players from a non-BCS conference to be placed on one of the teams.
He also was rated the 44th-best Major League prospect in college last November and has since moved up to 36th-best, according to Carbone.
Marc is a great athlete and a very talented young man
Carbone said. He's proven himself in all levels of competition. He's the only Ohio University player to ever be a Preseason All-American pick.
Through all the hype, Krauss has managed to stay humble.
It's pretty surreal
he said. It's pretty crazy to think that I've become one of the better players in the country. There are so many good players everywhere you go.
It's a great honor to be up there but it doesn't mean anything if I don't produce this year.
Krauss and the Bobcats will look to start the season off on the right track with four games this weekend against Davidson
Army and Lafayette.
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27158,2009-02-19 00:21:00,Women's Basketball: Freshman finds footing as starter,Freshman Da'Keisha Mann has stepped up to fill a starting role for the injury-plagued Bobcats.,Da'Keisha Mann never had a choice about playing sports.
Her two brothers Da'Shawn and David both played football and basketball at Brookhaven High School in Columbus
where Da'Keisha lettered in three sports.
She started for three years in varsity basketball and earned All-Ohio Special Mention honors.
The boys didn't take any pity on their younger sister around the house.
I got beat on by them, Da'Keisha said with a grin.
Da'Shawn went on to play basketball at California University of Pennsylvania.
But now his sister is the star of the family. The freshman is the only first-year player to have started this season for Ohio. She has started the last four games.
That doesn't mean she still doesn't take a beating from her family.
David and Da'Keisha's mother
Teresa
make the more than an hour trip from Columbus to catch most of the Bobcats' home games. If Da'Keisha made a mistake while on the court
they're the first to let her know.
But Da'Keisha said she knows it's out of love.
They're my biggest critics, she said. I get off the court and they tell me what I did wrong.
If Da'Keisha keeps improving
though
