Brandon Besl's big weekend at the plate put Ohio back on track.
The infielder exploded and the Bobcats won two of three games against Miami in Oxford yesterday. They triumphed 12-7 yesterday after a 19-6 win on Saturday, but dropped the first game 13-5 on Friday.
Ohio secured a spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament with the wins, its second in a row and 11th all-time.
Besl, a senior, said he tried to get back to the basics to bring his swing around.
I'm feeling a lot better at the plate
he said. I'm seeing the ball a lot better and just trying to make solid contact.
I just tried to simplify everything.
It worked.
He was 10-of-15 hit four home runs and had six RBIs in his best weekend performance of the year.
Besl struggled earlier in the season playing well below the standards he set for himself after he led the team with a .369 average along with nine home runs and 46 RBIs last season.
But he's hit six home runs in his last eight games and moved into eighth place all-time on the career RBIs list with 147 and seventh on the hits list with 231 in his four years at Ohio.
He smashed his 10th home run of the season
a two-run homer
in the third inning of yesterday's game
which - coupled with a three-run home run from Robert Maddox III
his 10th - gave Ohio six runs in the inning and a 7-2 lead.
Kevin Mementowski and Adam Goodpasture combined for eight innings of relief work and held off the Miami bats to maintain the lead. The win gave Ohio its first MAC series win in three weeks after it won its first five.
Marc Krauss also set the single-season home run record yesterday with his 21st of the year.
Besl said earning a spot in the MAC tournament is a relief
but there's still work to be done.
That's not our main goal, he said
alluding to a regular season championship. As long as we keep on winning, hopefully things will work out.
Coach Joe Carbone agreed.
We're pretty happy about that, he said. But we're still looking for a conference championship.
I still think we have a chance.
The Bobcats held the lead in the MAC East Division before their series with Kent State two weekends ago, but had fallen two games behind the Golden Flashes and Bowling Green after dropping five of six to those teams.
With a couple wins against Buffalo next weekend, Ohio (25-21, 15-9 MAC) could put itself into a position for a higher seed once the MAC Tournament begins May 20.
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