Ohio's bats were sleeping most of the weekend, and by the time they woke up, Miami was too far ahead for them to catch.
After two outstanding outings from starting pitchers, the RedHawks finished off the Bobcats yesterday in high-scoring fashion.
In the process, the Bobcats (20-33, 13-14 Mid-American Conference) dropped from sixth to eighth in the conference standings. They will play top-seeded Central Michigan Wednesday in the first round of the MAC Tournament.
Miami (28-26, 13-14 MAC) clinched a tournament berth with Friday's victory and then leapfrogged the Bobcats and seventh-seeded Eastern Michigan by completing the sweep Saturday.
Quite honestly
I don't think the seed is a big deal in baseball coach Joe Carbone said. It all depends on who's pitching.
Pitching proved to be the key to success this weekend for the RedHawks. Tyler Melling followed up Mac Thoreson's complete-game win Thursday with a solid outing Friday to lead Miami to a 7-3 victory. Melling threw 7 1/3 innings and yielded just two earned runs and struck out six.
(Melling) threw the breaking ball and the changeup for strikes Carbone said. Their pitching is very good.
Sloppy field conditions and a number of controversial calls by the umpires highlighted the game. Both starting pitchers balked once, and two outfielders slipped while tracking down fly balls. Ground balls sped across the infield grass and into the outfield for base hits.
They've got a fast infield
Carbone said. They hit some ground balls that got through.
Poor pitching and missed opportunities doomed the Bobcats Saturday. The Bobcats outhit the RedHawks but did not capitalize with runners in scoring position, leading to a 16-9 thumping.
We didn't hit the ball early in the game when we needed to do it
Carbone said. We got a couple men on base
and then we just couldn't put together a big inning.
Ohio struggled on the mound despite striking out 12 RedHawks. Of the eight pitchers who took the mound, six yielded at least one run. The pitching staff combined for six walks, four hit batsmen, a wild pitch and a balk.
We're getting guys some work because of the rainout we had earlier
Carbone said. The only guy that threw well in my mind was (starting pitcher Brent) Choban.
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Michael Stainbrook
