Baseball is a game of numbers, but the only number that matters at tournament time is the number of runs after nine innings.
Ohio (20-33, 13-14 Mid-American Conference) occupies the eighth-and-final seed in the MAC Tournament. The Bobcats fell two positions in the conference standings after being swept by Miami last weekend, which clinched a berth and jumped to the sixth seed.
As a result, they will open play tonight against top-seeded Central Michigan. But a matchup with the league's regular-season champion does not intimidate coach Joe Carbone.
We're all the same
he said. The eight teams in there right now in my opinion some are a little bit better here
some are a little bit better there. Everybody's capable of beating anybody.
The Chippewas (33-20, 20-7 MAC) swept a slumping Ohio squad early in April. The Bobcats fell to 3-21 after the series, but then rallied to win eight of their next 10 games. They went 17-12 the rest of the season.
I think we got more healthy
Carbone said. Our pitchers
especially (Jason) Moulton
are at full health at this point. When we were at Central
(our pitchers) weren't at 100 percent.
Moulton was limited to 1 2/3 innings of relief against the Chippewas. Since then, he has started a game in every conference series.
The tournament will take place at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, where the Bobcats are 2-0 this season. But while they have had success there this year, Carbone said the advantage of playing less than an hour from Athens is null in postseason play.
Proximity I don't think is any advantage because everybody's going to be playing on the same surface
Carbone said.
The disadvantage is that the rest of the schools are out of school
and we're still in school. That's a disadvantage because we'll still be studying. Some guys will have to run back and take tests
he said.
Ohio will rely on solid hitting from the middle of the lineup, a formula that has been successful all season. Senior Jerod Yakubik and juniors Gauntlett Eldemire, Robert Maddox III and Bryan Barnes have paced the Bobcats' offense all season, and their performance might dictate how far Ohio goes in the double-elimination tournament.
I think those guys are going to score some runs. The other guys have been very inconsistent most of the year
