Much like the Midwestern weather of Ohio, the Bobcat offense has been consistently inconsistent.
After picking up 11 hits and nine runs in a 9-3 win against Toledo in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, Ohio’s (4-19, 1-2) bats have struggled, managing only 10 hits and three runs in its past two losses against Toledo and Cincinnati, respectively.
The key to turning the slumping offense around in a weekend series at Eastern Michigan (10-13, 0-3) is to simply relax, senior third baseman Ben Otto said.
“We’ve got to focus on not trying to do so much,” he said. “We just need to have fun and then put the bat on the ball.”
Those bats will have to put the bat on the ball, as the Eagles can score runs in bunches, having seven innings in which the team has scored four or more runs.
Coach Rob Smith said the team will have to limit mistakes and not give the Eagles extra at-bats if Ohio wants to have a successful series.
“They’re a good offensive club and they rely on momentum,” Smith said. “They put together big innings in bunches, four, five, six hits in an inning. So we’ll just have to control that a bit when it looks like they’re starting to mount something. We’ll have to slow the game down and contain that momentum a bit.”
That might be a tall task for an Ohio pitching staff that has struggled this season.
Ohio ranks last in the Mid-American Conference with a 5.81 earned run average and has also allowed a league-high 250 hits. The next closest team in the hits allowed category is Western Michigan with 226.
Freshman pitcher Jake Miller will be the first Bobcat pitcher that will try to hold down a patient Eagle offense that is third in the conference with 82 walks this season.
Miller has been named the No. 1 starter on the Ohio staff in each of the Bobcats’ series this season. It’s a pressure-filled role that Smith said Miller is handling very well.
“It’s a lot to ask a freshman to do that,” Smith said. “I don’t even know if it’s fair to put Jake in that situation, but it’s what we’ve had to do this year … He’s a very competitive kid and he’s very well suited to handle it.
“He learns more and more every week on how to handle that role and we’re certainly confident in his preparation.”
For Miller, being the Friday starter for the team isn’t something that he keeps in the front of his mind.
“I kind of just go out there and don’t worry about it,” Miller said. “But usually it sets the tone for how we play over the weekend, on how we play the first game.
So I hope we can get some success on Friday and then carry it on to the next two games.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
