On a steamy Thursday afternoon, coach Rob Smith called on senior Marck Paliotto to start practice while he took time to address the media.
Smith has built up trust in the only upperclassman in Ohio’s starting rotation to demonstrate the hard work it takes to succeed at the collegiate level.
“Marck’s a tremendous worker,” Smith said. “He’s got outstanding work habits and I’m happy that he’s gotten an opportunity … You always want to have your seniors, especially your seniors in prominent roles.”
Paliotto (2-6) has been thrust into the Bobcats’ regular rotation this season after being a lefty specialist in past seasons and is grateful for the opportunity to start every Saturday for Ohio (8-26, 4-8 Mid-American Conference).
“It’s kind of nice, just relaxing and focusing on one game,” Paliotto said. “I like it a lot better than coming in every other game … It’s a much different role.”
Facing Paliotto and the Bobcats this weekend is perhaps their biggest obstacle yet, as they host Northern Illinois at Bob Wren Stadium in the second-to-last weekend home series of the season.
The Huskies (14-20, 9-3 MAC) have been the surprise of the MAC, as they were picked to finish in the bottom of the West Division in a preseason poll of conference coaches.
Northern Illinois’ offense has scored the third-fewest runs and has the fifth-best earned run average in the conference. But a dominant offense and pitching staff are not the reasons the Huskies boast the best record in the West Division.
“We have to play a game where we minimize free bases,” Smith said. “If you look at what they do offensively, they don’t create a lot of their own offense typically. A lot of what they’re able to do is capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. They’re very opportunistic.
“They’ll get base runners through walks, errors and then they’ll get timely hitting … What we have to do is force them to earn what they get.”
This series comes at a critical time in Ohio’s season, as the ultimate goal of winning 12 conference games and reaching a MAC Tournament is quickly slipping out of reach. The Bobcats will have to go 8-7 in their remaining MAC games to reach that mark.
Freshman Jake Miller (1-4), Friday’s starting pitcher, isn’t overthinking the game and is confident that his team has a good chance at winning if it executes.
“I’m not really going to overthink who we’re playing,” Miller said. “If we play a cleaner game we’ll have a shot at winning … Every win is huge for us right now and hopefully this is the weekend we can win a series.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
