Last weekend’s series on the road against Mid-American Conference opponent Eastern Michigan started out with a 5-3 victory and an opportunity for Ohio to notch its first series victory of the season.
However, victory eluded the Bobcats (5-21, 2-4) as the Eagles pounced on weak starting pitching performances to Marck Paliotto and Connor Sitz on Saturday and Sunday en route to Ohio’s second MAC series defeat of the season.
But Tuesday evening at Bob Wren Stadium provides Ohio with an opportunity to shift momentum back into its corner, as Xavier (10-13, 4-2 Atlantic 10) comes to Athens.
The Musketeers, who are a game behind George Washington and Saint Louis for the Atlantic 10 lead, enter the series after experiencing some poor pitching of their own, allowing 19 runs in a three-game series against the Billikens.
With those struggles on the mound, there has been success at the plate as Xavier has scored 11 or more runs seven times this season. This includes a three-game sweep of St. Bonaventure where the Musketeers averaged 12.6 runs per contest.
This presents a matchup problem for Ohio, who is second last in the MAC with a 5.76 team earned run average and displayed a subpar pitching performance against Eastern Michigan on Sunday that saw the Bobcats allow 13 runs.
“Obviously we have issues on the mound with depth and we got exposed a little bit,” coach Rob Smith said. “We’re doing the best we can with it, but unfortunately it’s a tough situation and we’ll manage it as best we can.”
The consistent struggles on the mound have overshadowed what was a strong weekend for Ohio’s offense.
Senior shortstop Dan Schmidt has reached base in 13 straight games. And out of players who have played in at least 20 games, sophomore first baseman Jake Madsen ranks ninth in the conference with a .330 batting average.
After going 1-11 in the first two games of the series, sophomore catcher Cody Gaertner notched three hits Sunday, raising his batting average to .279 on the season.
“We started to get the bats going,” Gaertner said. “… I struggled at the plate Friday and Saturday. I was just trying to clear my head and get past that for Sunday. I’m trying to continue (a hitting) streak now through the rest of the games.”
Streaking bats will help, but Smith said these midweek non-conference games are difficult for a team with a severe lack of reliable arms like Ohio.
“Every game is important to us,” Smith said. “We want to try to win every game that we play, but unfortunately with our lack of pitching depth, it forces us into having to be creative midweek. So we’re going to do the best we can with it and see what we come up with.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
