Fresh off Ohio’s best pitching performance of the season, the Bobcats are back into the pitching uncertainty of their midweek games.
Freshman Connor Sitz pitched a complete game on Sunday against Akron, allowing only seven hits, an earned run and no walks in a 4-2 victory for Ohio (8-26, 4-8 Mid-American Conference) in a game coach Rob Smith termed as a “must-win” after dropping the opening two games of the series.
But on Tuesday, Ohio will return to its typical non-conference, midweek routine against Marshall (13-22, 3-6 Conference USA), in which it will rely on a bevy of hurlers pitching short outings.
It is what sophomore reliever Logan Cozart termed as a “Johnny Wholestaff” game last week.
Marshall, similar to Ohio, is a team that gives away a large number of what Smith terms as “free bases,” which is any event in the field where the opposing runner “doesn’t earn their base.”
The Thundering Herd leads C-USA with 63 errors — 14 more than any other team in the conference. They are also last in the league with a .952 fielding percentage and 890 putouts.
Teams thrive on the base paths against Marshall, as runners have successfully stolen against the Herd in 55 of 75 stolen base attempts this season. Both sums are the highest in C-USA this season.
Pitching has also proven to be a problem for Marshall, as it leads C-USA with 43 wild pitches and five balks, while ranking third in hit batters (42) and second to last in team earned run average (4.46).
On Sunday, it was a balk by Akron redshirt sophomore pitcher Matt LaRocca that allowed two Ohio runners from first and second to advance a base when the Bobcats held a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning.
Freshman outfielder Nick Squires capitalized on that mistake and drove in both runners on a single that scored what proved to be the winning runs.
And after Sunday’s contest, Smith said the team that avoids mistakes would often be successful.
“Most games are lost, not typically won,” he said. “That’s what this game at this level is about. The team that can keep from breaking down and making mistakes to put the other team in a position to score runs is typically going to win.”
Squires said he hopes to continue to capitalize on the opposition’s errors and carry the energy from Sunday’s win into the midweek contest.
“This will build a little bit of momentum coming out with a win on Sunday,” Squires said. “We need to take this into (this) week and we need to take care of Marshall and hopefully get a win.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
