Entering a weekend series with Northern Illinois, coach Rob Smith characterized the Huskies as an opportunistic team that took advantage of their opposition’s mistakes.
On Friday night, the Bobcats turned the tables on Northern Illinois, as Ohio (9-26, 5-8 Mid-American Conference took down the MAC West leading Huskies 5-4.
After the Huskies (14-21, 9-4 MAC) opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the third, Ohio countered in the next inning.
Third baseman Ben Otto drew a lead-off walk and catcher Cody Gaertner blasted a pitch that hung over the inside half of the plate over the right field wall.
“Cody’s home run was big in the sense that they scored those two runs, and to come out and tie the game up quickly I think showed our team that we were in the game and we had a chance to win it,” Smith said. “They competed and did a good job pulling it out.”
In the fourth, the Bobcats loaded the bases with no outs by way of an error, a hit batter and a bunt single by designated hitter Kyle Dean. Otto then hit a deep fly out to center that allowed shortstop Dan Schmidt to tag up and score from third.
Northern Illinois tied it up once again in the top of the sixth, with catcher Nate Ruzich dropping a single into left that drove in left fielder Landon Tenhagen.
But Ohio took the lead for good in the sixth, as Gaertner drove in a run on another sacrifice fly and first baseman Jake Madsen roped a single right field to score Otto.
Freshman Jake Miller built off of last Friday’s strong performance against Akron, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and four walks in his second career win as a collegiate pitcher.
“Jake did a good job at least getting us into the game,” Smith said. “I don’t think he was as sharp as he was in some outings before. … He battled and he competed deep into that game.”
Senior Brett Barber pitched a scoreless 2.1 innings, shutting the door on the Huskies while only allowing no hits or walks.
This is the second MAC series where Ohio has taken the opening game, but the Bobcats have yet to win a series in conference play. Smith said taking the opening game of the series is paramount, which is why he kept Barber in to finish the game in the ninth.
“From here on out, he’s the first man out of the bullpen,” Smith said. “We’re going to sell out each game we get the opportunity to do that. If that means we have to extend him like we did tonight for two and a third, we’re going to.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
