Despite a ninth inning rally, Ohio dropped Sunday’s game at Bowling Green 7-6, ending its Mid-American Conference series winning streak at two and mathematically eliminating itself from the MAC Tournament.
After splitting the first two games of the series with the Falcons, the Bobcats (11-36, 7-17 MAC) trotted out sophomore right hander Connor Sitz for the rubber match. Sitz was looking to rebound from allowing five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings against Buffalo the week before.
Sitz buckled down and delivered one of his sharpest performances of the season, spreading five hits and one walk across six innings with one strikeout. But despite his strong pitching, sloppy defensive play allowed four unearned runs to cross the plate with Sitz on the mound.
“Connor did a good job. He looked more like himself today, changing speeds, throwing a lot of strikes,” coach Rob Smith said. “He did a really good job keeping us in the game and that’s all you can ask out of your starter, especially on a Sunday.”
Smith said he’s been pleased with how his infield defense has performed of late and that Sunday’s poor defense is a minor blip on the radar.
Ohio opened the scoring in the first with a two-out double by center fielder Tyler Wells that plated right fielder Jake Madsen. But the Falcons (23-23, 13-11 MAC) would answer the following half inning on an RBI groundout by Jeremy Shay.
Scoring went silent until the bottom half of the sixth, when Bowling Green built up a three-run lead with an error by Ohio shortstop Garrett Black and a passed ball charged to catcher Nick Bredeson.
But the Bobcats would even up the game at four in the top of the seventh, as sophomore first baseman John Adryan hit his third home run of the season to center field, scoring Madsen and Wells.
Ohio would take a 5-4 lead in the seventh on a throwing error by Falcon third baseman Brandon Howard that would score Ohio third baseman Ty Black.
Bowling Green wouldn’t let that lead stand for long, charging two runs to Logan Cozart by way of an RBI double by Greg Basalyga and a sacrifice fly by Patrick Lancaster in the bottom of the eighth that gave the Falcons a 6-5 lead.
The Bobcats didn’t go down quietly in the ninth, with Black driving in Adryan on a two-out double that tied the game at six.
Black, who went 4 for 5 on the afternoon, has emerged as a viable offensive weapon for the Bobcats, reaching base in nine straight contests.
“He’s one of our young players that I think has, without question, gotten better as the season has gone on,” Smith said of his freshman infielder. “I’m really happy with his progress. He’s worked really hard and he deserves what he got today.”
Despite the late game heroics from Black, he only prolonged the game another half inning as Shay would end the game with a walk-off double in the bottom half of the ninth.
Ohio will return to the field Tuesday for a road matchup against Eastern Kentucky.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
@c_hoppens
