Ohio is headed to Buffalo and Kent State this weekend for another pair of Mid-American Conference series.
For just the second time all season, Ohio’s biggest fan won’t be in attendance.
Coach Jodi Hermanek gave birth to her daughter, Emma, last spring. This season, her daughter has been in attendance for every series except for one. However, she won’t be able to make this weekend’s road series against Buffalo and Kent State.
“I’ll be with my other daughters,” Hermanek said.
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Ohio will head to Buffalo (7-26, 0-6 Mid-American Conference) for a doubleheader Friday, then to Kent on Saturday and Sunday for a set with the Golden Flashes (23-8, 4-1 MAC).
“We have what Buffalo wants, and the pressure is on Kent, so that means that we have to stay steady,” Hermanek said. “Stay focused on our game, our uniform and what we can control.”
Ohio was swept by Central Michigan last Friday but rallied to sweep Eastern Michigan to end the weekend.
With only three weeks until postseason play begins, Ohio (11-20, 4-2 MAC) finds itself squarely in the middle of the MAC.
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“We’re right where we want to be. Everyone wants to be No. 1, but we’re not and that’s OK; that’s not a bad thing,” Hermanek said. “We were a five-seed going into the tournament last year, so we’re right where we need to be at this stage of the conference.”
Facing a team at the bottom and top of the MAC in the same weekend could pose a threat to Ohio, but Hermanek is making sure the Bobcats are focused on keeping their game plan about what they can control.
“We’re gonna face a pitching staff where we need to be disciplined in the control of the speed, and then we’ll face another good pitching staff where we need to be disciplined in pitch selection,” Hermanek said. “It’s all about us, and what we can control.”
The Bobcats will look for their powerful lineup to continue hitting this week. They hit five home runs last weekend, three of which came off the bat of redshirt senior Raven King.
King’s parents were in attendance to see her performance and her hit the 30th home run of her career last weekend.
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“I don’t know what it is about 30, but when you hit 30 you’re like ‘Yes I finally made it’ so it was a huge deal for me and my family,” King said.
She moved into second-place of all-time career homeruns, which is second in program history to Lauren Gellerman’s 48 homers.
“It means a lot, especially breaking 28. The girl I passed up, Emily Wethington, was a senior when I was a freshman,” King said. “She was the one who took me under her wing and said ‘this is how things are going to go for you,’ and she was that person I always went to for everything.”
King’s power has not gone unnoticed by Hermanek, who knows it makes Ohio’s lineup tough to defend against.
“It’s just been making the middle and bottom parts of our lineup tough to defend, and that’s what we need to do,” Hermanek said. “We need to be very challenging to defend. We’ve got some serious bats and power in that six, seven and eight spot.”
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