Ohio's Eddie Fitzpatrick stared blankly out to left field as his eighth-inning slider sailed over the wall.
It was the first home run he’d given up as a Bobcat and it was a big one.
Fitzpatrick gave up the decisive runs and took the loss for Ohio, which fell 8-5 to Youngstown State on Tuesday night at Bob Wren Stadium.
“It was pretty simple,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just left some off-speed (pitches) up and they hit them pretty well. That one’s on me.”
Fitzpatrick entered the game in the eighth inning with a one-run lead the Bobcats had taken an inning before. It didn’t take long for that lead to disappear.
The Youngstown State leadoff hitter smacked a double off the right field wall. The next batter singled to right field to put runners on the corners. A fielder’s choice in the next at-bat tied the game.
“I thought we were going to get out of it,” Ohio coach Rob Smith said. “He didn’t make an adjustment on a slider.”
That slider is what doomed the Bobcats.
The ball left the bat and rose into the clear, dark sky before bouncing off the protective netting above the left field wall. The two-run homer gave the Penguins a 7-5 lead, from which the Bobcats did not recover.
Fitzpatrick finished the inning with a flyout, but the damage was done. He gave up three earned runs on three hits in one inning.
Coming into the game, Fitzpatrick was one of Ohio’s stingiest right-handed relievers. In six previous appearances, he’s held opponents to five hits and one earned run.
He said his success stems from commanding pitches low in the strike zone and keeping balls in play for his defense. That didn’t happen Tuesday.
The other five Ohio pitchers, however, faired well with their command. They collectively gave up just three hits to Youngstown State.
“Our staff is starting to trend in a good direction,” Fitzpatrick said. “I like where we’re at, I just wish I could’ve closed this one out for us.”
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Ohio (9-11) took its only lead in the seventh inning by stringing together four-straight hits. Cody Gaertner, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games, got the offense started. After three more singles, the Bobcats scored three runs to grab a brief 5-4 lead.
The lead came unraveled in the next half-inning. But Fitzpatrick, a redshirt senior who’s in his first season at Ohio as a graduate student, won’t dwell on the outing very long.
“Twenty minute rule,” he said. “You’ve got to learn from what you did in this game, reflect on it for 20 minutes after the game, use it as a little motivation for practice the next few days and get after it this weekend.”
@JordanHorrobin
jh950614@ohio.edu
