Ohio’s weekend series at Bob Wren Stadium was its first home series of the 2018 season. Ohio didn’t disappoint in its homecoming and won two out of three games over Northern Illinois.
The Bobcats dominated the Huskies in the first and third games, but dropped the middle game of the series due to disappointing pitching.
Gerry Salisbury’s career day on the mound
Ohio pitcher Gerry Salisbury dominated on the mound for the Bobcats in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Salisbury struck out a career-high 11 batters. Salisbury threw seven innings and only gave up one run on four hits. He also didn’t walk any batters.
“It starts with strike one,” Salisbury said. “We talk about it all the time and we know guys aren’t trying to walk batters but it just starts with strike one.”
Without Salisbury pitching in game two, the Bobcats didn't have similar success.
Wild pitching in the clutch
Unlike the first game, Ohio’s pitchers had trouble finding the strike zone in the second game Saturday. Coach Rob Smith went through five pitchers in hopes of finding one who could get the ball over the plate and not give up free bases.
He never found what he was looking for.
The Bobcats gave up 13 free bases — walks, hit-by-pitches and wild pitches. Despite the errant pitching, Ohio’s defense only gave up three runs through nine innings and was expecting its closer, Jake Rohen to keep it that way in the 10th.
Roehn struggled and gave up four hits, walked a batter, and threw a wild pitch, which resulted in three runs and a 6-5 loss .
Back-to-back homers
Ohio has big batters, but had yet to show Northern Illinois what the repercussions were of aggressive pitching.
On Sunday, the Bobcats racked up 17 hits, 12 runs and two home runs.
Despite an Aaron Levy three-run homer at the bottom of the of fourth inning, Huskies' pitcher Parker Kilpatrick put the ball in the same spot to Michael Klein with two on and two outs.
The results were eerily similar.
“Good hitting is contagious," Klein said. "I’m just glad I could contribute to it.”
The Bobcats will look to continue their winning ways when they face Shawnee State on Tuesday.
