When Ohio last played Dayton, neither the offense nor the pitching was good enough to make the game close.
The Bobcats had a chance to show improvement Tuesday against the Flyers at Bob Wren Stadium. They didn’t, and Ohio lost 12-5.
“This was a step backwards,” coach Rob Smith said.
The lack of improvement was shown early when the Bobcats gave up six runs in just the first three innings. Ohio only scored in twice in those innings, which left them at a severe disadvantage for the rest of the game.
Rudy Rott led Ohio offensively. The senior recorded three RBIs on two hits. When Rott stole second base in the bottom of the fifth inning, he beat his career high for stolen bases with his fourth of the season.
“I’m not going to claim to be a good athlete,” Rott remarked with a smile. “But my freshman year, I could barely run down to first base.”
Ohio entered the seventh inning down just three runs, but its comeback hopes were squashed when Dayton scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning. Nick Kamrada gave up those four runs on three hits, three of the runs came from a base-clearing double from the Flyer’s Connor Echols.
The defense did not provide the much-needed help for the pitching, though.
Ohio’s two errors allowed three unearned runs to score, which made it easy for Dayton to extend innings and continue the barrage of runs.
“We have got to play cleaner baseball,“ Smith said. “We gave up way too many free bases tonight.”
Smith is right; the Bobcats will need to improve on their sloppy play as they open conference play Friday in a three-game series against Central Michigan. It will be Ohio’s first Mid-American Conference series of the season.
