Ohio is the comeback kid of the Mid-American Conference right now, but it doesn’t want to be that forever.
In all three games of its series against Eastern Michigan, Ohio had to claw its way out of a deficit to obtain a win.
The Bobcats fell down in the first inning of Saturday’s game and the Eagles kept piling on runs until the sixth inning. Luckily, as soon as the Eagles stopped scoring runs, the Bobcats collected all seven of their runs for the night to take the win.
“Yesterday we definitely did get off to a slow start,” Mason Minzey said. “The opposing team pitcher, he was really good and he was able to locate multiple pitches.”
The slowness didn’t carry over into Sunday though. Ohio started game one with a bang on offense after Minzey hit a home run to right field. However, Ohio had already given up three runs in the top of the first.
Ohio cleaned up its mess in the bottom of the first and left itself with just a one-run deficit. Ohio claimed the victory after a six-run sixth inning, which had no extra-base hits. Game two looked a little different with Ohio taking the lead first, and rather having to scrap to get it back with another strong sixth inning.
The effort was valiant and showed that the Bobcats still have one of the best, if not the best, offenses in the MAC. However, the comeback methodology might not be sustainable for the Bobcats.
Ohio made a comeback in game two of its doubleheader against Bowling Green on March 11 and in a game against Northern Illinois on March 26. The win against Bowling Green was also the product of a strong sixth inning, however, the win against Northern Illinois was from a third and fourth inning explosion.
The late-inning push has become a trend for Ohio.
“Currently there’s a trend. I don’t want it to be a trend. We’d like to get out and get leads, be able to hold leads with our pitching and be able to continue to add runs throughout the game,” Ohio coach Craig Moore said.
Ohio has been able to hold onto leads before, too. It did so against Bowling Green in game one of the March 11 doubleheader, against Central Michigan on March 18 and against Western Kentucky on Feb. 26.
Although, there have been times when Ohio’s pitching has been busted in half by its opponents, subsequently squashing the lead. That was the case when Ohio played Morehead State on March 21. Ohio lost a 2-1 lead after an eight-run second inning by Morehead, and lost another slight lead later in the game.
Pitching has been a question mark for Ohio all season, but up to this point, the offense has been able to back the bullpen. It makes the bullpen fearless on the mound and allows them to perform as Jacob Tate and Braxton Kelly did on Sunday.
“Coming in there and not being afraid of what can happen and just being able to throw strikes and get your team back in the game (is what it takes),“ Jacob Tate said. “The last thing you want is somebody to come in and give up a bunch of runs. It kind of deflates the momentum that we have."
