Ohio could not get off to the start it wanted to on its home field over the weekend, losing a series to the University of Illinois Chicago two games to one. The two entered Sunday’s game tied with one win each, but it was a dominant UIC offense that would end Ohio’s hope of a series victory early.
The Bobcats went on to lose Sunday’s game 7-3.
After only using two pitchers in each of the first two games of the series, Ohio’s bullpen was relatively rested; therefore, the team ended up treating Sunday’s matchup as something of a bullpen game.
Jack Geiser started on the mound for the Bobcats and pitched only one inning, allowing three runs off three hits and two walks. It was the walks that made Geiser’s appearance a forgettable one, allowing each of the first two batters of the game to reach ball four and then later score in the inning.
“I see a lack of execution; it’s something that we work on, talk about throughout the week,” Ohio coach Craig Moore said. “You can work and do all this, but when the game starts, and you get in between the white lines, you’ve got to be able to execute, and we’re not doing that right now.”
Staring at a 3-to-nothing deficit early, Ohio’s offense came to the plate and hit a couple of balls hard to the outfield, but nothing fell in for a hit.
Ohio did not tally its first hit of the ballgame until the third inning when UIC already had a 5-0 lead.
Dillon Masters came out of the bullpen for Ohio to pitch a good portion of the early innings. Masters’ outing did little to stop the early onslaught from UIC when he allowed a home run to the second batter he faced, Zane Zielinski.
Masters’ day would end after the fourth inning when he was relieved by Tyler Peck.
The offense’s only sign of life came in the bottom of the third when it was able to record its only three runs of the game. The key hit of the inning was a lined single up the middle by Cole Williams with the bases loaded to bring in two runs.
Following Williams’ at-bat, Gideon Antle stepped up to the plate and hit a hard ground ball for a double-play, ending the Bobcat’s rally.
After UIC scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings off Ohio reliever Tyler Peck, Ohio did not mount anything offensively for the rest of the game.
Ohio sent Patrick Straub to the mound in the eighth and ninth innings, and he shut down the UIC offense better than anyone else had. In two innings of work, Straub recorded one strikeout while allowing no walks, no runs and one hit.
Ohio ended the game with just one strikeout as a team, a good sign for the offense, but the team couldn’t do enough with runners in scoring position to make up for an early deficit.
“It’s baseball,” Moore said. “... I would rather see loud outs than weak outs … at least guys are on time, and they’re putting a good swing on the ball. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and we’ll be fine offensively.”
