If the Bobcats looked dejected after their 9-0 loss to Central Michigan - the fourth time this season they were blanked - it's probably because they knew they'd been there before, against the exact same pitcher.
Jake Sabol, who came into the game with a 5.68 ERA, allowed six hits and a walk while throwing a complete game Sunday. Sabol never allowed the Bobcats to get any offensive momentum going, getting timely strike outs or fly outs whenever Ohio threatened to score. He threw 104 pitches to 35 batters in a game the Chippewas controlled from the start.
"That kid was the best kid we've faced all year," Ohio coach Joe Carbone said after the game. "He was better than we were today.
"He had a 90 mile-an-hour fastball, a good sinking fastball, a good slider, a good changeup. He was ahead of our hitters all day."
Sabol had a similar performance last year against the Bobcats, allowing one run on seven hits in six innings of work in a 4-2 Central Michigan win 364 days earlier.
But Sabol's success hasn't panned out to the rest of his starts. Before Sunday's game, he was 1-2 this year in 25 innings pitched, with a .301 average of the batters he's faced (Now it's 2-2 in 34.1 innings pitched with a .270 average).
Last year he went 4-5 with a 5.46 ERA and a .354 opposing batting average.
And it's not as if the lineups Sabol's faced are much better than Ohio's. The Chippewas play a similar schedule to the Bobcats. Both teams played Lehigh and Pittsburgh, for example.
So why do the Bobcats always get Sabol's best stuff? Is he, just like ex-Indians pitcher Chuck Finley was known as a Yankee slayer, a Bobcat killer? Whatever the reason, Carbone was impressed by what he saw.
"You see what kind of a pitcher a guy is by the actions of your hitters," the 23-year coach said. "We didn't square with any balls. ... The story of the game today was the pitching for Central. He was dominant.
"We'd get a hit here and there, but we couldn't keep hitting. He made pitches. He made pitches when he had to make pitches."
At least the Bobcats don't have to worry about the same thing happening again next year. Sabol is, thankfully, a senior.
