Now that I finally have internet at Bob Wren Stadium, I can update everyone as to what's happened so far. The Bobcats and Penguins are tied going into the bottom of the seventh.
This is a classic mid-week game for Ohio in that there are plenty of backups in the game. In fact, there are more than usual, maybe because this is the Bobcats' first mid-week game in two weeks. Today's game was actually supposed to be played last week, but was postponed because of rain.
As I walked in the stadium, third baseman Dan Warn and first baseman Taylor Emody were hanging out in the stands wearing sweats. Carbone probably wanted to get more players some time because the starters play the weekend games, and there hasn't been a mid-week game for a while.
So there were several reserves in to start the game. Kory Burkhardt started in left field in place of Jensen Painter. Bryan Barnes, usually the second baseman, was playing third while Ward had the day off and Wes O'Neill was at second.
Tyler Backstrom, who played first last season but has mostly been a pitcher this year, started at first. J.R. Reynolds caught in place of Trace Voshell and Kyle Dean was at DH.In the top of the fifth, right fielder Adam Gecewich replaced Ethan Newton in center and Painter took his spot at right.
But on to the game. Freshman Scott White started the game having only pitched seven total innings going in to today. He had a 2.57 ERA.
On the third at-bat of the game, Youngstown State's Jeremy Banks blasted a wall just past the center field fence to put the Penguins up 1-0.
The score remained there until the bottom of the second, when Gecewich hit a ball to deep right field. Youngstown State left fielder Joe Iacobucci ran the ball down, but flailed at it and couldn't make the catch. Gecewich had himself a triple, and in the next at-bat Garrett Black hit a sacrifice infield ground ball to second to tie the game.
Then, in the next frame, the Penguins' leadoff hitter, David Leon, blasted another ball to deep right, just over the fence. 2-1 Youngstown State.
The Penguins held the lead until the fifth, when O'Neill singled. He then stole second, and Burkhardt singled him home to tie the game.
The score could be 4-2 Ohio, however. With runners on second and third in the fourth, Kyle Dean chopped a ball just in front of the plate. Bryan Barnes raced home from third, but not before Youngstown State's pitcher flipped the ball to the catcher and easily tagged Barnes out.
The same thing happened in the sixth. With Gecewich on third, Dean hit a grounder to the second baseman, who whipped it home and tagged Gecewich out.
Eighth Inning
Captain Hook made another appearance as Carbone put in his fourth pitcher of the game, Marck Paliotto, for Ben Trimbur.
Then, against the first batter he faced, Jeremy Banks absolutely got a hold of one and jacked it clear over the left field wall and into the Ohio Softball Field. 3-2 Youngstown State. All three of the Penguins' runs have come on solo home runs. They have now surpassed the total number of home runs they had all season (2) in one game.
The Bobcats have two more chances to pull ahead of a team that is 11-30 and 6-9 in the Horizon League.
Ohio came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. In the second at-bat of the frame, Garrett Black hit a bloop to right field that just got over the first baseman's head. With a right hander on the mound for Youngstown State, Carbone opted to play the matchup, as he often does, and put in lefty Seth Streich for Kyle Dean. Streich popped up in foul territory on the first pitch.
Carboe again pinch hit, this time putting in Doug Holmes for J.R. Reynolds. After a long at-bat, Holmes hit a grounder in the gap between first and second base to score Black.
Ninth Inning
Normal starter Trace Voshell replaced Reynolds after Holmes pinch hit. After getting two flyouts to start the inning, Phil Lipari singled to left field off Brett Barber and then stole second.
Barber then struck out Greg Dissinger to end the inning. The bottom of the ninth is coming up.
Wes O'Neill started off the ninth with a walk. He advanced to second on a sac bunt by Jensen Painter and got to third on a groundout from Kory Burkhardt. Two batters later, Adam Gecewich flied out to right to end the inning. We have extra innings.
Tenth Inning
Youngstown State pinch hit Armani Johnson (yes, Armani Johnson) to start the 10th, and he walked. Then in the next at-bat, David Leon squared to bunt, and then Voshell caught it and threw to first for a pick-off. The throw was inaccurate, about a yard away from first base in fair play. As Johnson made to get back to first (he would've been cooked if Voshell's throw hadn't been off), Backstrom lunged to catch it. He ended up leading over the sliding Johnson, making the catch and then swiping at Johnson with his glove. He wasn't out, though, because the ball popped loose from the glove. Johnson was down for a few minutes, presumably because the ball might have hit his face or helmet.
Barber throws a wild pitch, moving Johnson to third. Neil Schroth than walks. One pitch into the next at-bat, Carbone comes out for a mound meeting. To my surprise, Choban stayed in the game. One out, runners on first and third. 3-3 ballgame, top 10th.
Man, Jeremy Banks is having himself a day. After starting with two solo homers, he just doubled to center field to put Youngstown State up 4-3. Barber walked the next batter intentionally. Bases loaded. One out.
Ohio got out of it and Garrett Black started the bottom of the 10th with a walk. Then Seth Streich doubled to deep left field. Black scored easily. Then, as the ball was tossed back to the infield, the play wasn't quite dead when Streich made a dash for third, in an apparent attempt to catch the Penguins off guard. But they shortstop tossed it to the third baseman to tag him out.
Trace Voshell and Tyler Backstrom grounded out to end the inning. 4-4 going into the top of the 11th.
Eleventh Inning
Youngstown State went 1-2-3 in the top of the inning.
O'Neill started off the Bobcats with his second walk of the game It's the fourth time today he's been on base. Jensen Painter then bunted him over to second, the second time he's done so today. Burkhardt is up with a chance for a walk-off hit.
Burkhardt walks, then Bryan Barnes grounds out to the third baseman, who steps on third. 4-4 going into the 12th.
Twelth Inning
Black started out the Bobcats' half of the inning by popping up to the first baseman. Then Seth Streich popped one up high above home plate. It should've been a gimme play, but the catcher dropped the ball. With Streich standing on first, coach Joe Carbone came out to argue. He could be heard saying, "foul ball? he was standing in fair territory!" Streich struck out. 2 outs. Tyler Backstrom flies out to left. 4-4 going into the 13th.
13th inning
The Penguins went down in order in the top of the inning by hitting three straight balls at pitcher Ryan Burgett.
For the third time tonight, Wes O'Neill walked and Jensen Painter bunted him over to second. We'll see if the Bobcats can finally take a lead. My computer is about to run out of juice, so that'll be it for me. As of right now, it's 4-4 in the bottom of the 13th with one out and a man on second.
Burkhardt grounds to short, but he bobbles. E6. Men on first and second. Bryan Barnes hits a sac fly to left. Winning run scores.
Final score: Ohio 5, Youngstown State 4
