One story line coming out of the weekend that made coach Rob Smith happier was the stability of Ohio’s often rocky pitching situation.
Though on Friday night freshman ace Jake Miller was knocked out of the game after only 2.1 innings after a ball hit off his hand, senior Brett Barber stepped up to pitch 5.2 innings, his longest outing of the season.
In Ohio’s lone victory of the series on Saturday, Marck Paliotto turned in what had to be his most impressive start of the season, sticking around for 7.1 innings and only allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks.
“We knew Marck had to get late into the game, otherwise we’d have problems with our depth,” Smith said. “He ate up a lot of innings and it really helped us not have to get too deep into our bullpen and it was a huge, huge contribution by him.”
Smith said before Sunday’s game that he wanted starter Connor Sitz to give the team five innings to spell off the bullpen. Sitz only lasted for four innings, allowing six earned runs and ten hits, but Ohio was able to bring back Miller on Sunday, whose injury Friday night turned out to be minor.
Miller pitched three innings, permitting one run on three hits, and got what Smith thought was his necessary work over the weekend.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
