Ohio dropped the first game of their weekend tournament in Wilmington, North Carolina earlier today, falling to Liberty with a final score of 8-5. Parker Bean was the winning pitcher for Liberty, while Jake Roehn (0-1) took the loss for Ohio.
Liberty got the scoring going in the first inning with an RBI double, but it was the third inning which the Flames used to break things open. Following a pair of errors by Bobcat infielders, Ryan Seiz crushed a 3-run homer to right field. Andrew Yacyk came to the plate right after Seiz and homered to center field, giving Liberty an intimidating 5-0 advantage early.
Ohio came up with a respectable answer in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs on two hits and a Liberty error to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Liberty again cashed in on a big Ohio error in the 5th inning, scoring on a run on one of two errors made by Bobcats 2B Connor Callery during the game. It followed with a sacrifice fly that pushed them ahead 7-3. Ohio answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs of its own on an error by Liberty shortstop Connor Karanen, bringing them back to within two runs, down 7-5.
The Bobcats were unable to close the gap any further against Liberty's stingy bullpen, getting shut down the rest of the way.
Roehn pitched 4 1/3 innings for Ohio, giving up seven runs, just two of which earned, on five hits. Roehn struck out four and walked a pair.
Jake Madsen went 2-4 for the Bobcats with an RBI. Callery also came through with a multi-hit performance, going 2-3. Scott White went 1-4 with a double.
Ohio will battle UNC-Wilmington at 6:00pm later today.
