A day after earning its first road win of the season with a 16-14 win over Cincinnati, Ohio couldn't manage to find its presence at the plate at key times against West Virginia.
The Bobcats (13-21, 2-10 Mid-American Conference) found themselves trailing the Mountaineers from the outset of last night's 6-1 loss as West Virginia scored in the first inning off a sacrifice fly.
After West Virginia (22-11) upped its lead to 2-0 in the top of the second, outfielder Willie Walker scored to put Ohio on the board and close within one. Walker's run would be Ohio's only tally of the game.
The Mountaineers responded in the third inning with three more runs to go up 5-1 and place the Bobcats in a hole they have rarely been able to climb out of all season. Ohio is 1-14 when trailing after the third this year.
West Virginia would not score again until the seventh, notching the game's final run to make the score 6-1, but what limited the Bobcats was their inability to get a hit once they had runners in scoring position.
We just left too many men on base. We had opportunities to score
and we didn't do it coach Joe Carbone said, noting that in the third and sixth innings, Ohio had the bases loaded, but failed to score any runs. The Bobcats left nine runners on base through the course of the game.
Ohio managed only six total hits, all against West Virginia starter Josh Whitlock, who put in a solid performance, lasting eight innings throwing 126 pitches, 80 for strikes.
(Whitlock) mixed up his pitches real well said outfielder Jared Willis, who was the only Bobcat to get more than one hit in last night's game. He was able to get his breaking pitch over pretty much the whole night
so I think that's what made him more effective.
Carbone said he was pleased with Zach Elmer and Andrew Shisila's relief performances. Elmer allowed one run and no hits in three innings, while Shisila allowed one hit in the final two innings.
Two Ohio bats that came to life in Tuesday's game against Cincinnati were not in the Bobcats' lineup against the Mountaineers.
Outfielder Jeremie Rehak and regular shortstop Hayden Johnston, who scored six runs combined against the Bearcats, sat out yesterday because of a sprained foot and sprained wrist, respectively. Carbone said their status for this weekend's series against Buffalo will be evaluated today.
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Katie Carrera
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Ohio second baseman Bryant Witt gets West Virginia third baseman Vince Belnome out at second base and turns to complete the double play in the third inning of the Bobcats 6-1 loss to the Mountaineers yesterday.
