The Ohio baseball team (7-12 overall, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) evened its conference record with a 6-2 win in the first game against Kent State Friday behind a strong performance from Derek Witt.
In the longest outing by an Ohio pitcher this year, Witt (3-1) pitched 8 and 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and struck out five Kent State batters.
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said the right-hander threw the ball well throughout the game.
He was spotting his fastball well and was getting his breaking ball in for strikes
he said. He was ahead of hitters throughout the game.
The Ohio offense gave Witt more than enough runs to work with, led by third baseman Brian Colopy, who went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in.
Carbone said the team hit well in all situations during the game.
We made some contact with men in scoring position he said. Later in the game we did a good job with the hit-and-run play.
In the opening inning, lead-off hitter Phil Sabatini reached first base on a fielding error by the Golden Flashes' third baseman Andrew Davis. He advanced to second when Anthony Gressick reached base on another Kent State fielding error.
Both Bobcat runners advanced on the Golden Flashes' third error of the inning. Sabatini scored Ohio's first run of the game on Jared Willis' RBI single to right field. Gressick followed, crossing the plate when Dusty Hammond lined out to right field.
Ohio extended its lead to 3-0 in the second on a single by Colopy, which brought Willie Walker to the plate. In the bottom half of the inning, Kent State cut the Bobcats' lead to 3-1.
In the top of the sixth inning, Willis drew a walk and advanced to third on a single by Hammond. Willis crossed the plate on an RBI groundout by Brian White, scoring Ohio's fourth run of the game.
The Bobcat offense closed out the game with two runs on RBI singles from Gressick and Colopy in the top of the ninth to make the score 6-1.
Witt started the bottom of the inning looking to pitch a complete game, but after giving up two hits and a run, Carbone brought in reliever Dan O'Rourke to finish out the game for the Bobcats. The right-hander struck out Kent State center fielder Joe Tucker to end the game.
The three-game series turned into a one-game affair after the remaining two games were cancelled due to bad weather.
The Bobcats return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday against Xavier.
-Julie Goldberg
17
Archives
Julie Goldberg
