There’s immense pressure on Jake Miller to be an ace for Ohio in his freshman year as the Bobcats deal with a lack of depth in pitching.
But Miller lived up to his spot in the rotation as he pitched eight innings, permitting only two runs and six hits while striking out a season-high nine batters in a bitter 4-2 Ohio defeat at the hands of Akron.
Ohio played a clean game until the top of the tenth inning, when senior shortstop Dan Schmidt airmailed a routine ground ball, advancing Akron second baseman to second on the throw that landed in the Zips’ dugout with the score tied at two.
Designated hitter Daulton Mosbarger then hit a grounder at second baseman Nate Squires, but the ball bounced on the lip of the infield grass, causing it to soar over the freshman’s head and allowing the eventual winning run to score.
A single from Akron shortstop Matt Rembliak scored Mosbarger and provided the Zips with their final run of the evening.
“It was a very disappointing loss,” coach Smith said. “Those are basic plays that we should be able to make. That’s where we’re at. We have to get better defensively and I’ve told these guys from the beginning that if you want to be a championship-caliber team, it starts with defense.
“And tonight was another example of that as the game was decided by making routine plays.”
It was a game of missed opportunities, as the Bobcats made several base running errors and missed a crucial opportunity to blow the game open as a chance with the bases loaded and no outs in the third produced only one run.
Ohio fell behind early due to a fielder’s choice that scored Mosbarger in the first inning.
It was then that Smith went out to calm Miller down, and after that visit, the coach felt his starter really locked in.
“He took a deep breath, go through that inning with minimal damage and just locked in,” Smith said. “That’s Jake, he’s a competitor and I appreciate how he competes.”
But the Bobcats countered only two innings later, as sophomore catcher Cody Gaertner continued his red-hot streak with the bat, singling in Squires, who recorded two singles in the contest.
Akron again took the lead in the fourth, milking a run out of another fielder’s choice that knocked in right fielder Joey Havrilak after he lead off the inning with a triple.
The final run for Ohio came in the bottom of the fifth, when senior third baseman Ben Otto ripped a single down the third baseline to score right fielder Scott White.
Smith said that the team cannot let one loss on Friday cause the team to drop a second game against Akron on Saturday.
“It would be disappointing losing this game,” Smith said. “But the only thing more disappointing is to let this one linger and not come out and play hard (tomorrow).”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
