This weekend, Ohio broke a slump that has been lingering over the team for the past two seasons.
The Bobcats won their first series since May of 2012, which is also the first series win with Ohio for coach Rob Smith.
Wins on Friday and Saturday also marked the first time the Bobcats strung together two consecutive victories all year.
“It felt good, I’m really happy with our guys.” Smith said. “I was really happy with the offensive effort. I think they competed well.”
In the past two weekends, there have been encouraging signs from the team that Smith likes to see and this weekend was no different.
Even though they dropped the final game Sunday, the Bobcats came back from shelling five runs in the top of the sixth to scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning. The weekend series victory was a team-wide effort by the entire lineup.
“That’s something that we haven’t seen much this year and now we’re starting to see more of it,” Smith said. “Just hanging in there with the game and even though something bad happens, they come back.”
Ohio gave up 24 runs in the three games this weekend, compared to half of that in the prior series against Toledo last weekend.
The starting pitching of freshmen Jake Roehn and Jake Rudnicki, along with sophomore Connor Sitz was solid at times, but the bullpen didn’t help the Bobcats out much, as they used 12 relievers.
The starting pitchers combined for 18 1/3 innings pitched and a 1-1 record.
“Out of a young ball club you hope to see a lot of that tenacity and fight and (we) definitely showed that,” Smith said. “I just wish that we were able to respond with that out of the bullpen with guys at least forcing the other team to beat them.”
The starting pitchers allowed just eight earned runs on 21 hits and seven walks, while striking out 10 batters in the weekend series.
This team still has just three Mid-American Conference wins and still has yet to get its win column into double-digits, but the Bobcats are on track to end the season the way they should want to, especially with their offensive leader freshman centerfielder Mitch Longo out for the rest of the season.
“We hung in there (Friday) and found a way to win the game … Those are all positive signs,” Smith said. “Even though I would have liked to see us finish these last two games a lot cleaner than we had, they're positive signs that our guys are able to stick with the game a little bit and show some poise and maturity when things go south a little bit.”
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@Alex_Busch91
FAST FACTS
Friday: OHIO 10, Eastern Michigan 7
Saturday: OHIO 7, Eastern Michigan 7 (10 innings)
Sunday: Eastern Michigan 10, OHIO 5
- Coach Rob Smith won his first series at Ohio.
