Hayden Johnston's teammates stared in disbelief as he rounded the bases. Their stares quickly turned to excitement, though, as they mobbed him at home plate.
Johnston's walkoff, two-run homer to center field gave the Bobcats their second consecutive walkoff victory, a 12-11 win over Buffalo at Bob Wren Stadium on Friday.
Awesome
Johnston said. Walkoffs are what everybody dreams about when they are little playing in the backyard.
Johnston's teammates weren't celebrating in a meaningless pickup game in the backyard, though. A Mid-American Conference title was still up for grabs and Johnston's teammates had a good reason to be shocked.
Because this victory was anything but expected.
We looked horrible for four or five innings coach Joe Carbone said. And then once in a while we wake up.
Ohio was sound asleep through five and a half innings trailing 10-2. Most figured game one of Friday's doubleheader was over.
The Bobcats' offense stalled and the pitching staff had been hit hard. With the Bobcats already assured a spot in the MAC Tournament, they didn't need to play with much desperation.
But don't tell Johnston and his teammates that.
We were all kind of down
Johnston said. But we knew we could come back.
The comeback began in the fifth when the Bobcats scored two runs. They also added three runs in the seventh to get within striking distance. Yet when they entered the ninth trailing 11-7, a comeback seemed unlikely.
As many have learned over the years, however, it's never over at Bob Wren Stadium.
I was trying to stay up in the dugout
trying to get everybody hyped up
reliever Adam Goodspasture said. Two straight walkoffs
it doesn't get any better than that.
Catcher Trace Voshell started off the ninth with a walk and second baseman Bobby Martin also walked to put two runners on base.
Shortstop Zach Keen then reached on an infield single and Voshell scored on a throwing error to pull the Bobcats within three at 11-8.
Buffalo's problems didn't stop there.
Closer Zach Anderson threw a wild pitch and Martin scored.
Suddenly, that four-run lead was cut in half.
Center fielder and Thursday's hero, Gauntlett Eldemire, came to the plate with a chance to tie the game. Although he couldn't repeat his heroics, he came close, ripping a triple to right-center field to score Keen.
Next was Johnston and he didn't wait long to end it. After he took a strike, Johnston smashed the next pitch he saw and the Bobcats' celebration began.
Ohio had more reasons to celebrate in game two. The Bobcats grabbed the lead early and didn't let it go, winning 19-8.
With the sweep over the Bulls, the Bobcats (28-22, 18-9 MAC) earned the No. 3 seed in the MAC Tournament. They will play No. 6 seed Toledo on Wednesday at 12:30 in Chillicothe.
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Sports
Steve Gartner
