The wind was blowing out to all fields on Saturday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium for the third game of Ohio’s series with Canisius.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the wind didn’t blow in their favor as the Golden Griffins defeated Ohio 16-8, fueled by an eight-run ninth inning.
Ohio’s offense saw its second straight game of solid production, recording eight runs on 10 hits, with three-run home runs from sophomore first baseman Jake Madsen and senior shortstop Dan Schmidt.
But Ohio couldn’t contain Canisius’ offense, especially junior first baseman Jimmy Luppens, who clubbed three home runs on the day to pair up with eight runs batted in.
Luppens came into the game with no home runs and capitalized on a strong wind that blew threw the stadium.
“The wind had a lot to do with it,” coach Rob Smith said. “The wind was blowing out incredibly hard. Some of the balls were certainly hit extremely well, but the ball was carrying today and if you got it up got it up in the air today, it was going to go.”
Smith was pleased with the performance of freshman starting pitcher Connor Sitz, who logged 6.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts.
Sophomore Logan Cozart, who had previously been a third baseman, didn’t record an out and gave up three earned runs on three hits.
Madsen not only worked first base, he took the mound after Cozart, surrendering five earned runs in two thirds of an inning pitched.
For Smith, this game was the result of a thin pitching staff and overextended bullpen.
“(The bullpen) is very exhausted and very inexperienced,” Smith said. “We asked Logan Cozart to come back after throwing 38 pitches yesterday. That’s a tough thing to ask a guy to do. … To have Jake (Madsen) out there, we just had to have somebody out there to get the last couple of outs.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
