After a week in which the Ohio baseball team outscored its opponents 36-5, the Bobcats will turn to the strength of their pitching staff as they play host to Eastern Michigan in a three-game weekend series.
Ohio (9-12 overall, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) will use a similar starting rotation that they have used throughout the season, with Derek Witt (2-2) starting Friday, followed by Rob Harmon (3-2) on Saturday and Anthony Gressick (0-1) Sunday.
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said all three pitchers have had good outings as of late, led by Witt's 8 2/3 innings against Kent State last Friday.
He went out and pitched a big game on the road that we felt we really needed to win
he said. He threw strikes located his fastball threw his breaking ball for strikes
and when he does that
he is tough to beat.
Carbone said he wants to see Gressick improve on his recent performances when he takes the mound this weekend.
His last outing at Xavier
we didn't think he threw the ball well in the first inning
but the second inning
he threw the ball very well
Carbone said. He is coming off of arm surgery and that sometimes takes those guys longer to warm up or get into sync
so we need him to do something for us (this weekend).
Carbone also said they will use Dan O'Rourke in relief this weekend. On the year, the right-hander has appeared in nine games, including three starts, pitching 27 innings and has stuck out 21 batters.
Despite the Bobcats' hitting surge over the last week, they still rank near the bottom of the conference in team batting average (.254), but Carbone said he is more concerned with how the team hits with men on base.
Going into the weekend series, Ohio stands in a tie for fourth place with Kent State in the MAC East, while Eastern Michigan (9-18, 1-2 MAC) is fourth in the MAC West standings.
First pitch is set for 7 tonight at Bob Wren Stadium, with Saturday's game also starting at 7 p.m. The series finale will get under way at 1 p.m. Sunday.
-Julie Goldberg
