The Ohio baseball team entered its weekend series with Miami, looking to gain ground on the RedHawks in the conference standings and to record back-to-back conference series wins for the first time this season.
When the weekend ended, the Bobcats accomplished neither.
Ohio (19-25, 11-13 Mid-American Conference) is now three games behind Miami (27-23, 14-10 MAC) in the MAC East Division standings. The loss marked the Bobcats' fifth conference series loss of the season.
In Sunday's finale, Ohio took an early 1-0 lead, but Miami starter John Ely held the Bobcat bats scoreless for the next three innings.
He was dominating
Ohio coach Joe Carbone said of Ely's pitching performance. We didn't do anything with him. He was overpowering us with his fastball and we didn't do a good job against him.
Meanwhile, the RedHawks scored three runs off Ohio starter Yale Silverman to take a 4-1 lead after four innings. The Bobcats got a run back in the fifth, but Miami capped off the day's scoring with two runs in the seventh to defeat Ohio, 6-2.
The weekend started on a more positive note for the Bobcats as they won the series opener.
In the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, Ohio took an early 1-0 lead as starter Derek Witt kept the RedHawks off the scoreboard for eight innings. Anthony Gressick's grand slam in the eighth extended Ohio's lead to 5-0. The following inning, he hit his second home run of the game to give the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.
Miami scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Bobcats held on for a 7-4 win.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Gressick took the mound but only lasted four and 2/3 innings as he surrendered seven runs and 10 hits to Miami.
The Bobcats broke through in the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3. However, Miami extended its lead to 9-3 in the seventh. Ohio answered with two runs of its own in the eighth, but Miami added two runs in the bottom of the eighth to seal the 11-5 victory.
Gressick ended the weekend going a combined 5-for-12, with nine RBIs. He also moved into sixth place on Ohio's all-time hit list, and his two home runs Saturday moved him into a tie for sixth place on the all-time Ohio home run list.
He showed up big Carbone said. He stepped to the challenge of their pitching staff and got up there and drove in some big runs for us.
The Bobcats return to action at 3 p.m. Tuesday, on the road against Cleveland State.
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Julie Goldberg
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Ohio's Dusty Hammond slides into third base before Akron third baseman Vince Chiera can make the play during the Bobcat's home game against the Zips last Saturday. This weekend, the Bobcats struggled in their series against Miami, winning 7-4 in the f
Ohio falls three games behind rival RedHawks in MAC East Division standings
