The Ohio baseball team dropped its second Mid-American Conference series of the season as Western Michigan came from behind to win the series finale 8-7. Even with the series loss, Ohio coach Joe Carbone said that the team played well against the Broncos, who lead the MAC West.
The games could have gone either way
Carbone said. We stayed right there with the best team in the league.
Ohio (19-16-1 overall, 7-6-1) scored the first run of the game in the second after Anthony Gressick reached first and advanced to second on an error by the Broncos third baseman Nathan Marquardt. Gressick then crossed the plate on a single off the bat of Dusty Hammond.
Western Michigan answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on two Ohio errors. During the next two innings both teams put up three runs a piece and the Bobcats took the lead in the sixth on a two-RBI single by Brian Colopy. Ohio added another run on a Gressick home run in the seventh to make the score 7-5.
Western Michigan stormed back in the bottom of the inning on a home run by center fielder R.C. Dickerson, and a two run blast from first baseman Travis May. Dan O'Rourke (1-2) took the loss for Ohio as he gave up the three go-ahead runs.
In the first two games of the series, both Ohio starters went the distance in their respective outings. On Friday Derek Witt tossed eight innings, giving up three runs on ten hits while striking out seven Western Michigan batters.
Ohio had the lead going into the bottom of the seventh, but the Broncos answered with two runs to win 3-2.
In Saturday's contest, Gressick picked up right where Witt left off Friday, pitching his first career complete game, allowing one run on five hits and striking out nine Western Michigan hitters.
Gressick also showed his power at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance Saturday, driving in two runs and helping Ohio to a 6-1 win against Western Michigan.
(Gressick) single-handedly did the job for us on Saturday Carbone said.
The game remained scoreless until the seventh when the Bobcat offense pushed across three runs with two outs in the inning. Ohio put three more runs on the board in the following inning with another two-out rally. Western Michigan answered in the bottom half with one run, but that would be their only run of the game.
Ben Crabtree continued to lead the Bobcats offensively, going 4-for-11 (.363) over the weekend with five RBIs.
The Ohio baseball team returns to action Tuesday against Cleveland State. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Jacobs Field.
-Julie Goldberg
17
Archives
Julie Goldberg
