The Ohio Baseball Falls to Central Michigan In the Finale Series

The Ohio baseball team (8-13, 4-5 Mid-American Conference) defeated 7-2 against Central Michigan (6-18, 2-6 MAC) Sunday afternoon (March 24) at Bob Wren Stadium.

“Sunday’s are normally the day that’s going to decide a lot of things on the weekend in terms of who wins the series; it could be avoiding a sweep or that might be aiming for a sweep. I talked to the team about how we’ve had to get tough. We’ve got to get more competitive on the mound and we’ve got to get more competitive at the plate in these types of circumstances,” head coach Craig Moore said.

The Chippewas took up a lead in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of RBI singles. They added to their total their next at-bat on a three-RBI double down the left field line.

By the top of the sixth inning, Central Michigan had a seven-run lead over Ohio and was on its way to a shutout. However, Ohio tallied a run after sophomore Billy Adams (Medina, Ohio) scored on a wild pitch.

The Bobcats tried to whip up a rally in the top of the seventh, but all they could shake was a run off a sacrifice fly by redshirt junior Nick Dolan (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Junior Zach Weber (Lebanon, Ohio) tossed the majority of the game for Ohio after he relieved junior Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa) in the bottom of the third. He struck out six batters and allowed only one run across five innings of work.

“He gave us five quality innings,” Moore said. “He gave us an opportunity to stay in the game with the offense and gave us a chance to come back, so it was good to see that out of Zach today.”

Ohio stayed patient at the plate as it collected eight walks on the day. Freshman Pauly Mancino (Westlake, Ohio) and graduate student Bryce Smith recorded two walks each. Freshman JR Nelson (Vernon Hills, Ill.) led Ohio in hits with two.

The Bobcats will be back in play on Tuesday (March 26) at Bob Wren Stadium. Ohio is poised to take against Dayton with first pitch at 4 p.m.