Sports
Ohio Stomps Morehead State
< < Back to15 runs on 22 hits. To say the bats were on fire for the Ohio baseball team would be an understatement. The ‘Cats batted around in the same inning twice and saw every player cross the plate in the 15-3 stomping of the Morehead State Eagles. Pitcher Michael Klein picked up his first win of the season; he now has a 1-2 record on the season.
It didn’t take long for the hits to start rolling in. Ohio put up five runs in the first inning alone. It all started with a Rudy Rott chopper down the third baseline that led to the first time Ohio batted around the lineup with four hits and a few walks. Klein came back to work through the fifth inning, allowing only one hit.
Klein said, “I had to come off to the side and start playing catch [after the first inning].”
The bottom of the fifth was another big inning, putting up seven runs and batting around the order again. John Adryan again proved his strength on the season, going 3-5 and crossing the plate all three times. He started the seven run inning with a deep double to center field. Cody Gaertner followed with a single and Ty Black sent Adryan home with an RBI single to left field. Spencer Ibarra, Anthony Mrosla, and Tyler Finkler followed suit with singles of their own. Morehead State’s bullpen walked Manny De Jesus to send another Bobcat to cross the plate. Rott cleared some of the bases with a deep double to extend the lead to 11-0 with no outs. Eventually, the ‘Cats ended the inning up 12-0.
“I try to keep it plain and simple. At the end of the day, I just try to do whatever my team needs me to do. Sometimes, they don’t need a hit. They just need a ball in play to get a run. When you do that, it helps out. Sometimes some balls fall, and that’s seems to be what’s going on right now,” Adryan said.
“Everyone in the lineup kept picking up where the guy before him left off,” Rott said.
Defense came out to play for Ohio following the bottom of the fifth. Gerry Salisbury came in for some relief and put up a clean inning accompanied by a stellar diving catch by Mitch Longo in left field.
Ohio put up three more runs in the last three innings. Adryan started off the seventh again with a triple to center followed by an RBI single from Gaertner to increase the lead to 13-0.
The Eagles finally got on the board in the eighth inning after a couple singles and a double off an error. They would add just one more in the ninth.
Ibarra, Adryan and Gaertner went for a combined 9-15 and scoring seven runs. Ohio put up 13 RBIs on the night as well.
Morehead State now sits at 21-17. They will hit the road to take on Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville for a three game series this weekend.
Ohio is now 17-19 on the season. They will host Kent State this weekend for a three game conference series. First pitch is set for Friday, April 22 at 6 pm.