Central Michigan Sweeps OU in MAC Series
By: Rachel Cherry
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ATHENS, OH— The Bobcats were unable to seal the deal in any of the three games against Central Michigan this weekend. It was the first MAC series at home for Ohio.
OU fell short 6-2 and 10-8 in the Saturday doubleheader. The Bobcats tried to bounce back Sunday, but ultimately fell 4-2 in the matchup.
Drawn Out Doubleheader
Saturday’s first game went into three extra-innings after being locked at 2-2 after the ninth. Central Michigan was the first to score when Alex Borglin hit a home-run to lead 1-0 in the fourth inning. Borglin’s teammate, Evan Kratt, followed with a run.
Ohio answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings. There was no scoring until the 12th inning, when the Chippewas scored four runs, breaking the tie.
The bats were hot for Central Michigan as well in the second game of the night. The Chippewas gained a strong 7-0 lead before the Bobcats started to come back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Central Michigan’s response was three more runs in the fifth to make it 10-1.
It was a long dry stretch for the Bobcats, but OU scored seven runs in the next two innings, but fizzled in the last innings with no runs.
“We pitched extremely well in game one and couldn’t score. In game two we scored and certainly didn’t pitch well,” Coach Rob Smith said. “That’s how you get swept in a doubleheader.”
Commanding Central Michigan
The Chippewas continued their dominance through the first seven innings of Sunday’s game scoring four-unanswered runs.
Smith said winning the game was all about pitching.
“It’s a simple game,” Smith said. “Hitting is hard. Even if they hit it, someone is probably going to catch it.”
Ohio’s Connor Callery scored after getting on base with a single. Tony Giannini and Tyler Finkler also singles, but were unable to score.
Nick Bredeson, Michael Klein and Ty Black loaded the bases for the Bobcats in the eighth inning. This allowed another run for Ohio when Rudy Rott successfully bunted. This was the end of scoring for both teams.
Looking Forward
Despite the disappointment from the series for the Bobcats, Coach Smith still said his outlook is positive.
“We’re 3-3,” he said. “We’re sitting at .500. We’re still 25 percent of the way to reaching our goal of making it to the conference tournament.”
Ohio will travel to Youngstown State next to take on the Penguins Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.