Sports
Marshall tramples Ohio, 10-5, as early deficit proves too much to overcome
By: Marc Goldstein
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Yet again, Ohio (8-23, 4-11 MAC) was unable to get out of its own way en route to another loss. This time, Marshall (17-16, 5-7 SBC) was the one that came into Athens and took advantage of the unforced errors for Ohio to the tune of a 10-5 victory.
The game got off to a poor start for the Bobcats. Landon Price was given the start for the first time this season. Looking for some length and effective innings, the Bobcats sent Price to the hill. Price would respond by hitting the first batter before walking the next. Maika Niu immediately hurt those unforced errors with an RBI double for the first run of the game. The Thundering Herd did not stop adding runs, though. The next batter grounded a ball to third and the throw home nailed the runner in the helmet, allowing another run to score. Another two runs would eventually score as a crooked number was already on the board.
Trailing 4-0 after half an inning, Ohio needed to find something at the plate. In the first, that would not be the case as it went in order against Marshall starter Peyton Jackson. Marshall would deploy a strategy that kept Ohio off balance all day: changing pitchers constantly. Every inning, a new arm would enter the game in order to keep the Ohio offense from maintaining anything offensively.
“It’s difficult when you see a new pitcher every inning.” Ohio head coach Craig Moore said. “(You) can’t really get into a rhythm, get an advantage of what their repertoire is and what they’re trying to do.”
With the score sitting at 5-0 in favor of Marshall heading into the bottom of the second, it was time for Ohio to close the gap as much as possible. Two RBI singles, one of the bunt variety by Cam Bryant and one of the regular variety by Trenton Neuer, were sandwiched around an RBI groundout to make it 5-3. Ohio trimmed the deficit in attempts to make a comeback bid.
That bid was assisted by Jacob Tate. The graduate lefty has pitched through a difficult season but had two strong innings in the third and fourth to give Ohio a chance at evening the score.
In the 5th, Ohio used more bunt singles to get another run on the board. This time, Trae Cassidy drove in Neuer, who dove into home plate to make it a one-run game. Alex McKay was the only pitcher for Marshall that did not complete a full inning as he was relieved by Charlie Krebs, who was the only Marshall pitcher who collected more than three outs. Krebs inherited the bases loaded and one out. He walked a run home to tie the game at five but would avoid further damage.
The Bobcats sent Tate back out for the sixth with the score now tied at five apiece. Tate gave up an RBI groundout to Ethan Murdoch and looked like he would escape from the inning while only allowing one run to score. Then, Elijah Vogelsong slapped a single back up the middle to bring in another pair of runs, making it 8-5 in the blink of an eye. For as long as it took Ohio to tie the game, Marshall retook the lead quickly.
The parade of relievers would continue for the Thundering Herd. While Krebs pitched the sixth, he did not face any batters more than once, something that the coaching staff intended. In the seventh, the walk-off hero from the last meeting between the teams, AJ Havrilla, drilled a two-run homer that narrowly avoided the grasp of Pauly Mancino in center.
With the score sitting at 10-5, Marshall continued to get lockdown pitching from a variety of sources. In the seventh, Fenix DiGiacomo threw a perfect 1-2-3 inning. He was relieved by Tim Baird, who followed suit, and then Nick Weyrich, who continued the perfect stretch by retiring the side in order.
After the three-run fifth inning, Marshall retired 12 of the final 13 batters for Ohio, including the final 10 to come to the plate. The offense has struggled for spurts of the season for Ohio and those struggles extend into certain stretches of games, something that has reared its head in each of the previous two midweek contests.
One of the things that will haunt the Bobcats in this loss will be the amount of opportunities they gave away to the Thundering Herd. A total of nine unforced errors resulted in extra bases for the Thundering Herd during the game, something that usually ended in a run crossing the plate.
“We gave them too many freebies, walks, hit by pitches, errors and they took advantage of it,” Moore said. “That’s what a good team does; they take advantage of those mistakes.”
The pitching staff for Ohio was not bad from a holistic point of view. Excluding the inning from Price, the numbers are not awful. Tate ran into some trouble in the sixth, but was still effective during his 2.2 innings of work.
That being said, building off the solid work will be the key for Ohio when VMI’s high-powered offense comes to town over the weekend. Additionally, finding more consistency for the offense will dictate whether the team will be able to emerge from the recent stretch where it has lost nine of its last 11 games.