Sports
Ohio holds off VMI rally to take series opener, 8-5
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Ohio (9-23) was able to pick up a feel-good win at home to open its weekend series against VMI (21-14). The 8-5 triumph for Ohio was one of the most complete wins of the season where the pitching and hitting complimented each other.
Blake Gaskey got another Friday night nod for the Bobcats. His up-and-down season has featured more downs in recent weeks. Against the Keydets, he was about as dominant as he’s been all season, rivaling his start against Bowling Green a month ago. He sat down the first three batters for the Keydets in dominant fashion, bookending the inning with a pair of strikeouts.
Ohio would wait to get the scoring going until the bottom of the second when Matt Ineich took advantage of the outfielders playing shallow by depositing a two-run double into the left-center gap. Ineich has been able to come through in the clutch for Ohio numerous times this year and use the opposite field to his advantage.
As Gaskey continued to shut down the top of the order for VMI, Ohio took advantage of Keydets starter Evan Parmer’s sloppiness in leaving pitches over the plate. Blake Reed smacked a three-run, bases-clearing triple to center to make it 5-0. Despite getting thrown out at third trying to stretch the extra-base hit into a triple, Reed has been applauded for his play of late. He has burst onto the scene as one of the most productive hitters at the bottom of the order for Ohio.
“Blake has been doing a phenomenal job for us,” Ohio head coach Craig Moore said. “He’s a hard worker and he puts time and effort into the craft of hitting…He’s getting rewarded for it, so I hope the other players are seeing that.”
Gaskey gave the Keydets their first offense of the day when James Newsome cranked a two-run homer to right to make it a 5-2 game. Regardless, Gaskey did not let that throw him off his game. He would retire the next pair of batters in order to keep the score intact.
Meanwhile, Ohio was busy getting more insurance for its starter. Trenton Neuer led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and advanced to second when Ineich walked behind him. Neuer got to third on a ground ball double play and would later score on a passed ball to make it 6-2, Ohio.
Ohio would tack on another run in the next inning on a blooper by Cam Bryant that fell into left and scored Reed. With the five-run cushion back in tow, Gaskey took the mound in the sixth and got himself into a jam. He loaded the bases with one out, but got the second on a sacrifice fly that made it a 7-3 game.
Nonetheless, Gaskey had finished six innings of solid work as he scattered six hits and struck out four while only walking four as well.
“I was just getting ahead of guys,” Gaskey said. “When I get ahead, I have a lot more options and I can work the at-bat a little bit more. There were a few times where they put some good (at-bats) together so just getting ahead was an important thing tonight.”
Ethan Stewart entered in the seventh and got a very quick, scoreless inning to take the game to the late stages. He turned the ball over to Adam Beery, who was attempting to get the slew of left-handed batters out in the middle of the VMI order. Beery was unsuccessful in that quest, failing to get a single batter out and giving up a two-run double to Ryan Peterson to make it 8-5.
Jack Geiser was called in to attempt to clean up the mess of an inning that was about to unfold on the cold April night. He responded by getting the next three batters out and not allowing the runner at second to score to keep the Bobcats on top by three.
In the ninth, Geiser would again get some timely outs and get out of a scoreless frame to deliver the victory for his team.
“When (Geiser)’s got his stuff going, he can be electric,” Moore said.
One of the big aspects of the game for the Keydets is the ability to steal bases. For just the third time this season, they were left without any stolen bases during a game. Coincidentally, they have lost each of those contests. The clear correlation between stolen bases and winning is an indicator of something the Bobcats need to continue to do over the course of the weekend.
“The pitchers did a great job of holding the runners,” Moore said. “Using long holds, short holds and mixing up the rhythms to where the baserunners couldn’t get a time to go… It’s not going to shut them down because that’s what they do. They’re going to come out tomorrow and probably look to time up the pitchers and as long as we can just keep changing the pace, we should be fine.”
Ohio needed the win in the worst way possible. Although this win will not contribute to its MAC record, it is still a solid one that can be used for more confidence ahead of a difficult stretch of games on the horizon.