Sports
Ohio Baseball comes up short against Dayton as losing streak stretches to seven
By: Thomas Henry
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Coming off a tough 7-4 loss in their home opener, the Ohio Bobcats baseball team (1-9) lost by an identical score to the Dayton Flyers (7-2) on Saturday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens as the team’s dropped its seventh-straight decision.
Early on, it appeared that the contest could turn into a slugfest, as Dayton roughed up Ohio starter Evan Lichtenauer (L, 1-2) for five runs, four of them earned, in the first two innings to take a quick 4-0 lead. Flyers starter Nikalas Pavia put up two scoreless frames to begin the game, but ran into trouble in the third inning, as Ohio’s offense came to life with a three-run rally to pull to within a run, 4-3.
The Bobcats’ lone big offensive inning of the day was highlighted by an RBI-single from centerfielder Taylor Harris who, in addition to finishing the afternoon 3-5 at the plate with two runs scored, made a spectacular twisting, running catch in centerfield in the top of the fifth inning with a runner in scoring position to end the threat.
“It was better to see, you know, fight one through nine in that lineup and great to have Harris back out there, being out for a while.” Ohio head coach Andrew See said postgame.
From there, both teams’ pitching staff settled in and matched each other with one scoreless inning after another. The Bobcats did have opportunities to either tie or take the lead in the middle innings, notably in the fifth inning when Ohio got the first two men on base with no one out, but they couldn’t break through. Flyer reliever Michael Fortes (W, 2-0) kept the Bobcats offense guessing with 4.1 scoreless innings pitched, playing a critical role in Dayton’s victory. The Bobcats put at least the tying run on base against the Flyers in five straight innings following their second inning rally but could not get the big hit that they needed to tie the game.
“I think they need to take some pressure off themselves and just be a little bit more relaxed in the box, because when you get in RBI situations, you try to do too much.” See said when asked about his team’s struggles with runners in scoring position. “I think that’s been the case a little bit for this season, because some guys are pressing.”
After silence from both offenses continued into the later innings, the Flyers broke through once again with a three-run rally of their own in the top of the eighth to take a 7-3 lead and put the Bobcats back in a four-run hole. Not to be deterred, Ohio put together the makings of a big rally in the bottom of the inning, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of right fielder Cam Hill, but stranded a runner in scoring position to end the inning. Both teams followed up with a scoreless ninth as Dayton came away with a 7-4 win for the second straight day.
After two straight close losses to a good team at home and in the midst of a losing streak, See spoke postgame about his message to the team during a frustrating stretch of continuing to fight and to not give up.
“I think that’s the challenge you have as a head coach, especially when you’re new, trying to build on some of the things last year, but also trying to improve some things this year.” See said. “Trying to get that mindset of believing and that anything can happen…we’ve talked about it, and some of it is guys pressing. Once we get, you know, one win, I think we’ll be a little bit better as far as free and easy.”
The Bobcats will head north to Dayton to take on the Flyers again tomorrow for the third matchup of a four-game set between the two teams this week. The first pitch is scheduled for Sunday at noon.