Sports
Defense proves costly as Ohio Baseball drops close game to Northern Kentucky
By: Thomas Henry
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Following a blowout, mercy-rule victory against Central Michigan on Saturday, Ohio Baseball (8-32) returned to Athens hoping to keep the momentum going as they try to avoid tying the all-time school record for 40 losses in a season.
This turned out not to be the case, as Ohio fell 7-4 to Northern Kentucky (17-22) on Tuesday evening at Bob Wren Stadium.
The Bobcats were behind the eight ball from the beginning after a leadoff hit by pitch to start the game and a walk both came around to score to put Ohio in an early 2-0 hole. Starting pitcher AJ Dallmyer did his best to limit the damage, ultimately being charged with two runs in three innings of work, both unearned.
Ohio’s defense would prove costly in this game as only three of the Norse’s runs in the game were earned. In the fourth inning, a fly ball to right field was allowed to fall between three Ohio fielders, turning into a run later in the inning on a sacrifice fly to extend Northern Kentucky’s lead to 3-0.
“I don’t mind saying it, I don’t understand it—we play better on the road than we do at home,” Ohio head coach Andrew See said postgame when asked about how the team can limit excessive walks and errors going forward. “You know, not that we’ve been exceptional on the road, but our energy and our execution, and be able to turn the pages a little bit better.”
On the other side of the ball, Ohio’s offense struggled to get a rally going early against Norse starter Cody Little. By the time the Bobcats did break through in the fourth inning, thanks to an error on Northern Kentucky second baseman Ethan Thomas that allowed Bobcat left fielder Cameron Boyd to score, the Norse had already scored another run, and proceeded to plate two more runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-1 lead.
The offense continued to chip away, pulling within three runs in the sixth inning making it a 6-3 game, but they could not find the big hit when they really needed it, going 1-11 with runners in scoring position. The Norse took advantage of Ohio’s poor defense yet again in the eighth inning, scoring an unearned run thanks to a fielding error by Ohio first baseman Grant Wilson at the beginning of the inning with two men on.
Ultimately, Ohio’s performance in the field hindered their ability to complete a full comeback at the plate.
“You know, we played well tonight, but I told them in the dugout, we got to play well and hard…so we got to be able to bring their A-game this weekend, at home,” said See in reference to the upcoming alumni weekend at Ohio University. “I expect to have their best energy and toughness this weekend.”
Ohio will look to bounce back on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Bob Wren Stadium against Akron.