Sports
Ohio Drops Three of Four to Wofford
By: Tony Heim
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If baseball series were considered cumulative, Ohio would have come out of Wofford with a dominating 27-19 victory. Sadly for the Bobcats, that is not how Abner Doubleday created the game.
The Bobcats (4-7) left Spartanburg three games under .500 after dropping three of four to Wofford (10-3), ending an 11 game road trip to start the season. Ohio has lost seven of its last nine after winning the first two games of the season.
The offense exploded in the backend of Saturday’s double-header, where the Bobcats plated 16 runs en route to a 14-run victory. The Bobcats had 11 different players cross the plate in the game.
Junior Tyler Finkler had an outstanding day Saturday. He reached base in five of his six at-bats, and drove in a run as well to cap off a career-game for the infielder. Senior Manny De Jesus ate his Wheaties Saturday morning; the centerfielder combined for six hits, seven RBI’s and three runs in the Saturday split.
Despite outscoring the Terriers by eight runs total, the offense was not consistent for the Bobcats. The big question surrounding this team has proven to be its Achilles Heel in the preliminary stages of the season. Ohio did not manage to score more than five runs in the other three games of the series.
A blown save by senior Eddie Fitzpatrick was the difference between a split series. The Bobcats took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth of Sunday’s showdown. Terrier second basemen Alec Parakowski drove in pinch runner Alec Marsh to tie it up in the ninth, and a walk-off wild pitch from junior Tom Coletti ended the game and series when Mack Nathanson swiped home.
The Bobcats trailed for all but one inning in the first two games of the series. Wofford jumped on Bobcat starting pitching in both matchups, scoring a combined three runs in the first frames. The Bobcats clawed back in both contests but were never able to close the early gap in either.
Ohio returns to Athens for its home opener Friday when IPFW travels to town for a four game series.