May 14, 2006
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami pitching staff held Ohio to a season-low four hits as the Bobcats fell 6-2 in a rain-soaked series finale Sunday in McKie Field.
Miami hurler John Ely tossed seven innings of three-hit ball in the rubber game of the Mid-American Conference weekend set to clinch the RedHawks their fourth-straight series victory over Ohio and a berth in the MAC Tournament.
After the two teams split Saturday's doubleheader, Ohio (20-23, 11-12 MAC) struck first in Sunday's rubber game with a tally in its very first at-bat, but the Miami (26-23,13-10 MAC) offense built a 4-1 lead after four innings and was aided by five Bobcat errors on the day en route to the 6-2 decision.
Matt Stiffler was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and came around to score three batters later when Anthony Gressick reached with two outs on a Miami fielding error to give Ohio an early 1-0 lead.
That would be the last time the Bobcats would score until they got another run in the fifth with Stiffler and Gressick in on the action again. Trailing 4-1, Stiffler drew a lead-off walk and eventually crossed home place when Gressick singled up the middle.
At that point in the game, Ohio trailed by just two runs at 4-2 with four at-bats left, but the RedHawks tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and held the Bobcat offense in check the rest of the way
The Bobcats' five errors marked the ninth time this season that they have committed four or more in a game. Ohio's second miscue of the day aided in Miami's two third inning runs and its fifth of the game had similar results in the seventh.
"When we decided to play the game in the rain, you knew that the weather was going to affect the defensive play," Ohio Head Coach Joe Carbone said.
The RedHawks committed two errors of their own in the wet conditions.
Yale Silverman (3-3) took the loss for Ohio after allowing four runs - two earned - on five hits in four innings of work. John Angelicchi relieved for three innings and allowed two unearned runs while Adam Goodpasture threw a scoreless eighth inning.
Ely (7-2) struck out seven and walked four during his seven innings. Sam Shorts threw two spotless innings to close out the game.
Evan Armitage went 3-for-3 at the dish with two walks to pace the Miami offense.
Gressick led the team with five hits in the three-game set and recorded nine of Ohio's 13 RBIs. With 152 RBIs for his career, Gressick is just six short of Ryan Kyes' 158 for fifth place on the Bobcats' all-time list with four regular season games remaining.
Ohio entered the weekend as the MAC's top hitting team in league games with a .325 average, but the three RedHawk starters during the weekend set surrendered a total of just 13 hits and 11 runs over the course of 21 innings. The Miami staff as a whole allowed 14 runs and limited the Bobcats to a .184 average at the plate.
"(John) Ely was the key to the game today," Carbone said. "He threw hard and had great stuff. Their pitching dominated our hitting today."
The loss for Ohio means it will have to contend with a host of teams for the fifth and sixth seeds in the six-team MAC Tournament. The top two teams in each division get automatic bids while the final two slots go to the two remaining teams with the best conference game winning percentage, regardless of what division they compete in.
Ohio will travel to Cleveland State for its final non-conference game of the year on Tuesday, May 16, then host Bowling Green in last regular season series starting Thursday, May 18, in Bob Wren Stadium.
