May 9, 2006
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio - The Ohio baseball squad gave up a six-run third-inning lead in a 7-6 loss to Dayton Tuesday afternoon in Time Warner Cable Stadium, and Bryant Witt's and Willie Walker's hitting streaks came to an end.
Witt carried a 19-game streak into the day and Walker was right behind him with an 18-game run, but both went hitless in a game that the Bobcats (18-23) led 6-0 after the third inning only to see the Flyers (28-19) score the game's final seven runs.
The Bobcats scored in the first inning for the fifth game in a row - and the 16th time this year - with four tallies for an early advantage. Anthony Gressick registered a double down the left field line to plate Ohio's first two runs and Walker then reached on an error allowing Gressick to come home on the play - all with no outs. Then, with two outs, Chris Klimko drove a pitch off the wall in left center to score Walker for a 4-0 lead.
After Bobcat starter John Angelicchi set the Flyers down in order in the first, the Ohio offense added another run in its second at-bat. J.T. Osburn drew his second walk in as many at-bats and scored two batters later as Gressick rapped his second run-scoring two-bagger down the line in left to push Ohio ahead 5-0.
The situation repeated itself in the next two half-innings as Angelicchi retired all three batters and the Bobcat bats followed with another run. Jared Willis got a two-out single to shallow right field and Dusty Hammond followed with an RBI double to the wall in left-center to extend his season-best hitting streak to 12 games and extend Ohio's advantage to 6-0.
After cruising through the first three innings, the Bobcats struggled in the middle frames. Dayton got two tallies in the fourth and five in the sixth to take a 7-6 lead. The Flyers sixth-inning rally was highlighted by a three-run homer by William Benoit on just the second pitch from Ohio reliever Cody Neyman, which tied the game at 6-6.
That sixth-inning rally would prove to be enough for the Flyers as the Bobcats went scoreless in the last six innings of the game.
Neyman (0-1) took the loss for Ohio after allowing two runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning. The Bobcats used seven pitchers in the game.
Gressick went 2-for-3 at the plate for Ohio with three RBIs. Hayden Johnston also registered two hits for the Bobcats.
Witt's hitting streak was the longest for an Ohio player dating back at least until the 1970s. He reached on a fielder's choice in the first, was hit by a pitch in the second, grounded out in the fourth and sixth and struck out swinging in the ninth.
Walker's streak ended in the contest when he reached on an error in the first, struck out in the second and fourth, flied out to center in the seventh and flied to left in the ninth.
Sean Finn (1-1) earned the victory in relief for Dayton.
Galen Schumm and Craig Rohren recorded two hits apiece for the Flyers.
The Bobcats will rejoin Mid-American Conference action on Friday when they travel to Miami to face the RedHawks in a three-game weekend set.
