April 27, 2008
Box Score
KENT, Ohio - The Ohio baseball team lost a heartbreaker to Kent State Sunday afternoon, falling 6-5 in 11 innings in the rubber game at Schoonover Stadium. Ohio (20-22, 9-9 MAC) could have moved back into first place in the Mid-American Conference East Division with a victory, but with the loss is now a game and a half behind Kent State (24-17, 9-6 MAC) in the divisional standings.
Ohio junior right-hander Kevin Mementowski (Parma, Ohio) came on relief of starter Matt Smith (Centre Hall, Pa.) and was exactly what the Ohio coaching staff has been looking for out of the bullpen, but a costly error allowed the Golden Flashes to escape with the walk off victory.
After retiring the first Kent State batter of the 11th inning, Mementowski gave up just his second hit in four innings, a single to Brett Weibley. Jason Patton then grounded into what might have been an inning-ending double play, but an Ohio fielding error instead allowed Patton to reach safely and put runners on the corners. Chris Tremblay then took advantage of the miscue with a walk-off single to right field giving Kent State the series win.
Mementowski worked 4.1 innings, allowing just three hits and no earned runs while striking out two. His record falls to 1-4 on the year with the loss.
At the plate the Bobcats were led by sophomore Marc Krauss' (Deshler, Ohio) 4-for-5 performance. Krauss connected on two doubles and provided two RBI and one run scored for Ohio. Junior Brandon Besl (Cincinnati, Ohio) went 2-for-5 with two RBI and freshman Robert Maddox III (Euclid, Ohio) was 2-for-5 with one run scored for the Bobcats.
Ohio had its chances to break a 5-5 tie, putting runners in scoring position in both the top of the ninth and 10th innings, but the Bobcats were unable to bring any runs across the plate.
Kent State reliever Justin Gill (4-0) earned the win after pitching the final inning, allowing no runs and no hits.
Ohio took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning off an RBI-double by Besl and an RBI-single by Maddox III.
Kent State's Greg Rohan then single handedly gave the Golden Flashes back the lead. Rohan hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and then connected on a solo-blast in the third inning, his third and fourth homers of the series, giving Kent State a 3-2 advantage.
Back-to-back RBI-singles by Krauss and Besl in the top of the fifth inning gave Ohio a brief 4-3 lead. Kent State quickly knotted the score again in the bottom of the fifth inning, before scoring again in the sixth inning to take a 5-4 edge.
Krauss belted his second double of the day in the seventh inning to score senior Matt Stiffler (Bellbrook, Ohio) and tie the game at 5-5, pushing the game into extra innings.
Next up for the Bobcats are mid-week games against Marshall and Duquesne at Bob Wren Stadium. Ohio takes the field against Marshall on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
