March 13, 2009
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University baseball team built a 4-1 lead early, but couldn't hold on as Duquesne tallied five runs in the eighth inning en route to an 11-9 victory, its first of the year, Friday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium. The Dukes (1-12) have now won four straight over the Bobcats (3-8), but the two teams will reconvene Saturday and Sunday to play three more games over the next two days.
Duquesne senior Gary Pierpont picked up the win (1-3) in his fourth start of the year, going 7.1 innings, while allowing nine runs, six earned, on nine hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts. Junior reliever Bryce Butt (Omaha, Neb.) suffered the loss (0-2), conceding five runs on four hits in 2.1 innings of work. Bobcat starter Chris Rigo (Westlake, Ohio) threw a season-long 6.2 innings, allowing six runs, but just two earned, while fanning four Dukes in a no decision.
Junior first baseman Jerod Yakubik (Byesville, Ohio) led Ohio's offense with two hits, two RBIs and a pair of runs, giving him back-to-back multi-hit and multi-RBI games after registering just two multi-hit and multi-RBI games in his previous two seasons in Athens. Sophomore catcher Trace Voshell (Batavia, Ohio) collected his third-straight multi-hit game with a pair of hits and an RBI, while junior left fielder Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and picked up an RBI in the process.
The Dukes pushed a run across in the first as senior Bill Torre scampered home on a past ball, but Ohio answered with four in the bottom of the inning as the 'Cats plated three runs on a pair of Duquesne errors and Yakubik trotted home on sophomore second baseman Tyler Chadwell's (Amesville, Ohio) single for his first RBI of the year.
The starting pitching held strong through five innings, despite an Ohio error that allowed the Dukes to plate two in the top of the fifth and cut the Bobcats' lead to 4-3. Duquesne then tied it in the sixth, as senior third baseman Tyler Manley singled to bring in one of his two runs on the day, but Krauss fired a bullet from the outfield to Voshell, who tagged freshman shortstop Derrik Zeroski out at the dish, keeping the game even at four.
Ohio recaptured the lead in the bottom half of the inning as three-straight hits from sophomore Robert Maddox III (Euclid, Ohio), senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) and Yakubik carouselled Maddox III and Johnston home, but again the Dukes knotted the contest with two in the top of the seventh.
The eighth inning, which has plagued the Bobcats all year (they've been outscored 24-7), proved to be the fatal stanza again, as Duquesne brought five runs across the plate, capped by redshirt freshman pinch hitter Chris Kimmeth's three-run bomb to center field, his second homer of the season, which gave the Dukes an 11-6 cushion.
The Green & White pushed three home in the bottom of the eighth, but senior third baseman Brandon Besl (Cincinnati, Ohio) flied out to left field with two men on to end the inning. Ohio had another chance to tie or take the lead in the ninth, as the Bobcats filled the bags with two outs, but senior reliever Danny Brown, who faced just one batter, locked up the 11-9 victory by fanning senior Chris Klimko (McKeesport, Pa.) for his first save of the year.
"We've got to make plays defensively," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said. "We can't give teams four, five and six outs an inning. We should have turned a double play (in the eighth inning) and only given up one run, but then they just hit balls. We extended the inning for them and gave them some runs. We just didn't play good defense today."
The two squads will continue their weekend series Saturday, March 14 with a doubleheader at Bob Wren Stadium. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m. with the second game to follow approximately a half hour after the conclusion of the first game. Live stats will be available for both contests on OhioBobcats.com.
