March 15, 2009
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - Behind a strong pitching performance from a pair of Garden City Community College transfers, the Ohio University baseball team won the series finale with Duquesne, 4-3, Sunday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium. The Bobcats (5-9) improved to 2-1 in one-run games and 4-2 at home this year, despite being out-hit 10-9. With the victory, Ohio split the four-game weekend series with the Dukes (2-14), taking the final two contests of the set.
Junior Rex Ingham (Colorado Springs, Colo.) earned the win (2-0), throwing six innings on the hill, allowing just two runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts in his first start as a Bobcat after transferring from Garden City. Ingham's teammate at Garden City, junior Bryce Butt (Omaha, Neb.), closed out the victory for his second save in the green and white, tossing the final three innings while conceding just an unearned run, issuing only one free pass and fanning four Dukes.
"I thought Rex did a good job for six innings," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said. "He gave us a real shot in the arm and we needed that. He threw well last time in relief (March 11 against Wright State) so we decided to give him a start and we'll probably see him again starting."
Duquesne junior starter Paul Bugajski (0-2) suffered the loss, surrendering all four Bobcat runs on eight hits in five innings of work.
Sophomore center fielder Gauntlett Eldemire (Shaker Heights, Ohio) paced Ohio's bats with a pair of hits, runs and RBIs each, extending his hitting streak to six games and giving him seven multi-hit games in only 10 contests this year.
"It's a big bat back in our lineup," Carbone said of having Eldemire back on the field after missing the four games prior to the Duquesne series with an injury. "Defensively shortstop Bobby Martin's still out with an injury and we were already thin in the infield so we've had to switch some guys around, but (Eldemire) certainly helps stabilize our lineup a bit."
Senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) also collected two hits for his fourth multi-hit game in his last six outings, while also scoring once and driving in a run. Juniors Jerod Yakubik (Byesville, Ohio), Ohio's first baseman, and Kris McDonough (Pittsburgh, Pa.), the 'Cats' catcher, both had a pair of hits, as well, and both stretched their hitting streaks to seven games, with Yakubik swinging for multiple hits in four of his last five games. Junior Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) also extended his hitting streak to 13 games, two shy of tying his career best, on a single in the fifth.
After Ingham sat down the Dukes in order to open the game, Eldemire, the leadoff man, drove the Dukes' second offering of the game over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the year, giving Ohio an early 1-0 lead. Johnston then drilled his second triple of the year later in the inning and trotted home on sophomore Robert Maddox III's (Euclid, Ohio) sacrifice fly for a 2-0 edge through one inning.
The 'Cats tacked on another run in the second when Eldemire walked with the bags packed and Ohio made it 4-0 in the fifth on a Johnston poke to right that scored Eldemire. The Dukes plated two runs in the sixth to cut the Bobcats' lead in half however, at 4-2.
Duquesne closed to within one in the seventh, but McDonough tagged out senior Bill Torre at the plate, in what would have been the tying run, on a relay from Johnston and Yakubik to keep the 'Cats on top 4-3, as Torre was trying to score from second on one of Rick Devereaux' two singles on the day. Butt then shut the Dukes down over the final two stanzas, putting Duquesne down in order in the ninth, with two outs coming via strikeout.
"As pitchers you want to locate down in the zone, so when that's where a team (like Duquesne) likes to hit and go against the grain, you have to mix it up a bit and we did that by pitching up in the zone and forcing ground balls," Ingham said.
The Bobcats will take the week off for final exams, before opening Mid-American Conference play next weekend against Central Michigan. Ohio and the Chippewas begin their three-game series at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens Friday, March 20 with at 6 p.m. start time, while Saturday's first pitch is at 3 p.m. and the finale on Sunday, March 22 commences at 1 p.m.
