March 31, 2009
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - In a game that featured 10 pitchers and a brief rain delay, the Ohio University baseball team came up on the short end, falling to the visiting Vikings of Cleveland State, 16-5, Tuesday night at Bob Wren Stadium. The 16 runs were a season high for the Vikings (6-15, 0-3 Horizon League) and were also the most the Bobcats (11-11, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) have surrendered in 2009.
CSU out-hit Ohio 19-5, another season high for Cleveland State, while the five hits were a season low for the 'Cats. The 19 hits also equaled the most hits Ohio has conceded this year, which it did against Tennessee March 7, as well.
"We just didn't come out ready to play," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said. "When you don't come out ready to play mentally, it's going to affect you physically. We have no excuses. Cleveland State just did everything better than us tonight. They hit the ball better than we did, they fielded their positions better and they pitched better."
Senior starter Zach Fairbanks (Martins Ferry, Ohio) was tagged with the loss and fell to 0-2 after allowing four runs on five hits in just two innings of work, with a walk and a pair of strikeouts. Three of Ohio's other four pitchers also gave up at least three runs, with sophomore Ryan Burgett (Springboro, Ohio) the lone Bobcat hurler not to allow a run, as he tossed a perfect final inning. CSU sophomore Josh Raggi (1-0) earned the win by throwing three innings of relief, the most frames any of the game's 10 pitchers threw, and giving up two runs on two hits with two free passes and three ring ups.
Senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his team-leading 11th double of the year in the third stanza, while sophomore designated hitter Robert Maddox III (Euclid, Ohio) stretched his hit streak to eight games with a two-run home run, his fourth of the season. Junior Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) belted his team-leading ninth four-bagger of the year for his 10th multi-RBI game of the year. The Vikings were led by senior Josh Hungerman's 4-for-5 day at the plate with four runs and an RBI, and senior John Brown, who was 3-for-4 with a game-high five RBIs and three runs scored.
The Vikings struck first with four runs in the second, including the final three via Brown's three-run bullet down the left-field line, his first homer of the season. Ohio had a chance to answer in the bottom half of the inning, but left the bags packed by striking out.
Maddox cut the Bobcat deficit in half in the third inning with his two-run bomb to left center that also brought home Johnston to make it a 4-2 game. A 25-minute rain delay halted Ohio's momentum however, and when play resumed in the top of the fourth, CSU used three-straight bunt singles on a wet and slow field to bring in a run and added another on a sac fly by sophomore Tom Carter. Before the half inning was over, the Vikings would tack on four more runs, including a pair of triples that drove in three runs for a 10-2 Cleveland State lead.
CSU tacked on three runs over the next two innings and sophomore Josh Lowe made it 16-2 in the seventh with a three-run round-tripper to left field. Krauss then hit a three-run bomb in the ninth to make it an 11-run contest, but it was still Ohio's largest loss of the year.
The Bobcats look to rebound quickly when they travel to Morgantown, W.Va. Wednesday, April 1 to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers of the Big East. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. ET at Hawley Field.
