April 24, 2009
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ATHENS, Ohio - Sophomore Robert Maddox III belted three home runs and the Ohio University baseball team hit a season-high six round-trippers in the game to rally past No. 25 Kent State, 17-8, Friday night at Bob Wren Stadium in front of a season-high crowd of 1,017. The Bobcats (20-14, 13-3 Mid-American Conference) scored all of their season-high 17 runs in the first five innings, after falling behind 5-0 before even coming to the plate. With the win, Ohio is now on a season-long six-game winning streak and has a game and a half lead on the Golden Flashes (30-9, 11-4 MAC) for first place in the MAC.
Maddox (Euclid, Ohio) became the first Bobcat to record three home runs in one game since current junior Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) did so as a freshman (in 2007) on March 27 versus Youngstown State. Maddox was 3-for-5 in the game and collected a career-high six RBIs, second only to sophomore center fielder Gauntlett Eldemire's (Shaker Heights, Ohio) seven RBIs March 22 against Central Michigan, for the most RBIs by a Bobcat this year. The game marked Maddox' second-career multi-homer game and upped his season total to seven four-baggers.
"We made a point of emphasis this whole week to be short and quick to the ball and be aggressive on the fastball," Maddox said. "(Assistant) coach (Scott) Malinowski and I worked on it all week, being short to the ball, and it paid off."
All nine Bobcats recorded at least a hit, with six registering multiple hits, en route to Ohio out-hitting Kent State 17-11, marking the fifth-straight game Ohio has reached double-digit hits. Krauss went 3-for-5 at the plate, including his league-leading 17th home run of the year, which moved him into a tie for third on Ohio's single-season list and gave him 35 for his career, which ties him for fifth all-time at Ohio. The third baseman also scored a season-high tying four runs and drove in three runs. Senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) tallied a pair of hits, including his sixth round-tripper of the season, while scoring a pair of runs and plating a pair of runs. Sophomore shortstop Zach Keen (Beavercreek, Ohio) went 2-for-4 with a career-high tying four RBIs, while legging out his second-career triple.
"We happened to hit some balls solid and they went out of the ballpark," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said of his squad's six homers. "That's the type of team we are. We'll strike out some and we'll hit some balls good. We got some big hits by the middle of our lineup today."
Senior starter Chris Rigo (Westlake, Ohio) surrendered eight runs in the first two innings, but settled down after and didn't allow a run in his final five innings on the mound to pick up the win and move to 5-2 on the year, while ringing up three Flashes. With his seven innings tossed, Rigo moved into eighth on Ohio's career innings pitched list with 250 and two-thirds. KSU junior starter Brad Stillings (5-2) was handed just his second loss of the year as he surrendered nine runs (all earned) in three and a third innings of work with a trio of strikeouts.
Kent State snagged a 5-0 lead out of the gates, capped by senior Jason Patton's grand slam to right center. Ohio answered right back, however, scoring three in the bottom of the first, as Eldemire tagged Stillings' first pitch of the game off the scoreboard for his 10th blast of the year and Maddox belted a two-run shot to left center three batters later.
"It's tough to get down 5-0 and not feel like the game's over. I told Chris (Rigo) `hold (Kent State) right there, you're pitching well'," Carbone said. "There were a few plays we didn't make in the infield that hurt Chris and then they hit the grand slam, but I just told him to hang in there and we'll get some runs."
The Flashes regained their five-run cushion in the second inning as they scored three runs, with the final two coming on senior Greg Rohan's team-best ninth homer of the year. The Bobcats cut the deficit back to two at 8-6 in the third stanza on back-to-back home runs, as Johnston clocked a two-run bomb to dead center and Maddox followed with his second round-tripper of the day.
Ohio busted the game open in the fourth with a nine-run outburst, its most runs in an inning this season, that sent 13 Bobcats to the plate and saw Maddox go yard a third time, this time of the three-run variety, while Krauss capped the inning with a three-run bomb of his own. Rigo then put Kent State down in order in the top of the fifth for the first one-two-three inning of the day for any pitcher.
Keen's two-RBI double down the right field line put the 'Cats ahead 17-8 after five frames and that's all they would need to knock off the nationally-ranked Flashes. Senior reliever Zach Fairbanks (Martins Ferry, Ohio) pitched the final two innings for Ohio, giving up just one hit, and recorded five of his six outs via strikeout.
The Bobcats and Flashes will meet again Saturday, April 25 at Bob Wren Stadium with first pitch set for 3 p.m. ET. Live stats will be available for Saturday's contest via Gametracker on OhioBobcats.com and the game will also be broadcast on WATH 970 AM in Athens and streamed live on OhioBobcats.com. The "Voice of the Bobcats" Russ Eisenstein and Brian Boesch will take to the air with pre-game coverage starting at 2:45 p.m. ET.
Notes: Maddox' only other multi-homer game of his career came on March 8, 2008 (his freshman year) at UNC Greensboro ... Maddox hit his three home runs in his first three trips to the plate and hit one to right field, one to center field and one to left field ... Kent State head coach Scott Stricklin was ejected in the fourth inning ... Ohio improved to 5-1 in MAC series openers in 2009 with the win Friday and is now 7-1 on the year when scoring 10 or more runs ... The 17 runs were the most the Bobcats have scored since they put up 18 April 22 last year in a win over Cincinnati ... Ohio was plunked three times Friday, upping its season total to 70 hit by pitches, over 10 more than any other MAC team ... The loss was Kent State's first of the year when scoring in the first inning, as the Flashes were 12-0 coming into the game when scoring in the opening frame ... Rigo moved into a tie for seventh with Jim Bierman (1971-74) on Ohio's career pitching appearances list with 59 ... With Krauss' four runs scored, he moved into sixth place in Bobcat history with 150 runs ... Johnston and junior first baseman Jerod Yakubik (Byesville, Ohio) each extended their hitting streaks to eight games.
