May 9, 2009
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - The Ohio University baseball team scored the final 12 runs of the ballgame and leveled the weekend series with a 19-6 win over Miami University Saturday night at McKie Field at Hayden Park. The Bobcats (24-21, 14-9 Mid-American Conference) also drew even with the RedHawks (26-20, 14-9 MAC) in the East Division standings, as the two are now tied for third place, a game and a half behind co-leaders Bowling Green and Kent State. With the victory, the 'Cats also assured themselves of their second-straight appearance in the MAC Tournament and their 11th in school history.
Ohio totaled a season-high 23 hits to the RedHawks' 10, while scoring its most runs since May 8, 2007 when it put up 20 against Dayton. All 10 Bobcats who had an at-bat recorded a hit, while eight 'Cats tallied multiple base knocks. Sophomore center fielder Gauntlett Eldemire (Shaker Heights, Ohio) paced Ohio, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs and runs each (and a pair of walks), while blasting his 18th home run of the season which ties him for third in a single-season at Ohio.
"The coaches have been preaching about being patient and taking walks when you have to and then when the opposition has to pitch to you, you unload on it and I thought our hitters did an excellent job of that tonight," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said.
Junior left fielder Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) had two hits and a career-high tying five RBIs, while senior third baseman Brandon Besl (Cincinnati, Ohio) went 3-for-6 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored, extending his hit streak to a career-long 14 games and clubbing his third round-tripper of the series. Senior catcher Chris Klimko (McKeesport, Pa.) also was 3-for-6 and collected three RBIs on his fifth bomb of the year. Senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) and junior first baseman Jerod Yakubik (Byesville, Ohio) each recorded a trio of hits, an RBI and two runs scored, while freshman shortstop Bobby Martin (Crystal Lake, Ill.) contributed a pair of RBIs and crossed home twice for the Green and White, as well.
Junior Bryce Butt (Omaha, Neb.) gathered the win and improved to 4-6 on the season (with five saves), as he threw five and two-thirds innings of relief, the longest outing of his Bobcat career, while allowing no runs on six hits with five punch-outs. Sophomore starter Tyler Melling (5-2) was handed the loss, allowing five earned runs in three innings of work with four strikeouts.
"After a disappointing loss yesterday, we came out ready to go," Carbone said. "I thought Bryce Butt did a great job. He came in there after (starter) Rex Ingham was struggling and we had to get him out of there. Bryce came in and made some good pitches. He stayed poised even after two errors (in the fourth inning)."
Miami sent a run home in the opening frame on a fielder's choice, but Ohio used a seven-run outburst and sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth to grab its first lead of the weekend. The 'Cats evened the score at one on Yakubik's RBI single to left field that plated Krauss. Klimko then put Ohio on top with his three-run blast to dead center and Martin registered an RBI single, before Eldemire capped the explosion with a two-run round-tripper to make it 7-1.
Senior Eric Darlage answered with a two-run home run in bottom of the inning to bring Miami within four and the RedHawks added three more scores on a pair of errors to cut Ohio's advantage to 7-6 through four complete. The 'Cats padded their cushion in the fifth with a four-run frame, the final two of which came on Krauss' two-out, two-RBI single up the middle.
Back-to-back doubles by Johnston and Krauss in the seventh drove in three runs and upped Ohio's advantage to 14-6, while Ohio added five more in the eighth, including two on a single by Eldemire and a solo shot by Besl, his ninth homer of the campaign, to round out the 19-6 victory.
"We've been disappointed in how we played as of late," Carbone said. "We told the guys they had to have a little more spirit, a little more fire, a little more fight in the batter's box and on the mound and they did that tonight."
The two squads will wrap up their three-game series Sunday with the rubber match set for a 1 p.m. ET first pitch. Live stats will be available 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 call the action starting at 12:45 p.m. ET with pre-game coverage.
Notes: The 13-run margin of victory tied Ohio's largest of the year, which it also accomplished April 29 with a 14-1 win over Otterbein ... Krauss scored a run in the game, moving him into sole possession of sixth place on Ohio's single-season runs scored list with 59 ... Four of Klimko's five four-baggers in 2009 have come in his last five games ... With two successful sacrifices Saturday, sophomore Zach Keen (Beavercreek, Ohio) now has a team-best eight sac bunts on the year ... Ohio now has a MAC-best 83 home runs on the season, with 45 of those coming in its last 13 contests ... The 'Cats tallied double-digit hits for the 15th time in 16 games ... Krauss now has four four-RBI-or-more games on the season, the most on the team ... He upped his season total to 58 RBIs on the year, tying for fourth in one year at Ohio ... With two doubles on the night, Johnston now has 21 two-baggers on the year which ties for second in a single season by a Bobcat ... Besl now has five homers in his last seven games, while Eldemire has 10 home runs in his last 13 contests ... With his RBI Saturday, Besl now ranks in sole possession of eighth all-time at Ohio with 145 RBIs and is tied for seventh with 228 career hits after tallying seven hits so far this weekend.
