May 12, 2009
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University baseball team had the winning run on second base in the bottom of the ninth, but Cincinnati was able to escape with a 7-6 victory Tuesday evening in non-conference action at Bob Wren Stadium. The game was Ohio's final non-conference contest of the regular season. The Bearcats (27-26, 11-13 BIG EAST) and Bobcats (25-22, 15-9 Mid-American Conference) split a doubleheader a week ago (May 5) in Cincinnati.
Sophomore designated hitter Robert Maddox III (Euclid, Ohio) led Ohio's attack with a 3-for-4 night, including a double, while scoring three runs, for his third-straight multi-hit game. Junior left fielder Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) clubbed his MAC-leading and school-record 22nd home run of the season to extend his hitting streak to eight games, which also gave him 61 RBIs on the year, tying Adam Fox (2003) for second on Ohio's single-season list.
Freshman Nick Egan (Wheaton, Ill.) suffered the loss, his first as a Bobcat, to fall to 1-1, tossing one and a third innings, while allowing three runs on a pair of hits. Redshirt freshman Sam Slavik (1-0) picked up the win for UC, pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Freshman starter Brent Choban (Barberton, Ohio), fellow freshman Michael Dillon (Bel Air, Md.) and senior Matt Schlarb (Lexington, Ohio) each pitched at least two innings of scoreless baseball and each recorded at least a pair of strikeouts for Ohio.
In the first frame, Krauss tagged the first pitch he saw over the left-centerfield fence for an early 1-0 Bobcat lead. Ohio capitalized on a pair of Cincinnati errors in the second to tally two more runs and senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) tripled in the third, his team-best fourth of the year, and scampered home on a wild pitch to put the Bobcats ahead 4-0 after three stanzas.
The Bearcats closed within one in the fifth with a trio of runs and knotted the game at four on freshman Cory Hough's solo blast in the sixth. Cincinnati then snatched the lead in the seventh inning, scoring two runs on passed balls and another tally on a Hough single for a 7-4 edge. Sophomore center fielder Gauntlett Eldemire's (Shaker Heights, Ohio) ground out scored Maddox in the bottom of the frame to cut the deficit to two.
Ohio filled the bags in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and Johnston plated Maddox on an RBI fielder's choice to get within one, as Eldemire beat the throw to second to keep the game alive. Redshirt senior reliever Jake Geglein, who pitched the entire ninth, was able to squeak out of the jam, however, as Krauss ripped the ball to left field, but right at left fielder Lance Durham for the final out, giving Geglein his ninth save of the season and the Bearcats the 7-6 win.
"All a hitter can do is hit the ball. Krauss hit a line drive, but it was right at (Durham)," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said. "That's one thing we can't do in baseball is place the ball when we swing the bat. We got the right guy up to the plate, we did a great job of getting guys on base and Eldemire hustling to keep the game alive and Marc hit one right on the screws. You can't ask for any more than that and unfortunately he hit it right at the left fielder."
Senior Mike Spina led the Bearcats at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run each, while Hough went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs, including his round-tripper.
The Bobcats conclude the regular season by hosting a three-game series with MAC East foe Buffalo Thursday, May 14 to Saturday, May 16, with MAC Tournament seeding on the line. Thursday's and Friday's contests are set for 6 p.m. ET, while Saturday's finale is slated for 3 p.m. ET, all at Bob Wren Stadium. Live stats will be available for all three games via Gametracker on OhioBobcats.com, while the games 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 15 minutes prior to first pitch each day with pre-game coverage.
