May 22, 2009
Box Score
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Ohio University baseball team ran into a hot-hitting Eastern Michigan team that handed the Bobcats a 13-4 defeat Friday at V.A. Memorial Stadium, eliminating them from the Mid-American Conference Tournament and ending their 2009 season. Ohio finished the campaign 29-24, while the Eagles improve to 25-34 on the year and will face Toledo at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
The Green and White was out-hit 15-10 in its final game of the season, as EMU freshman starter Kendall Lewis kept Ohio off balance, going seven and a third innings to improve to 5-4 on the year with the win. He allowed four runs on nine hits, but kept the 'Cats off the scoreboard for seven innings. Junior starter Rex Ingham (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took the loss, finishing 2009 with a 6-3 mark, as he gave up six runs in one and a third innings.
Six of the Eagles' 15 hits left the yard, led by senior Kyle Rhoad's three home runs, as he finished the day 4-for-5 with five RBIs. Senior catcher Chris Klimko (McKeesport, Pa.) went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in his final game as a Bobcat, while senior right fielder Hayden Johnston (Strattanville, Pa.) tallied a pair of hits and also reached twice on a pair of errors, giving him 92 hits on the year, breaking Ohio's single-season hits record.
Rhoad led off for Eastern Michigan with a solo shot to left and capped a five-run second inning with a three-run blast for his second round-tripper of the day, as Ohio fell behind 6-0 early. A double play thwarted Ohio's threat in the top of the fourth and Aaron Crooks belted a homer to right to leadoff the bottom of the frame.
The 'Cats again put runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth, but a twin killing once more ended Ohio's hopes of a rally. Zack Leonard's three-run four-bagger to dead center in the fifth put the Bobcats in a deflating 10-0 hole.
Ohio prevented the shutout in the eighth when junior Marc Krauss (Deshler, Ohio) clubbed his 27th home run of the year, a two-run blast, preventing the 'Cats from behind blanked all year. Klimko made it 10-4 with a two-RBI double later in the stanza, but the Bobcats left the bases loaded on a called strike three.
The Eagles added two more home runs in the eighth and Ohio put runners on first and second in the ninth, but couldn't mount a rally, as its season ended with the 13-4 loss.
The Bobcats finished with an 18-9 mark during the MAC regular season, placing second in the East Division, just a half game behind regular season champion Bowling Green. The 18 league wins were the most since 2000 when Ohio went 20-9.
Notes: Krauss had two walks against the Eagles, moving into a tie for second place on the single-season list with 46, two shy of the record he set last year ... He's third on the Ohio career walks list with 129 ... Krauss finished the year with an average of .401 and a slugging percentage of .852, which is an Ohio single-season record ... The junior also finished a banner season with 70 RBIs, tying the single-season mark, and 73 runs scored, tying for second in a single-season ... Matt Schlarb's (Lexington, Ohio) final appearance as a Bobcat was the 57th of his career, which places him in a tie for 10th in Ohio history, while Kevin Mementowski's (Parma, Ohio) outing gave him 59 for his career, tying for eighth all-time among Bobcats ... Friday's game served as the final game for Ohio's 10 seniors ... Krauss moved into eighth on Ohio's all-time hits list with his homer, giving 229 for his career, and now has 45 bombs in his career, second in Ohio history ... Brandon Besl (Cincinnati, Ohio) closed out his career tied for ninth in Bobcat history with 143 runs scored, as he crossed home once in the season finale ... Ohio finished 2009 with a MAC-best 102 homers, the most since it hit 122 in 2001, while Eastern Michigan's six homers gave them 99 on the year, second in the league.
