March 12, 2011
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio-The Ohio baseball team used the ninth inning to both win one game over Marshall and hold it off in the other as the Bobcats defeated the Thundering Herd 9-8 and 13-12 in a doubleheader Saturday at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens.
The Bobcats improved to 6-7 with the victories, while Marshall dropped to 5-8.
Ohio left fielder Jensen Painter drove in five runs on the day, while second baseman Bryan Barnes and center fielder Ethan Newton both knocked in four. Newton and right fielder Chandler Geller, who went 4-for-5 on the day, scored four times. The Bobcats were hit by 10 pitches Saturday, including five in one inning of the second game.
Marshall was led by Isaac Ballou's eight RBIs, all of which came in the second game. He, along with Rhett Stafford, Kenny Socorro and Victor Ramos, posted four hits apiece. Socorro and Ramos scored four times as well.
The Herd put up the first game's first three runs in the third inning before Ohio responded with a two-run homer down the right field line by Ethan Newton. The Bobcats tacked on more with three in the fourth on an RBI double to left center by third baseman Dan Ward and it was his run, and another by catcher Trace Voshell, that made it 5-3 Bobcats.
Marshall went ahead with three runs in the seventh and looked to be in command when its ninth inning runs gave the visitors an 8-5 lead. However, Ohio put together a tremendous rally to score the win in the bottom half of the frame. Barnes started the scoring with a bases-loaded RBI single to left and Painter knotted the game at 8-8 with a two-run double to left center. After Marshall issued an intentional walk to Ohio pinch-hitter Doug Holmes to load the bases, Voshell popped out to set the stage for the game's dramatic conclusion. With the game on the line, Ward lifted a high popup along the first base line that drifted into foul territory. Herd first baseman Victor Gomez made an impressive, twisting catch to secure the inning's second out, but Barnes then raced for the plate just after Gomez made the grab to score the game-winning tally on a most unusual sacrifice fly.
The comeback made a winner of Ohio reliever Tyler Backstrom (2-0), who recorded the final out of the ninth inning. Marshall reliever Ian Kadish (0-1) took the loss, allowing all four of the last-inning runs on three hits with no strikeouts and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. Herd starter Shane Farrell had a decent outing in six and two-thirds innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Marshall jumped out early again in the second game and again it was the third frame when it did its damage as the Herd scored four times that inning. Ohio, however, pulled two runs back in the bottom half on two-run homer to straightaway center by Painter.
Both teams traded three runs in the sixth inning, with Ohio's tallies coming on an RBI-double down the left field line by Newton, a run-scoring double to right by Barnes and an RBI-single to left by Painter.
Ohio saved its biggest explosion for the seventh and eighth innings when they scored four in each, while Marshall could muster just an eighth-inning tally. Newton started the seventh-inning scoring with a bases-loaded infield single and that brought Barnes to the plate with the bases still packed. The Bobcat second baseman then sent a grounder that went between the legs of Marshall second baseman James Lavinskas and advanced to third when Socorro's ensuing relay throw went into the dugout, clearing the bases in the process.
The eighth inning was wild in another fashion as the Marshall pitching staff hit five Bobcat batters in the frame to fuel the Ohio offense. In the inning, Geller had a two-run double to center and Barnes added a two-run single to right to make the score 13-8 Ohio heading to the top of the ninth.
What seemed like a safe lead, however, proved to be anything but as Marshall came roaring back in its last at bat. The Herd got two-out RBIs from Ramos, Ballou and Gomez and used a Bobcat error to score another as they racked up five hits in the inning. With Ohio now clinging to just a one-run lead, and the red-hot Ballou on third, Marshall's Gray Stafford rocketed a Ben Trimbur offering to short but Bobcat shortstop Wes O'Neill plucked it out of the air to preserve the victory.
Trimbur, who entered in the ninth with the bases loaded and no out, got his first save of the season, allowing an earned run on three hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Ohio reliever Brett Barber (1-0) got the win, surrendering a run on two hits with a strikeout and no walks in two innings of work. Marshall's Kyle Blank (0-1) was the hard-luck loser, as he allowed just a hit and an unearned run without recording an out.
Ohio's Kyle Dean caught the second game for the Bobcats and had two hits, including a double, scoring twice as well.
Marshall's Ballou, who went 4-for-5 in the second game with an eye-popping eight RBIs, raised his batting average a full 100 percentage points to .321 with Saturday's performance.
The two teams will complete the series Sunday with another 1 p.m. doubleheader.
