FINAL: Siena 7 (3-11), Ohio 4 (10-6) - Chillicothe, Ohio (VA Memorial Stadium)

OHIO STARTERS: Manny De Jesus (CF), Garrett Black (SS), Mitch Longo (LF), Jake Madsen (1B), Tyler Wells (RF), Ty Black (3B), Cody Gaertner (C), John Adryan (DH), Tyler Finkler (2B), Evan Geist (P)

SIENA STARTERS: Dan Swain (CF), Dave Hoffmann (C), Justin Esquerra (3B), Brian Fay (1B), Fred Smart (RF), Joe Drpich (DH), Carlos Tapia (LF), Brett Connors (2B), Tyler Martis (SS), Taylor Ahearn (P)

THE BASICS

Sophomore Mitch Longo (Mayfield, Ohio) and redshirt junior Cody Gaertner (Pittsburgh, Pa.) each produced multi-hit games, but the Ohio baseball team (10-6) stranded 14 runners on base and fell to Siena (3-11), 7-4, on Sunday (March 15) in the rubber match of a three-game series at Veterans Administration Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Longo went 2-for-4 with a walk while Gaertner went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored.

- Junior Manny De Jesus (Caguas, P.R.), junior John Adryan (Delran, N.J.) and sophomore Tyler Finkler (Olmstead Falls, Ohio) all joined Gaertner in coaxing two walks apiece.

- Redshirt senior left-handed starting pitcher Evan Geist (Roswell, Ga.) suffered the pitching defeat, falling to 2-2 on the season. He struck out five in three and two-thirds of an inning but gave up four runs -- three of them earned -- on three hits and five walks.

- Sophomore right-hander Tom Colletti (Wheaton, Ill.) pitched three and a third of an inning of relief, fanning three. He allowed one earned run on three hits and a walk.

- Sophomore righty Christian Botter (Toronto, Canada) tossed one inning of relief work, giving up two earned runs on a hit and a walk.

- Junior right-hander Jake Miller (Westerville, Ohio) pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two while allowing one hit.

- Senior Brian Fay led Siena's bats, totaling two doubles and driving in three runs.

- Senior Justin Esquerra and junior Brett Connors each posted multi-hit efforts for the Saints. Esquerra also walked twice and scored a run while Connors drove in two runs, walked twice and scored a run.

- Siena utilized eight pitchers, with sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Taylor Ahearn throwing one scoreless inning and walking one. He earned the mound victory to improve to 1-2 on the season.

- Junior left-handed reliever Kyano Cummings earned his first save of the season for the Saints, striking out two while giving up a hit and a walk in two innings.

- The Saints snatched a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Freshman Fred Smart led off the frame by reaching safely on an Ohio fielding error. Freshman Joe Drpich and sophomore Carlos Tapia followed by drawing back-to-back walks to fill the bases for Siena with nobody out. Connors capitalized on the situation, driving in Smart and Drpich with a single to left center. After junior Tyler Martis successfully laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both Tapia and Connors into scoring position, sophomore Dan Swain made it a four-run inning with a two-run double to right.

- The Bobcats answered the challenge in the home half, however, tallying three runs. Senior Tyler Wells (Lexington, Ky.) got the rally going with a leadoff base hit through the left side. One out later, Gaertner singled through the right side to put runners on the corners for Ohio. Adryan took advantage by serving up a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Wells to tag up and score. Finkler followed with a double to left that scored Gaertner, then scored himself on a single to center by De Jesus to make it a one-run ballgame.

- Siena went up by two runs in the sixth as Esquerra smacked a two-out single up the middle and scored by way of a double to right by Fay.

- Ohio retaliated in the bottom of the frame, though, to make it a one-run affair once again. Gaertner drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Finkler and tagged up and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by redshirt senior Garrett Black (Lima, Ohio).

- Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Siena put the game out of reach with two runs in the eighth. Swain reached on a fielder's choice, and junior Dave Hoffmann followed by drawing a walk. Both advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch and then scored on a double down the right field line by Fay.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

- Longo finished the weekend hitting a team-best .417 with a team-high five hits and three RBI. He extended his hitting streak to a team season-high 10 games and has reached base safely in a team season-high 13 straight games.

QUOTABLE

THIRD-YEAR HEAD COACH Rob Smith

- "I thought Siena did a good job. They came in and played tough baseball against us. Most people around here don't know about Siena, but they were a Regional team last year and went down and made some noise in Tallahassee, and some of these kids were back from that club. They're a tough-minded team, and they played that way."

- "Baseball's a funny game that way. Hitting's a tough thing to do. Up until this point, our offense had done a tremendous job of driving those runs in. Coming into the weekend, we were the third-best offense in the country in terms of runs per game. That's how hitting goes. That's why we constantly stress pitching and defense, because hitting can come and go, and it has its ups and downs. Unfortunately, over the most of the weekend, we just didn't get our offense going at the level it had been previously."

- "I thought our effort was good. I was disappointed we couldn't come away with a series win, but they played hard and hung in there. We just couldn't get a big hit when we needed it."

UP NEXT

Ohio makes a trip to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky on Tuesday (March 17). First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.

#BobcatNation