Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)

FINAL: Ohio 7 (14-10, 2-3 MAC), Western Michigan 5 (9-13, 2-3 MAC) -- Athens, Ohio. (Bob Wren Stadium)

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

WESTERN MICHIGAN STARTERS: Grant Miller (3B), Nick Vogelmeier (2B), Kurt Hoekstra (SS), Jared Kujawa (RF), Hunter Prince (1B), Brett Sunde (C), Tanner Allison (LF), Caleb Caton (DH), Drew Farmer (CF), Chad Mayle (P)

THE BASICS
The Ohio baseball team (14-10, 2-3 MAC) scored five runs over the seventh and eighth innings to roar all the way back from a 5-0 deficit and beat Mid-American Conference West Division foe Western Michigan (9-13, 2-13 MAC), 7-5, on Saturday (March 28) at Bob Wren Stadium.

The Bobcats evened the weekend league series with the win. The Broncos recorded a 12-9 triumph in the series opener on Friday (March 27).

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Ohio won despite being outhit by Western Michigan, 10-8. The Bobcats took advantage of four errors by the Broncos.
- Sophomore Mitch Longo (Mayfield, Ohio) enjoyed a big day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored
- Senior Jake Madsen (Cincinnati, Ohio) went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
- Sophomore right-handed reliever Jake Rudnicki (Toledo, Ohio) tossed four shutout innings out of the bullpen for Ohio, striking out five while giving up four hits and a walk.
- Senior righty Logan Cozart (New Philadelphia, Ohio) pitched two perfect final frames for the Bobcats, fanning three to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season.
- Sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Tom Colletti (Wheaton, Ill.) gave up five runs -- four of them earned -- on six hits and a walk. He struck out two over three innings.
- Freshman right-handed reliever Josh Bays suffered his first career loss for Western Michigan, giving up two unearned runs on one out hit in one inning of work. He recorded one strikeout.
- Senior right-handed starting pitcher Chad Mayle surrended five runs -- four of them earned -- on seven hits and two walks. He fanned two in 6.1 innings of action for the Broncos.
- Juniors Kurt Hoekstra, Brett Sunde and Drew Farmer all went 2-for-4 with a double for Western Michigan. Hoekstra scored two runs while Sunde drove in two.
- Facing a 5-0 hole going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Ohio began chipping away at its deficit. Longo led off with a single through the right side, advanced third on a base hit back to the mound by Madsen and tagged up and scored by way of a sacrifice fly to right by senior Tyler Wells (Lexington, Ky.).
- The Bobcats made it a three-run game in the fifth. Redshirt senior Kyle Dean (Athens, Ohio) was hit by a pitch, then took second on a throwing error on a failed double play attempt by Western Michigan that allowed sophomore Tyler Finkler (Olmsted Falls, Ohio) to reach safely on a fielder's choice. Finkler was erased on a fielder's choice that allowed junior Manny De Jesus (Caguas, P.R.) to reach safely, but Dean was able to score on the play.
- Ohio's comeback attempt heated up in the seventh as the Bobcats scored three runs to tie the contest at five-all. Finkler led off the frame by being hit by a pitch. One out later, redshirt senior Garrett Black (Lima, Ohio) drew a walk. Finkler scored on a single back up the middle by Longo. Madsen doubled home Black to make it a one-run game, then Longo scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
- After Cozart retired the side in the top of the eighth, the Bobcats took command of the contest in the home half. Sophomore Ty Black (Waynesville, Ohio) smacked a leadoff single through the left side, then moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dean. After entering the game as a pinch hitter, redshirt sophomore Nate Squires (Plain City, Ohio) was hit by a pitch. He was replaced on the bases by redshirt senior David Hamlett (Stockton, Calif.). After each advancing 90 feet on a ground out by De Jesus, Black and Hamlett scored the go-ahead runs for Ohio on a Western Michigan error.
- Cozart again sat down the side in the top of the ninth to seal the victory for Ohio.
- Western Michigan took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first when sophomore Nick Vogelmeier was hit by a pitch with one out and Hoekstra followed by drawing a walk, setting the table for a two-out, two-RBI single to left by junior Hunter Prince. Prince then scored on a double by Sunde that was aided by an Ohio fielding error.
- The Broncos added on two more scores in the third to make it a 5-0 ballgame. Hoekstra smacked a leadoff single through the left side, and senior Jared Kujawa followed with a double to right. Both scored one out later on a base hit to left by Sunde.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Longo recorded his team-leading 11th multi-hit game of the season and second with at least four hits. He is on a three-game hitting streak.
- Madsen posted his eighth multi-hit game of the year.
- Cozart has given up just one earned run in 13 appearances and 23.2 innings of work out of the bullpen this season. He's talled a team-high 38 strikeouts while giving up just 12 hits and seven walks.

QUOTABLE
Third-Year Head Coach Rob Smith:
- "We had a discussion about it in the locker room before coming out, that this is kind of how we've been doing it all year. A little bit of a roller coaster ride, and you've just got to strap in and stay with the game and stay positive with it and expect something good is going to happen. Our guys did a good job of just hanging in there. One of the big things we talked about from a hitting standpoint was if you get off to a slow start swinging it, you've got to want that fourth at-bat to make something good happen. Ty Black was a great example of that. Our guys showed a lot of fight today, and I couldn't be more proud of them."

UP NEXT
Ohio seeks its first MAC series win of the 2015 season when it battles Western Michigan in the weekend rubber match on Sunday (March 29). First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET at Bob Wren Stadium.

#BobcatNation