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FINAL: Ohio 6 (36-19), Ball State 2 (33-25) - Avon, Ohio (All Pro Freight Stadium)

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

BALL STATE STARTERS: Alex Maloney (SS), Elbert Devarie (3B), Alex Call (RF), Jarrett Rindfleisch (C), Ryan Spaulding (2B), Scott Tyler (LF), Brandon Estep (DH), Sean Kennedy (1B), Matt Eppers (CF), Zach Plesac (P)

THE BASICS
Something good happened.

After winning just 25 games combined over the previous two seasons -- including only 11 in 2014 -- third-year head coach Rob Smith knew his team needed a rallying cry; something to lean on when the going got tough in 2015, a season in which the squad was projected to finish at the bottom of the Mid-American Conference again.

'Something Good Is About To Happen,' read a green sign with white lettering that sat in the dugout the entire season.

On Sunday (May 24), something good -- no, something spectacular -- happened for the Ohio baseball team.

Behind a four-home run performance and a brilliant combined effort on the mound by junior right-handed starting pitcher Jake Miller (Westerville, Ohio) and senior right-handed closer Logan Cozart (New Philadelphia, Ohio), the No. 3-seeded Bobcats (36-19) claimed the 2015 MAC Championship title with a 6-2 victory over No. 5-seeded Ball State (33-25) on at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.

Ohio earned its 17 overall MAC championship -- including its second league tournament crown and automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, a first in both departments since 1997.

The Bobcats will learn their 2015 NCAA Championship Regional fate on Monday (May 25) at noon ET, as the Selection Show announcing the 64-team bracket airs on ESPNU. A Watch Party beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET will be held at Buffalo Wild Wings in Athens on the restaurant side of the establishment.

The 2015 NCAA Championship consists of 16 four-team, double elimination Regionals, held at campus sites across the nation next weekend (May 29-June 1). The 16 regional host sites will be announced on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET. The 16 Regional champions advance to the NCAA Super Regionals, which will be held at campus sites the following weekend (June 5-8). The eight Super Regional champions punch tickets to Omaha, Neb., and the 2015 NCAA College World Series, which will be held June 13-23/24 at TD Ameritrade Park. The CWS is made up of two four-team, double elimination brackets. The survivors of the brackets play a best-of-three games national championship series to decide the NCAA champion.

Ohio will be making its 15th NCAA Championship appearance and is 17-26 (.395) all-time in national postseason play. The Bobcats went 0-2 at the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Okla., in 1997, falling to Tennessee, 5-2, and UCLA, 15-1. Ohio earned its lone trip to the NCAA College World Series in 1970, going 2-2. The Bobcats swept through District 4 play, beating Minnesota, 6-4, then topping Southern Illinois twice by scores of 7-0 and 8-5 to punch a ticket to the CWS. At the College World Series, Ohio went 2-2, beating Southern California, 4-1, falling to Texas, 7-2 and defeating Iowa State, 9-6, before being eliminated by Florida State, 2-0.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Four days after tossing a complete-game four-hitter to help Ohio topple No. 6-seeded Bowling Green in the opening game of the 2015 MAC Championship, Miller worked 5.1 frames, allowing just one earned run on three hits and a walk while fanning a season-high seven to earn the pitching victory and improve to 6-3 on the year.
- From there, the Bobcats turned to their 2015 MAC Pitcher of the Year in Cozart to earn his program single-season record 13th save and nail down the conference title. The 2015 MAC Championship Most Valuable Player twirled 3.2 frames of relief, striking out five while allowing one unearned run on two hits and two walks.
- Ohio's bats tallied seven hits -- four of which were home runs.
- Junior John Adryan (Delran, N.J.) led the charge, going 3-for-4 with his fourth home run of the season, an RBI and two runs scored.
- Redshirt junior Cody Gaertner (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished 1-for-3 with his second home run of the tournament and fourth of the year.
- Senior Tyler Wells (Lexington, Ky.) went 1-for-4 with a solo homer with his sixth homer of the year.
- Sophomore second baseman Ty Black (Waynesville, Ohio) was 1-for-3 -- including his second home run of the tournament and third of the season.
- Senior Jake Madsen (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished 1-for-4 with an RBI, extending his program all-time hits record total to 283.
- Sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Zach Plesac was charged with the mound defeat for Ball State, falling to 5-5 on the year. He surrendered six runs -- five of which were earned -- on seven hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out two and hit three batters.
- Senior southpaw reliever Devin Wilburn tossed three scoreless frames for the Cardinals, fanning one and hitting one.
- Sophomore Alex Maloney led Ball State at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort that included a double and two runs scored.
- Maloney led off the game with a ground-rule double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Elbert Devarie and scored the game's first run on an RBI groundout to third base by sophomore Alex Call to give Ball State the early 1-0 advantage.
- The Cardinals' lead was short lived. Junior Manny De Jesus (Caguas, Puerto Rico) found his way on base in the first via a fielding error at first by Ball State sophomore Sean Kennedy. De Jesus moved to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a ground out to first off the bat of sophomore Mitch Longo (Mayfield, Ohio). Madsen then drove De Jesus home on a line-drive single to right field, tying the game at one-all.
- Wells gave Ohio a 2-1 lead in the second with a solo blast to left field to lead off the second. Ohio extended its lead to 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of redshirt senior Garrett Black (Lima, Ohio), scoring Adryan from third. Adryan reached base via a single up the middle and was joined on the bases by redshirt sophomore Nate Squires (Plain City, Ohio) and De Jesus, who each reached base via walks.
- Ohio followed up a two-run second with a two-run third. Gaertner took an offering from Plesac and sent it over the wall in right center for a one-out solo homer. One out later Adryan hit a no-doubt solo shot over the left field wall to increase the Ohio advantage to 5-1 after three innings.
- After allowing Maloney's leadoff double in the first, Miller proceeded to retire the next 16 Cardinals he faced before issuing a one-out walk to Ball State sophomore Matt Eppers in the sixth. After giving up a base hit to left by Maloney and an infield single to first by Devarie, Miller gave way to Cozart, who proceeded to strike out Call swinging and get sophomore Jarrett Rindfleish to foul out to first to extinguish the bases-loaded threat.
- Ty Black upped the lead to 6-1 with a solo dinger down the left field line and over the wall.
- Ball State got a run back in the eighth when Maloney legged out a one-out single to third and advanced to second on a throwing error by Adryan on the play, moved to third on an infield base hit to second by Devarie and then scored by way of an RBI fielder's choice that put Call on and forced Devarie out at second.
- After walking junior Ryan Spaulding to open the top of the ninth, Cozart closed out the championship by striking out junior Scott Tyler looking and senior Brandon Estep swinging, then forcing Kennedy into a force at second that erased Spaulding and set off a Bobcat dogpile on the pitcher's mound.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Ohio earned its second MAC tournament championship crown. The Bobcats defeated Kent State, 7-6, in 1997 after falling to Akron in the title game by a score of 15-6 in '96.
- The Bobcats' road to the 2015 MAC Championship crown including the opening-round win over Bowling Green, an extra-inning 4-1 thriller over No. 7-seeded Western Michigan on Thursday (May 21) that featured three 11th-inning home runs and the first no-hitter in MAC Championship history thrown by junior right-handed starting pitcher Connor Sitz (Westerville, Ohio) that allowed the Bobcats to eliminate the Falcons with a 6-0 win and earn a title game berth.
- The Bobcats' 36 wins in 2015 mark the second-most in a single season in program history behind the 43 won by the 1997 squad.
- Ohio has won 21 of its last 29 games -- including 17 of its last 22.
- Third-year head coach Rob Smith picked up his fourth MAC Championship victory and joins Joe Carbone as the only head coaches to guide Ohio to a league championship game victory.
- The Bobcats' bats finished the tournament with a collective eight home runs while the pitching staff, using just four pitchers, allowed just five runs -- only three of which were earned -- on 14 hits and 15 walks over 38 innings of work -- for a 0.71 ERA.
- Miller, Sitz, Adryan and Madsen joined Cozart on the 2015 All-MAC Championship Team.
- Cozart became Ohio's second MAC Championship MVP, joining Bart Leahy, who earned the distinction in 1997. He went 1-0 with a save, fanning seven while giving up one unearned run on four hits and five walks over two appearances and 9.2 innings of work. The run he allowed in the eighth in the MAC Championship Game marked the first he gave up in 25 straight innings of work.
- Miller went 2-0 over two tournament starts, posting a 1.26 ERA with 14 strikeouts while giving up just three runs -- two of which were earned -- on seven hits and three walks in 14.1 innings.
- Adryan hit a team-best .467 over four tournament games, tallying a team-high seven hits. He finished the 2015 MAC Championship with three multi-hit efforts and has totaled 13 multi-hit games in 2015 -- including two with at least three hits.
- Madsen went .333 for the tournament with five hits -- including a double and a home run -- to go along with nine RBI and three runs scored.
- Ohio improved to 6-1 all-time against Ball State in the MAC Championship.

QUOTABLE
Third-Year Head Coach Rob Smith:
"You dream about these sorts of things. I wanted it for these players worse than anything else. I wanted them to experience this and understand what it's about. That's something we talked a lot about and what it would take to build up to it. It took us a little time to realize it, but these kids, they're really amazing. Their resiliency is beyond impressive and I'm proud to call them my team and I'm proud to be a part of that team."

Senior Right-Handed Pitcher Logan Cozart:
"I can't describe the feeling. I'm speechless. I couldn't have done it without my teammates and we're going to play some Regional baseball."

Senior Jake Madsen
"Who would've thought we'd come from 11 wins to being the MAC champions? It's pretty awesome."

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