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FLORENCE, Ala. – The Ohio baseball team will begin the 2020 season with a four-game road series at North Alabama on Feb. 14-16.
The Bobcats will open the 2020 campaign on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT. Ohio will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT and will wrap up the series Sunday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT.
All games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS AND LINKS
FRIDAY: RHP sophomore Eamon Horwedel (Ann Arbor, Mich.) vs. RHP Hunter Davidson | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY GAME ONE: RHP redshirt sophomore Jack Liberatore (Greensburg, Pa.) vs. LHP Jacob Laws | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY GAME TWO: TBD vs. LHP Chase Best | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
SUNDAY: RHP junior Chace Harris (New Marshfield, Ohio) vs. RHP Keegan Foge | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
#ROBCATS
Rob Smith enters his eighth season as the head coach of the Ohio baseball program in 2020. The Bobcats have won two Mid-American Conference tournament titles and have made two NCAA Championship appearances during his time at Ohio. Ohio had made just two NCAA tournament appearances in the 43 seasons prior to the 2015 campaign.
OHIO PICKED SIXTH IN MAC
The Ohio Baseball team has been selected sixth in the 2020 Mid-American Conference Baseball Preseason Poll, the league announced on Wednesday (Feb. 12). The poll was voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.
The Bobcats earned 67 points and OU was selected in front of Western Michigan (57), Eastern Michigan (38), Toledo (33), Bowling Green (30) and Akron (20).
Selected in front of Ohio was Central Michigan (109), Kent State (106), Ball State (105), Miami (93) and Northern Illinois (68). CMU and BSU each earned three votes to win the regular season, Miami and KSU each had two and NIU earned one. Kent State earned six votes to win the MAC Tournament, Miami earned two and Ball State, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois each had one vote to win.
SAVES LEADER
Junior LHP Brett Manis (Port Huron, Mich.) returns to Ohio after leading the MAC in saves last season with seven. Manis had a team-best 3.00 ERA and struck out 64 batters while only walking 13 in 2019. Manis earned MAC co-pitcher of the week after tossing 4.1 innings and striking out seven batters in Ohio's MAC Tournament spot clinching win against Western Michigan. In the MAC Tournament, Manis tossed a career-high 6.0 innings of relief in Ohio's 17-inning win over Miami.
SECOND-TEAM ALL-MAC IS BACK
Junior RHP Edward Kutt IV was second-team All-MAC and returns to Ohio. Kutt IV appeared in 23 games on the mound last season and made eight starts. Kutt IV logged 76.2 innings pitched with a 3.64 ERA and 67 strikeouts. Kutt IV a career-high eight batters against Bowling Green in 6.0 innings and earned his only save of the season to send Ohio to the MAC Tournament in OU's win over Western Michigan on the last day of the season.
MORMANN RETURNS
Former Ohio baseball volunteer assistant coach Mitch Mormann returned as Ohio's recruiting coordinator and pitching coach. Mormann joins Ohio from South Dakota State, where he was the assistant coach and head pitching coach. While at SDSU, Mormann coached two First-Team All-Summit League closers, three Second Team All-Summit League pitchers, two Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-Americans and had six players named to the All-Summit League Academic Team. Mormann had one pitcher picked in the MLB Draft while the team led the Summit League in pitching in 2019.
Mormann was a key member of the Ohio coaching staff in 2015, when the Bobcats won the 2015 Mid-American Conference championship and made an NCAA Regional. As the volunteer assistant coach, Mormann helped put three pitchers on the 2015 MAC All-Tournament Team and had one pitcher – Logan Cozart – selected in the MLB Draft by Colorado.
ON LAST SEASON
Ohio finished the 2019 season 20-34 and 12-14 in the league while earning the No. 6 seed in the MAC Tournament. Ohio won two games in the MAC Tournament, including a 17-inning elimination game over Miami, 6-5. The game was the longest in MAC Tournament history. Ohio graduated back-to-back MAC Player of the Year, All-American and Philadelphia Phillies ninth-round draft pick, Rudy Rott.
NEWCOMERS
Ohio will welcome 10 newcomers to the team in 2020. Five true freshman – RHP Parker Maddox (Columbus, Ind.), C/INF Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.), OF Trenton Neuer (Nicholasville, Ky.), INF Trent Belli (Dublin, Ohio) and RHP/Util Andrew Russell (Champion, Ohio) – will join the team. Four Bobcats - Sophomore LHP Xavier Ludwig (Florence, Ky.) from Cincinnati-Clermont, graduate transfer Danny Brackman (Tampa, Fla.) from Denison, redshirt sophomore INF/OF Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) from Kentucky and junior OF Isaiah Peterson (Lincoln, Neb.) from Iowa Western – transferred to Ohio. Redshirt freshman Xavier Haendiges (Salem, Ind.) sat out last season.
ON NORTH ALABAMA
North Alabama is in their second season in Division I. UNA finished 2019 with a 16-38 record and a 7-16 mark in the ASUN Conference in their first season facing a full Division I schedule. UNA beat three NCAA Tournament teams last season, including No. 18 Ole Miss.
UP NEXT
After UNA, Ohio will head to Lexington, S.C. to take on Saint Louis on Feb. 21-23.
#BleedGreen
