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ATHENS, Ohio-- The Ohio baseball team (10-7, 4-2 MAC) defeated Kent State (6-9, 2-4 MAC) 8-7 in the series finale on Sunday afternoon (March 20) at Bob Wren Stadium to take a 3-1 series win.

"It's huge to come out and take a series from those guys who have been year in and year out at the top of the league," head coach Craig Moore said. "We've had some history with those guys in terms of having some good series and conference tournament games with them, so we know we can play with them. But it feels great, I'm so happy and proud for this team for how they stayed with the game and how they competed today.

Kent State took an early lead in the first inning with a pair of two-run home runs off Ohio senior starting pitcher Jack Liberatore (Greensburg, Pa.) to take four-run lead. The Golden Flashes added to their lead in the second inning with two singles, giving them a six-run leda. Ohio made a pitching change in the second inning and brought in senior Brenden Roder (Sioux City, Iowa), who gave the Bobcats 6.1 strong innings with ony one unearned run on four hits and five strikeouts with no walks.

"My motto is just pound the zone," Roder said. "Whatever the count is, whoever's up it doesn't matter. Just throw strikes, no walks. For me that's how I've always done it and we can continue to do that."

Behind Roder's pitching, the Bobcats began to chip away at the lead with a three-run third inning. Fifth year Isaiah Peterson (Lincoln, Neb.) got Ohio on the board as he singled with two runners on base to score redshirt freshman AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) from second base. Redshirt junior Xavier Haendiges (Salem, Ind.) then took advantage and scored off a wild pitch, as Peterson advanced to third base. Peterson then got brought in by a ball put in play by senior Colin Kasperbauer (Sioux City, Iowa) to narrow the Ohio deficit to three runs.

Kent State scored again in the fourth inning off an error, but Ohio struck right back as senior Mason Minzey (Grand Blanc, Mich.) hit his third home run in two games to bring the game back within three runs.

After two scoreless innings, the Ohio offense started rallying as Kasperbauer hit a two-RBI double to score redshirt senior Michael Richardson (Cambridge, Md.) and Raush to draw the Bobcats within one run. That hit also extended Kasperbauer's hitting streak to 15 games. Redshirt senior Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) came up next and singled to bring in Kasperbauer and tie the game at seven before the end of the seventh inning.

The Bobcats weren't done with the comeback, though, as Rausch hit the go-ahead home run to center field with two outs on the first pitch he saw.

"The scouting report said (the pitcher) throws a lot of fastballs and the first pitch was right down the middle," Rausch said. "I wanted to get a good barrel on it, and luckily it went out so I was happy about that."

Fifth year Brett Manis came in for the save and finished the series off for the Bobcats in three batters.

UP NEXT
Ohio will travel to Bowling Green this weekend to take on the Falcons in a four-game series. First pitch will be at 3:05 p.m. on Friday.