Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ATHENS, Ohio-- The Ohio baseball team (18-17, 10-10 MAC) took two games over Canisius (17-18) in a doubleheader on Saturday (April 23) at Bob Wren Stadium. The Bobcats took a 8-7 win in the first game and won 9-5 in game two.
GAME ONE
The Bobcats started off with strong offense, as senior
Colin Kasperbauer (Sioux City, Iowa) brought in a runner from third base for an RBI single. Ohio wasn't able to hold the lead as an error cascaded into four unearned runs for the Golden Griffins. Luckily for the Bobcats, redshirt senior
Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) took a ball deep to left field in the fourth inning and brought in three home runs on his ninth homer of the year, and second in two games.
Ohio and Cansius went back and forth in the next few innings, as Cansius took a two run-lead after the fifth. Senior
Will Sturek (Minnetonka, Minn.) came up with runners on base in the sixth, and bunted in a run as the Bobcats took advantage of a throwing error by the pitcher. The Golden Griffins really struggled to score in the last half of the game as senior
Braxton Kelly (Ulysses, Ky.) shut down their offense. Kelly allowed just one earned run on two hits with five strikeouts in his four innings pitched. He also earned the win for his outing.
The Golden Griffins took the lead again in the seventh to go up 7-5, but Kasperbauer immediately took matters into his own hands as he hit his second homerun of the year, giving Ohio a 8-7 lead. Fifth year pitcher
Edward Kutt IV (Westlake, Calif.) finished off the game as he easily cruised through three batters in the ninth for his first save of the season.
GAME TWO
The Bobcats picked up right where they left off, immediately taking advantage of Canisius' starting pitcher and put up six runs in the first inning. Redshirt freshman
AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) got things started off with a two-run homerun to deep left field to take a quick 2-0 lead. After getting another couple of batters on base, Harbert singled to bring in another run and give Ohio three runs before recording an out.
Junior
Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.) brought in another run on a sac fly, as Harbert stole second and third base. He was rewarded for his base running as redshirt senior
Michael Richardson (Caimbridge, Md.) singled to bring him in from third. Finally, graduate student
Cael Baker (Gahana, Ohio) doubled to bring in the last run of the inning and give the Bobcats a 6-0 lead after one inning.
The Golden Griffins battled back with two runs in each the second and third innings,but the Bobcats once again extended their lead. In the fourth inning, Rausch came up with another big hit and doubled to bring in fifth-year senior Isaiah Richardson (Lincoln, Neb.) to give Ohio a three-run lead. Baker came up clutch again, too, as he beat the shift in the fifth inning and brought in a run on an RBI single. After Cansius put up a run in the seventh, Baker added another run as he got brought in on a sac fly from Peterson.
The Bobcats had a strong pitching performance by freshman starter
Hudson Boncal (Corona, Calif.). Boncal finished with a win after pitching five innings and only giving up two earned runs.
"I found that my fastball worked well," Boncal said. "I just tried to let them hit it, honestly, and let my defense go work."
Fifth-year senior pitcher
Brett Manis came into close the end of the game. He was the only pitcher of the game for the Bobcats that wasn't a freshman in an impressive outing by Ohio's young talent.
Ohio was led offensively by Rausch, who finished three-for-five with three RBIs, and Baker, who went two-for-three with two RBIs and a walk.
UP NEXT
Ohio will resume MAC play at Miami next weekend.
#OUohyeah
