NASHVILLE, TENN.— The Ohio baseball team (1-0) opened the 2024 season on Friday (Feb. 16) with a dominant win against Lipscomb (0-1), 15-7.
Individually, redshirt junior
AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) lead the team with four RBIs on 2-4 hitting with a home run. Junior
Taylor Gill (Orem, Utah) and fifth year
Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.) both also batted in three runs, both also having a double to their names. Senior
Gideon Antle (Licking, Mo.) finished the game 5-6 hitting with an RBI as well. Freshman
JR Nelson (Vernon Hills, Ill.) went 3-4 at the plate with three runs and an RBI.
Overall, the Bobcats record 17 total hits with three doubles and one home run. Seven of the nine starters recorded at least one RBI. The team drew five walks, two of which scored runs.
On the mound, both senior
Luke Olson (Granville, Ill.) and graduate student
Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein, Ohio) threw three innings. Olson struck out four, allowing four runs on five hits. Knapschaefer threw three strikeouts, allowing two earned on four hits. Knapschaefer was credited with the win, his first of the season. Junior
Tyler Peck (Oak Creek, Wis.) also pitched the last three innings, allowing zero hits, with one earned run. Peck was awarded his first save of the season.
The Bobcats opened the season's hitting after both Antle and junior
Wes Lug (Huntersville, N.C.) singled in the top of the second. Shortly after, Rausch was able to bring both players home on a two-run double to right field. Rausch then eventually came home on a single from Nelson.
The Bobcat lead would be cut to one on a two-run home run from Lipscomb in the bottom of the second. The bottom of the third saw Lipscomb hit another two-run home run, bringing the Bobcats their first deficit of the game. By the start of the 5
th inning, the Bobcat deficit was two.
That was before the top of the 5
th, where Nelson was able to single once more to lead off the inning. He eventually stole second, and was able to come home on an
Alex Finney double to cut the lead to one. Finney himself would come around and score after Antle was able to connect on a single to left field, bringing the score level once more. Later that inning, Lipscomb was able to re-capture the lead in the bottom of the 5
th, and the inning would end 5-6 in favor of the Bisons.
Down one going into the inning, the Bobcats stepped on the gas in the 7
th. . To begin the inning, the bases became loaded after a Finney single, a senior
Cole Williams (Charlotte, N.C.) walk and an Antle single – all with zero outs. Lug was then walked to bring the game all square at 6-6 with zero outs in the 7
th. Back-to-back bases loaded walks then gave Ohio their first lead since the third inning, as freshman
Pauly Mancino (Westlake, Ohio) drew an RBI walk as well. The Bobcats gained an 8-6 lead on the next at-bat: a sacrifice fly by Rausch, his third RBI of the contest. Gill then doubled to right field bringing in loaded bases to inflate the lead to five. The next at-bat, Finney drove in his second RBI of the day to double the Bison score, up to 12-6. In total, the Bobcats put up seven runs in the 7
th. Bobcats pitching went three up, three down to end the inning, keeping the six-run lead.
The Bisons were able to get a run back in the 8
th, but the Bobcat lead remained five going into the final inning. Heading into the ninth, the runs kept coming as Rausch homered to left field, raking in his fourth RBI of the game. Two more consecutive hits came after, which were followed by a single from Finney, which scored another run. Nelson was then able to score on a wild pitch shortly after, ballooning the lead to eight runs. The Bobcat run total would sit at 15 after nine, and the game would end in an eight-run win for the Bobcats, 15-7.
UP NEXT:
The Bobcats will return to action tomorrow (Feb. 17) for the second of three games against Lipscomb and try to remain perfect on the season. First pitch is set for 2 PM ET.
#OUohyeah
