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ATHENS, Ohio — Bob Wren Stadium roared as redshirt junior AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) ran across home plate in the bottom of the ninth to seal a victory for the Ohio baseball team on Saturday (March 16). Ohio (7-8, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) had walked into the inning down by two runs, but after a double from graduate student Bryce Smith and an error by Kent State's third basemen, Ohio earned a 10-9 walk-off win. 

"As soon as it went out the glove. I knew we'd won the game. It was a tough play, but it was good to have a little bit of luck, too," head coach Craig Moore said. 

It wasn't an easy feat for the Bobcats, either. They and the Golden Flashes (8-11, 3-2 MAC) went back-and-forth all afternoon, starting in the second inning. The Golden Flashes scored first on a pair of solo home runs that inning, however the Bobcats took the lead in the bottom half of the third on a three-RBI double by freshman JR Nelson (Vernon Hills, Ill.). 

Kent State reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth inning on a walk and a sacrifice fly, but not before freshman Trae Cassidy (Northville, Mich.) hit a solo home run to re-tie the game in the bottom of the inning. Cassidy's shot to left center was his first career home run. 

Ohio strung together a pair of singles over the sixth and seventh innings from senior Gideon Antle (Licking, Mo.) and freshman Pauly Mancino (Westlake, Ohio) with back-to-back clean innings from junior Hudson Boncal (Corona, Calif.) to once again reclaim the lead. Although, Kent State once again fired back. It scored three runs in the top of the eighth to wipe away what Ohio had just done. 

"(The Golden Flashes) can run, they can hit for power and they've got five tools pretty much throughout their lineup. Balancing that and playing our game against that is probably the biggest challenge we've had," Nelson said. 

The Bobcats found balance through their lineup as well. All but one Bobcat had a hit or more on the afternoon. Nelson tied Rausch for the most hits with three apiece. Nelson also collected the most extra-base hits and RBI on Saturday with two doubles and three RBI, respectively. He, Rausch and Smith were the lone Bobcats to have doubles. 

As a team, Ohio collected 15 hits in total. 

"We have our approach. We talked about the pitchers that we're going to face every day, we step in the box, and all we try to do is execute it. Today we we did a pretty good job of that we we got the starters through a lot of pitches, then got into the bullpen and got the job done," Smith said. 

Joe Miceli earned the Golden Flashes' loss while junior Tyler Peck (Oak Creek, Wis.) earned the his first win of the season for the Bobcats. Peck tossed one inning in which he struck out one batter. He came in after Boncal in the top of the ninth, who previously relieved starter graduate student Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein, Ohio). Knapschaefer collected six strikeouts over his first career start.  

Ohio put it all together to defeat Kent State, and now it stands toward the top of the MAC. 

"It was a great effort and come back win. The team, I'm talking pitching, defense and offense, for them just to stick together. it was a back-and-forth game. When we punched them, they punched back and it was like that the whole day. A win like that in conferences is a huge confidence booster for us," Moore said. 

The Bobcats aren't done with the Golden Flashes yet, though. The two are set to play the series finale Sunday afternoon (March 17) at Bob Wren Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. 

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