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ATHENS, Ohio — A go-ahead single by redshirt senior Nick Dolan (Pittsburgh, Pa.) lifted the Ohio baseball team (7-17, 3-7 Mid-American Conference) 4-3 over Eastern Michigan on Friday evening.
"I didn't really know what was going to come in the at-bat, but as long as I found a gap somewhere and tried to sneak something through, we had a lot of speed on the bases. Those guys, I know they're going to run hard."
The Bobcats found themselves trailing the Eagles (11, 6-4 MAC) after the first five innings. The Eagles scored in the top of the third inning on a single through the left side and in the top of the fifth after a batter was hit by a pitch.
Ohio rallied in the bottom of the sixth, with a lead-off single by graduate student Blake Reed (Gahanna, Ohio). The pressure built for Eastern Michigan after graduate student Trenton Neuer (Nicholasville, Ky.) walked and freshman Matt Ineich (South Lyon, Mich.) laid a bunt single, and it could not handle it. Reed scored on a wild pitch and Neuer followed on a groundout.
After Ineich crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly to cap off the rally, Ohio had the lead.
"In tight games like that where your hits aren't falling, your barrels aren't falling, bunts are that much more important," Ineich said.
Eastern Michigan put up a run on a single to left in the bottom of the eighth to tie, however the Bobcats snuck away with the win on Dolan's two-out single.
Senior Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa) got the start for the Bobcats. He allowed two runs on three hits over six innings on the mound. He walked three batters and struck out four. Gaskey was relieved by freshman Trey Barkman (Kidron, Ohio) who struck out one batter and walked one over an inning.
Sophomore Jack Geiser (Medina, Ohio) picked up the win, his first of the season, for his work in the eighth and ninth innings. Geiser struck out two and allowed one run on three hits during his outing.
"Outstanding job by Blake Gaskey to get us into the game, another quality start by him. Trey Barkman came in and gave us three outs, and that's all his job was," head coach Craig Moore said. It was a tremendous team win."
Ohio will be back in action on Saturday (March 29) with a doubleheader to conclude its series with Eastern Michigan. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon and game two will follow 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one. The games can be viewed on ESPN+.
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