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ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio baseball team fell 13-4 to VMI Saturday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium. Ohio was outhit 12 to 9 by its opponent. 

Sophomore Ben Slanker (Canfield, Ohio) gave the Bobcats the edge in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to right field that traveled beyond the park. The knock was Slanker's 15th of the season, which ties him for the second most in Division I. 

VMI overtook the lead in the top of the second on a two-RBI single through the left side, but the Bobcats came right back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by graduate student Blake Reed (Gahanna, Ohio) and a single by redshirt sophomore Cam Bryant (Miamisburg, Ohio). 

Senior starting pitcher Hudson Boncal (Corona, Calif.) produced three scoreless innings for the Bobcats over the middle of the game, which gave the offense a chance to settle back in. Boncal ended the afternoon after six and one-third innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits, two walks and struck out seven of the 26 batters he faced. 

A triple from Slanker in the bottom of the fifth tacked on one more for Ohio, but VMI recorded four runs across the sixth and seventh innings to put Ohio back in a deficit. 

"We let them kind of play their game a little bit there in the second half. I felt like we had some opportunities both pitching wise and offensively, to get out of some of those innings there, we just weren't able to execute plays, get a big hit in a big situation," head coach Craig Moore said.

Slanker led Ohio with three hits on Saturday afternoon. In four at-bats, he recorded one home run and two triples. 

VMI recorded six runs on four singles and a few mental mistakes in the top of the eighth to keep Ohio out of reach and solidify a victory. 

Ohio will be back in action on Sunday to face VMI for the final game of the three-game series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Bob Wren Stadium and the game can be viewed on ESPN+. 

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