ATHENS, OH – The Ohio baseball team (3-16, 1-3 MAC) hosted Western Michigan (7-9, 3-1 MAC) at Bob Wren Stadium Friday night (Mar. 13) for the first of a three game conference series. In a high scoring game that came down to the final two innings, Ohio fell 20-12.
Senior outfielder
Cam Hill (Chicago, Ill) tallied three hits and three RBI's against Western Michigan, including a homer. Two other Bobcats would tally a home run in the game for the Bobcats with junior outfielder Cam Boyd (Villa Hills, Ky.) and fifth year infielder
Will Henson (Chicago, Ill.) both leaving the yard. Redshirt sophomore designated hitter
Max Palinski (Gates Mills, Ohio) reached base three different times in the game with two hits and a walk including an RBI.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher
Luke Bryant (Ashland, Ohio) got the start on the mound for Ohio, giving the team two and one thirds innings pitched while allowing four runs on four hits. Freshman righthander
Mason Gass (Oakdale, Pa.) ate a majority of the innings for Ohio out of the bullpen, pitching four and a third innings while striking out two and allowing six earned runs. Six other pitchers would throw against Western Michigan in the series opening contest.
The Broncos took an early lead in the top half of the first, scoring two runs before the Bobcats came to the plate.
Facing a two-run deficit in the first, Hill got the Bobcats on the board with an RBI double down the left field line, scoring senior infielder
Reese Harmon (Columbus, Ind.).
After a scoreless second for both teams, Western Michigan extended its lead in the third with another two runs, going up 4-1.
In the bottom half of the third, a big inning from the Ohio offense would give it the lead. Boyd got things started, hitting a two-run homer over the center field wall to bring the Bobcats and within one at 4-3. RBI's by Palinski and junior outfielder
Taylor Harris (Parrish, Fla.) would cap off a four run inning and a 5-4 Ohio lead.
The Bobcat lead wouldn't last long however, as the Broncos once again brought the score to a tie at 5-5 with a run in the fourth.
Ohio would battle back, however, with Hill and Henson each hitting homers in the fourth to put the team up three at 8-5.
Runs in the fifth and sixth innings for Ohio would extend its lead to 10-5 as the offense continued to battle.
Down five in the seventh, the Western Michigan offense erupted for five runs to tie the game at 10 heading into the home half of the seventh.
Having played with a lead for most of the game, the Bobcats were quick to retake the lead when a Boyd single would score one of two Ohio runs in the seventh to give it a 12-10 lead.
As time was running out for Western Michigan they once again battled back, responding to Ohio's two runs in the seventh with a nine spot in the eighth and a single run in the ninth.
The Bobcats couldn't respond, falling to the Broncos 20-12.
Up next, Ohio will return to Bob Wren for game two of its series against Western Michigan tomorrow, March 14, at 2 p.m. That game can be seen on ESPN+.
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