Rob Hardin / Chief Photographer / rh124104@ohiou.edu

Southern Ohio’s fielding woes are beginning to take a toll on the team’s performance on the field.

The Copperheads (6-5) opened their season winning games with solid defense and timely hitting. In the last five games, however, Southern Ohio has committed 18 errors, falling back into a tie for fourth in the standings.

Head coach Ted Tom is disappointed about his team’s mistakes in the field, but at the same time, he knows that his players will snap out of it.

“Our guys have to continue to build confidence, so we can take that confidence onto the field and continue winning games,” Tom said.

Southern Ohio infielder Zach Keen, an Ohio sophomore, has seen his error total balloon from three to seven over this tough stretch. Keen and his teammates know these miscues can be fixed.

“It’s all a mental thing. It’s 90 percent mental out there, Keen said.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, it’s all about confidence in baseball. Errors will keep building if we don’t have confidence.”

The fielding struggles continued Tuesday night when the Copperheads made four errors in a 3-0 loss to the visiting Delaware Cows (7-7-1). This marked the first time Southern Ohio was shut out all season.

Keen isn’t the only one having troubles in the field. Copperhead third baseman Phillip Vaughn has made his share of mistakes this season committing four errors, including two in the last two games. Vaughn, like Keen, isn’t overly concerned with his teams lackluster fielding.

“Every team hits a rough point in the season, and our pitchers know that we’re a good team, Vaughn said.

“We will get it together, it’s still early in the season.”

After rain washed out the Copperheads’ doubleheader with Lake Erie Saturday, Southern Ohio seemed to enjoy returning home for the weekend, but only momentarily.

The Copperheads had a doubleheader Sunday evening that matched them up against the first-place Cincinnati Steam (12-4). The home team took game one of the doubleheader 7-6, despite four errors by the defense. Jared Humphreys belted the first home run this season for the team, Chuck Boring picked up his fourth save of the season and Derek Hayden recorded his first victory.

The second game of the doubleheader was a similar story, but a different result as the Copperheads fell 4-2 in their first extra-inning game of the season. Southern Ohio fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th, but immediately fell behind the next inning when the Steam scored two runs after a costly error by Vaughn.  

After a split with the league-leading Steam, Tom is very positive about his team and the rest of their season.

“They’re a good team and it shows that we can compete with the best teams in the league,” Tom said.

The errors started piling up Friday night when the Copperheads committed five miscues in an 8-2 losing effort against Columbus (9-7). Those five fielding mistakes mark the highest total for Southern Ohio this season.

Southern Ohio has a doubleheader at Lake Erie Saturday, but will be returning home Sunday to play Columbus at 5:30.