Thomas E. Witte/FOR THE POST Mike Arbinger (center with helmet) gets congratulated by his teammates after slugging a three run homer against the Ball State Cardinals. The Bobcats head to Akron for a doubleheader on Saturday.

The bizarre-looking exercise takes place as a part of the Ohio baseball team's stretching routine before practice.

Each player pairs up with another and proceeds to rest his leg on his partner's back. Despite the awkward looking aspect of this certain stretch, it seems to be good for the hamstring, if nothing else.

But as the players ran to center field to do this exercise, one member of the team left Bob Wren Stadium and made his way to The Convo. Ohio (14-15 overall, 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference) center fielder Brady Mangini left because that stretching exercise won't help his injured right hamstring. It won't bring him back as Ohio's leadoff hitter for this weekend's games at Akron (11-21, 3-7). The only thing that will bring him back is time.

"We have to just wait and see how bad it is," Mangini said. "The first time I tore it (in March), I think I was out about two and a half to three weeks and I don't think I came back too early. I think we waited on it and when it started feeling good I played, and I don't think there's anything I could have done to prevent it from pulling again. We're just going to wait and see right now. I'm rehabbing it with treatments and ice and strengthening exercises."

Despite Ohio's elation after last weekend's undefeated performance and its brief stay in first place in the Mid-American Conference, things are different now after Ohio lost both games of its doubleheader at Eastern Michigan Wednesday. The losses revealed that Ohio's injury problems, present all season, continue to be a hindrance.

"We aren't healthy," Ohio head coach Joe Carbone said. "We've been going with a patched lineup, so to speak."

In other words, the injury situation continues to be, as Carbone said, "Terrible. It's brutal."

It may turn out that filling out the Ohio lineup card will be harder than taking on Akron, which has lost 17 of its last 22 games, Saturday. Along with Ohio's recent losses on the road (11 out of 13), Akron has lost six of its last seven home games.