Baseball falls to Ohio Wesleyan

by Michael Canan
THE POST

Ohio Wesleyan used a three-run eighth inning rally to beat the Ohio baseball team 12-8 yesterday.

The Battling Bishops (19-3) trailed host Ohio (8-11-1) 8-7 heading into the eighth inning. Ohio Wesleyan second baseman Doug Heine started the inning off by reaching first on an error by Ohio shortstop Brian Wingfeld. Ohio pitcher Jeff Rook then walked the next two batters, and was removed when Michael Hershberger hit a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game.

Brian Costin replaced Rook (1-2), who took the loss. Costin was greeted with a two-run double by catcher Jason Bogenrife to give Ohio Wesleyan a 10-8 lead.

After a quiet bottom half of the eighth, Ohio Wesleyan tacked on two insurance runs off Ohio pitcher Dan Cobb to give it the 12-8 win.

Centerfielder Matt Reed said Ohio Wesleyan deserves credit for the win.

"They came to play," he said. "They hustled. They swung the bat well. They just wanted to win more."

Ohio Head Coach Joe Carbone said the Bobcats lost this game with their heads, not their bodies.

"We did a lot of stupid things in the ball game," he said. "We're not a very mature college baseball team right now... We've got all kinds of physical ability, but as I told the team, 'Potential means you haven't done anything.'"

"It's not just one thing. It's a bunch of things adding up. We're just not mentally ready to do the things we need to do."

The Bobcats had their opportunities, taking a big lead in the fourth inning when they scored six runs to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 6-1 lead. Rook put Ohio on the scoreboard when he hit a three-run homerun halfway up the net to nearly straightaway center field. Wingfeld followed the blast with a single, scoring on a groundout by Reed after catcher Scott Brownlee doubled. Third baseman Joe Carlone then drove Wingfeld in with a single and later scored on a single by rightfielder Cory Keylor.

Ohio Wesleyan responded with its own six-run inning to retake the lead. Heine started the inning with a double to left field off pitcher Casey McKinney. Centerfielder Joe Loudenslager followed the double with a single, then shortstop Dan Marchetti was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hershberger drove Heine in with a single, and one out later first baseman Drew Caravella, who was 3-for-4 with three RBI, added a two-run single to cut the lead to 6-4.

After a groundout, third baseman Paul Lashuk ripped a two-run double to tie the game. Heine, batting for the second time in the inning, put Ohio Wesleyan ahead with a bloop single to center that scored Lashuk.

Ohio jumped back on top in the fifth inning. Wingfeld singled to drive in leftfielder Mike Arbinger. Brownlee beat out a high chopper off the plate for an infield single as Rook scored to put Ohio up 8-7.

Ohio Wesleyan's Scott Spriggs (1-0) would shut Ohio down from that point to get the win. Spriggs pitched the final 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and zero runs.

Rook and pitcher Chuck Lombardy held Ohio Wesleyan scoreless in the sixth and seventh, but the Battling Bishops jumped ahead to stay in the eighth.

Kyes led the Ohio offense, going 4-for-5, falling only a home run short of the cycle.

Unfortunately, the team had too many other problems to benefit from the offensive production, Reed said.

"We made too many mental mistakes," he said. "We hit the ball, but we didn't hit the ball well in certain situations. We're making stupid mistakes on the basepaths and in the field."

Overall it was a disappointing performance, Lombardy said.

"We played horrible today," he said. "Everyone played horrible. Like Coach told us, we're being too negative. We've got a lot of people with negative attitudes, and we've got to turn that around or its going to be a long season."

Ohio returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday when it faces Central Michigan in Bob Wren Stadium.