The Ohio baseball team earned its third conference series victory of the season this weekend against Akron thanks to outstanding back-to-back pitching performances from Bobcat starters Anthony Gressick and Yale Silverman.
Wins in the final two games of the series helped Ohio (18-22, 10-11 Mid-American Conference) remain ahead of Akron (13-31, 7-14 MAC) in the MAC East Division standings and also improved the ’Cats’ chances to battle for second place in the division.
“It allows us to hang in there,” Ohio coach Joe Carbone said. “I thought Gressick and Yale did a great a job quieting (the Zips) down.”
After splitting the first two games of the series, Ohio jumped ahead in the third inning of yesterday’s decisive game. Ohio scored once in the first and sent 11 batters to the plate in the third as the ’Cats rapped out six runs on five hits and two Akron errors.
Silverman, after hitting the first batter of the game, responded by striking out the next four batters he faced in the midst of retiring nine consecutive Zips.
However, Akron tallied three runs in a strange third inning resulting from a combination of an Ohio wild pitch and error.
Ohio tacked on one run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth to re-establish the seven-run lead at 10-3. Infielder Bryant Witt’s two-RBI single in the sixth extended his hitting streak to 19 consecutive games.
“(I’m) just getting good pitches to hit,” Witt said, “going up there with the right frame of mind.”
Outfielder Wille Walker ended the day 3-for-4 with two RBIs, extending his own hitting streak to 18 games.
“(Walker and Witt) especially have been hot lately the past three weeks,” Gressick said. “They’ve been a tough out.”
Akron pushed across a run in the ninth before Silverman was pulled. Silverman pitched a career high 8 2/3 innings and struck out a season-high six batters.
“This was one of the coolest games I’ve been a part of personally,” Silverman said.
Sunday’s win capped off a great series after the Bobcats unraveled in a 14-4 loss Friday night.
Akron roughed up starter Derek Witt on Friday for a season-high-tying eight earned runs as he tossed six-plus innings. The Zips attacked for five runs during the second inning.
“I was throwing it where I wanted, they were just hitting it,” Derek Witt said. “That’s just how baseball goes.”
As Akron continued to pile on the runs, Ohio struggled at the plate. However, Bryant Witt registered his first career homerun on a shot to left in the eighth to end the day’s scoring.
“It was kind of bittersweet because it was in a blow out,” Witt said. “It felt good, but you would like it to come in a win.”
On Saturday, Gressick’s outstanding pitching performance led the way for the ’Cats as they rebounded from the loss with a 5-3 victory. Gressick went the distance for Ohio for the team’s first complete game of the season while striking out nine.
“I was just throwing strikes and let my defense play behind me,” Gressick said. “My pitches were working,, and I was hitting some locations.”
Ohio hits the road Tuesday for a non-conference game with Dayton.
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