Joe Carbone had a host of postseason scenarios to consider heading into his team’s weekend series with Buffalo, but now the Ohio coach and his players know which one lays in store for them.
The Bobcats’ clinched their first Mid-American Conference Tournament berth since 2003 after a 6-3 win at Buffalo yesterday afternoon.
After several years of hardships both on and off the field, Carbone said he was happy the seniors would have an opportunity to play in the postseason.
“We’ve struggled the last couple years and weren’t able to get it done,” he said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, and they’ve played hard.”
Chris Rigo threw a complete game with no earned runs allowed to lead his team past the Bulls. The right-handed junior struck out seven batters and worked himself out of several jams to give Ohio a chance to win. The Bobcat defense faltered in the sixth inning, allowing Buffalo to score three runs on a fielding error, which tied the game at three.
Rigo regained control of the game, however, and didn’t allow the Bulls to threaten again the rest of the game.
The Bobcats have struggled with a lack of strong pitching this season, but Rigo came through in one of the biggest games of the season, improving his record to 5-3 on the year.
Carbone said he was pleased with Rigo’s performance from all angles.
“He stayed tough for us,” he said. “He held them in check.”
After the Bobcats took the lead again in the top of the ninth, Rigo retired the Bulls 1-2-3 with a strikeout to punctuate the win.
“He went out and closed the door on them,” Carbone said of Rigo’s perfect ninth inning.
When the Bobcats were at the plate, Marc Krauss had another big game to lead the offense. The sophomore, who entered the game with a .338 batting average, went 4-for-4 and hit one of three RBI singles in the top of the ninth that secured the Ohio win. Jeremie Rehak and Brandon Besl drove in the other two runs.
Krauss has not seen as many good pitches to hit in his sophomore season, but Carbone attributed that to Krauss’ success last year, where he hit .369 with eight home runs, and how pitchers have approached him this year.
“Guys are going to pitch him tough,” he said. “They find out about you and pitch to you based on the year before.”
“Marc is a very, very valuable guy to us,” Carbone added, noting that Krauss played third base yesterday in place of an injured Besl. “He got some big hits for us today.”
Besl, who was hit by a pitch and twisted his ankle last weekend, went 1-for-5 as the designated hitter. Carbone said that Besl, along with the rest of the starters, would not play as much for the rest of the weekend in preparation for the tournament, which begins Wednesday at Chillicothe.
The Bobcats and Bulls square off again at 3 p.m. today in the second game of the three-game series.
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