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Bobcats win MAC Championship to complete huge turnaround

Ohio downs Ball State 6-2


Lonnie McMillan Photo
AVON - From worst to first in a year.

The Ohio baseball team used four more home runs and continued dominant pitching to cap off the ultimate turnaround from last place and only 11 wins a year ago to Mid-American Conference champions with a 6-2 victory against Ball State on Sunday at All Pro Freight Stadium.

Third-seeded Ohio (36-19) went unbeaten in the MAC Tournament and earned its first MAC title and NCAA Tournament berth since 1997.

"You dream about these sorts of things," said Ohio coach Rob Smith, who somehow was not voted the MAC Coach of the Year. "I wanted it for these players worse than anything else. I wanted them to experience this and understand what it's about. That's something we talked a lot about and what it would take to build up to it. It took us a little time to realize it, but these kids, they're really amazing. Their resiliency is beyond impressive and I'm proud to call them my team and I'm proud to be a part of that team."

Jake Miller picked up his second win of the tournament, allowing just one run on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings, and MAC Pitcher of the Year Logan Cozart earned the save, giving up just an unearned run on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.

Tyler Wells, Cody Gaertner, John Adryan and Ty Black all hit solo home runs for the Bobcats.

In four tournament wins, Ohio used only four pitchers who gave up just five runs - three earned - for an ERA of 0.71.

Fifth-seeded Ball State (33-25) struck first when Alex Maloney led off the championship game with a ground-rule double to center field, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a groundout.

Miller retired 16 straight hitters after Maloney's hit, and the Ohio offense gave him plenty of support, beginning with the tying run in the bottom of the first. Manny DeJesus reached on error, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a groundout and scored on a Jake Madsen single.

Wells drilled a home run in the second inning to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. Adryan singled up the middle, and after two walks, he scored on Garrett Black sacrifice fly.

Gaertner and Adryan hit home runs in the third inning to make it 5-1, and Ty Black's home run down the left field line came in the bottom of the sixth.

Lonnie McMillan Photo
Just before that, Miller finally ran into trouble in the top of the sixth, giving up a walk and two straight singles with one out. Ohio turned to MAC Pitcher of the Year Cozart to get out of the jam, and he did with a strikeout and a foul out.

Cozart's scoreless streak ended at more than 24 innings when he gave up an unearned run in the eighth. Maloney hit a slow chopper to third that Adryan bare-handed but threw wide at first. It was ruled a hit with an error allowing the runner to advance. Another infield single put runners at the corners, and a fielder's choice scored Maloney.

The Cardinals reached the championship game by rallying for a 9-8 win with four runs in the bottom of the ninth against Akron on Saturday night - after the Zips scored eight in the bottom of the ninth to beat Ball State 9-8 earlier in the day. The first loss meant Ball State would have had to beat Ohio twice Sunday to claim the title.

There were no rallies against Ohio, though Ball State did get a leadoff walk. Cozart struck out the next two hitters before second baseman Ty Black flipped a groundball to shortstop Garrett Black for the final forceout, leading to a dog pile celebration.

"Who would've thought we'd come from 11 wins to being the MAC champions? It's pretty awesome," Madsen said.

The first two team's eliminated from the tournament were No. 1 Central Michigan and No. 2 Kent State, and Ohio established itself as the favorite from the get-go. It beat Bowling Green 6-2 in its tournament opener and then bashed three 11th-inning home runs to top Western Michigan 2-1. The Bobcats reached the championship game in style with Connor Sitz throwing the first no-hitter in MAC Tournament history in a 6-0 win against the Falcons.

Cozart was named the tournament's MVP. He also threw six innings of scoreless relief and earned the win against the Broncos. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Miller, Sitz, Adryan and Madsen. Adryan led Ohio in the tournament with seven hits, while Madsen had nine RBIs.

Ohio has won 21 of its last 29 games, including 17 of its last 22.

The Bobcats, the regional No. 4 seed, will face regional No. 1 and national No. 6 seed Illinois in the first round game at 8 p.m. Friday on ESPN3. They will meet either No. 2 Notre Dame or No. 3 Wright State in the second round.

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Photos  (BobcatAttack.com)







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