OU Baseball vs. Kent St. Gm. 3

What an incredible series for Greg Rohan.

He made his way through game one basically unknown. But his impact was most certainly felt from the middle of game two until the end of the series.

Rohan ended the second game 2-4 with two home runs, one of which was a two-run blast in the bottom of the 8th inning that gave the Golden Flashes a 6-5 lead with just one Ohio at-bat left to keep the game alive. Rohan started out game three with another two-run jack, followed by a solo home run.

The Bobcats, however, refused to give up on the idea of winning the game and the series. Ohio grabbed a 4-3 lead after 4 1/2 before Kent tied the game after 5. Each team would add a run before heading to extra innings, where an error fell into the worst possible situation for the Bobcats in the bottom of the 11th inning with the lead-off hitter Chris Tremblay at the plate. He slapped a single to right and scored Brett Weibley from third to win the ballgame.

The Mid-American Conference awards for this week spelled out the series well. The East Division Player of the Week went to Rohan, whose totals for the series were 5-9, 4 HR, 5 R, 6 RBI, one (essentially) game-winning hit. The East Division Pitcher of the Week was Ohio Junior Chris Rigo, who threw a complete game win on Friday night in the Bobcats' only victory of the series. He allowed two earned runs on nine hits and lowered his season ERA to 4.77. He's also 2nd in the league in strikeouts behind only Chris Carpenter of KSU (who had multiple scouts watching him throw as a starter in Saturday's game).

Bottom line: when Ohio gets good pitching, it wins games. When the bats have to pick up the pitchers, the Bobcats seem to struggle. Not something you would expect from a team that is 3rd in the MAC in batting average (and just one hit from being tied for 2nd).

This is an Ohio team that played really tough on the road with MAC Defending Champs Kent State -- in a series that was back and forth constantly. If the Bobcats can find a way to win the next two home series in the conference -- Bowling Green from May 2-4 and Miami from May 9-11 -- then watch for them to make a move through the Mid-American Conference Tournament in late May.

I'm hoping to have audio files of the weekend's highlights up as soon as tomorrow. Check back often and please leave comments and criticism or drop me an e-mail at kevin.t.hunt@gmail.com.

Swing and a Drive...