Gamer 1: Moulton picks up first win in Bobcats' third straight

Didn't post this right after the game but here's my wrap of last Saturday's (April 10) Ohio/Western Michigan baseball battle.

It took more than two years but Jason ‘Boomer’ Moulton is back in the win column.

In his first victory since April 6, 2008, Moulton pitched six strong innings to lead Ohio (6-22 overall, 3-5 MAC) to a 15-3 victory over the Western Michigan Broncos (5-23 overall, 1-7 MAC).

The large gap between wins can be attributed to Moulton redshirting in 2009 while recovering from offseason elbow surgery. Working through the injury continues to be an ongoing process.

“Not exactly knowing how it’s going to feel everyday is kind of a tease on your brain. It’s kind of like a rollercoaster. Some days it feels good and other days it doesn’t feel great at all,” Moulton said.

Saturday was one of the good days. Still rehabbing the injured elbow, Moulton gave up just three hits and one run, while striking out four in his third start of the season. Even more important for head coach Joe Carbone was Moulton’s game management while on a pitch count.

“He’s throwing free and easy with good stuff. He gave us a real shot in the arm by the 70 pitches, which was going to be his limit. I thought he did a great job on that, limiting himself to about 10 pitches an inning,” Carbone said.

And for Moulton it’s all about getting comfortable and finding a groove.

“It felt great to be back out on the mound. I think it was just attacking the zone. I just went in there and threw strikes and they got themselves out a lot,” Moulton said.

Moulton’s strong pitching performance was not the only impressive part of the day. After scoring 25 runs in Friday night’s win over the Broncos, the Bobcats again provided an offensive onslaught.

Through the first three innings, Western Michigan pitcher Eric Heckaman allowed just two hits. In the 4th, he had trouble recording just two outs. Robert Maddox III led off the inning with a double that kicked up the warning track dirt in the right/center-field gap. That kicked off a tear of four consecutive hits, before Zach Keen flew out to finally record the inning’s first out.

It looked as if Heckaman might finally be out of trouble in the inning when Seth Streich sailed the ball into left field with two outs. However, Western Michigan leftfielder Jamie Simpson misjudged the ball and it went over his head, falling in front of the wall. Jerod Yakubik scored on the play but more importantly it meant the continuance of Ohio’s inning.

The Bobcats capitalized on that opportunity. Maddox III popped a two-run shot over the left field wall, ending Heckaman’s day. Then two batters later, Adam Gecewich hit another two-run home run, this time off of Casey Hall. Tyler Backstrom’s groundout ended the scoring but 13 batters and 10 runs later, the scoreboard had gone from 1-0 to 11-0 Ohio.

The long inning gave Moulton plenty of run support but also a challenge.

“I was a little worried about my elbow after that, sitting that long, and I went down to the bullpen and threw to keep it loose,” Moulton said.

Western Michigan head coach Randy Ford called the bottom of the 4th “the turning point.”

“We catch a few fly balls, it probably cuts the inning off. But you gotta keep the ball out of the center of the plate. When you give up that many runs, it’s a real struggle to come back from that kind of deficit and the way we’ve been playing, it has not been a good brand of baseball,” Ford said.

Ohio’s hitting attack was led by Yakubik, who finished 3 for 5 with 5 RBI. Streich scored Ohio’s 15th and final run with an 8th inning home run to cap his afternoon with 3 RBI. The Bobcats tallied six doubles, three off the bat of Yakubik, and 16 hits for the day. All of this was done without the team’s leading hitter, Gauntlett Eldemire, whom Coach Carbone says is “day-to-day.”

The win marks Ohio’s third in a row, a streak that has been fueled by potent offense, with a .452 team average in the three victories. While the wins feel good, Coach Carbone is keeping it in perspective.

“It’s exciting and all that but you get to the next game and somebody’s blowing you away and momentum stops in a hurry. But hopefully the players see that their abilities are good and that what they do is good enough to win. That’s the big thing; not so much the momentum but the confidence they get in what they’re doing,” Carbone said.