Bobcats Wrap Up 1st place OCCAC Finish With Double Header Sweep
The Bobcats traveled to Athletes in Action in Xenia, OH where they swept the Eagles of Clark State in a double header with wins of 10-1 and 14-3 to lock up the top spot in the OCCAC for the 2021 season, their inaugural season as a program. The pair of wins moves their record to 21-7 overall and 9-1 in OCCAC play with only a pair of conference matchups vs Clark State remaining to be played this weekend at home Saturday May 1st. The conference title gives the Bobcats an automatic bid into the Great Lakes Region District 12 Championship to be played in May. The winner of the District Championship will earn the opportunity to play in the NJCAA National Championship in Enid, OK May 29th-Jun 5th.
Jackson Homage led the Bobcats at the plate with a 4 hit day, he drove in 3 and scored 3 times. Torrey Roper had 3 hits including a double and his league leading 9th home run, Tylor Wolfe had 3 hits including his third home run, he scored 4 times. Dylan Cutler had 3 hits on the day, and John Costella had a 2 hit day with 2 walks and his second home run of the year.
Game1
The Bobcats would get on the board in the second inning on Torrey Roper's 9th long ball of the year. A three run blast over the wall in right that drove in Riley Day and Dominic Daring to make the game 3-0 Bobcats. The game would stay at 3-0 for the next 3 innings as Bobcat starter and OCCAC pitcher of the week Brad Wolfe and Clark State starter Brad Vargas matched each other zero for zero outside of the Roper long ball. That is, until John Costella got into one in the 5th and lifted it high over the wall in right to drive in Cutler and Wunderle to make the ball game 6-0 Bobcats. The Eagles would go to their bullpen in the 6th and the Bobcat bats would take advantage, plating 4 more runs in the frame on a Roper double and singles by Homage and Christian Boyles to make the game 10-0 Bobcats. The Eagles would avoid the run rule defeat by scratching out a run on 2 hits in the bottom of the 6th, but that was all they would get off of Wolfe as he was dominant on the mound once again. Brad would face only 3 batters above the minimum as the Bobcat infield turned 3 double plays in the game and Daring caught a man trying to steal second. Wolfe allowed 1 run on 4 hits while he struck out 8 in his 6 innings of work to earn the win. The left hander Tony Arroyo entered the game in the 7th for the Bobcats and worked a clean inning striking out a batter to secure the victory.
Game 2
The Bobcats would take an early 5-0 lead in the 1st as a lead off single by Boyles and a pair of free passes to Wunderle and Costella would set the table for the heart of the Bobcat lineup. A walk to Daring would push Boyles across for the 1st run of the game, Wunderle would come home to score on a wild pitch, and Costella and Daring would trot home on Tylor Wolfe's fourth home run of the year. The Eagles would battle back for one of their own in the 1st by playing a little small ball. they got the lead off man on with a walk, bunted the runner to second, and then scored him on a base hit into the outfield. They would get back two more on a 2 run homerun in the second to cut the Bobcat lead to 5-3. The Bobcats would answer with 2 runs of their own in the top of the third when Riley Day would lead off with a double and score on a Jackson Homage single. A wild pitch would bring Tylor Wolfe home later in the inning to push the Bobcats lead to 7-3. Justin Simons would settle in on the mound and throw clean frames in the 3rd and 4th retiring 6 of the last 7 Eagle hitters he would face. Simons would finish his outing after the 4th allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out a batter. The Bobcat offense would tack on some more insurance runs in the fifth as 5 singles and a double by Dylan Cutler would score 5 in the inning to open the lead up to 11-3 Bobcats. Adam Wibert would come out of the bullpen in relief of Simons and make quick work of the Eagles striking out the side. A walk and a pair of singles would load the bases for a Logan Wunderle two out two run single in the 6th to put the Bobcats up 14-3 going into the bottom of the inning. Coach Eric Lahetta would go to the bullpen again and bring in Jagger Jefferis. Jefferis would pick up where Wibert left off striking out two of the three batters he faced to end the game early and lock up the 1st place OCCAC finish for the Bobcats. The clean inning drops Jefferis ERA to a conference leading 1.19 mark, while the pair of wins move the Bobcats record to 21-7 on the year and 9-1 in OCCAC play. They are back in action in a single 9 inning non conference matchup at UNOH on Wednesday evening.