Reunion with Carbone

I was reunited with my good pal coach Joe Carbone yesterday when I got to cover the OU baseball team. It was nice to get to cover them once more. I don't get many chances with The Messenger like I did with The Post my first two years here. It was a good game besides the rain. There was an hour rain delay to start the game then 10 more minutes in the bottom of the first. After that it was all good though.

I have a busy week this week. I did the OU game yesterday and I have high school games today, tomorrow, and Wednesday evening. I'm also working at Coldstone tomorrow and Friday so hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have some nice checks heading my way. I will need it by then because Oak Fest and the Gorge will be quickly approaching. Plus with nice weather coming I'm sure we'll be out on the porch grilling and drinking so I will need more disposable income.

Well that's it. Below is my story from yesterday.


Bobcats snap four-game slide

NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger

Matt Stiffler's school-record 26-game hit streak came to an end Sunday afternoon, but the outfielder just took it in stride because Ohio's four-game losing streak came to an end as well.

Stiffler finished 0-for-3, but his teammates picked him up as Ohio defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 14-8 to avoid a weekend sweep.

After the game Stiffler said that an interview he gave yesterday may have jinxed his streak.

"I got interviewed yesterday about it and the guy asked if theres anything that I would give my hit streak up for and I said a win today", Stiffler said.

During a team meeting after the game Ohio coach Joe Carbone joked with Stiffler and told him that Carbone himself had a 42-game hitting streak as an Ohio player but the stats were held deep in the archives.

Although Stiffler did not get a hit, he started things off with a walk in the first inning and eventually scored the games first run. The Bobcats scored seven times during the first inning while Ohio sent 10 batters to the plate. Second baseman Zach Keen hit his first career home run during the rally.

Keen, a freshman, said he knew his fellow teammates would give him a hard time when he got back to the dugout.

"I was grinning going around the bases, Keen said. "I knew everybody was going to give me crap about it because I'm pretty much a singles guy."

Defensively starter Jason Moulton left during the fourth inning with pain in his elbow. Carbone called on reliever Kevin Mementowski from the bench to take over. Mementowski pitched the final five and two-thirds innings and allowed just one earned run.

"I just knew coming in that we had to hold them," Mementowski said. "When you got bats hitting like we are it's not too hard to pitch."

Carbone said Mementowski's effort propelled the Bobcats to victory.

"Memo was huge for us, he said. He came up bigger as a performer than anybody all weekend. We used him on Friday and used him a lot kind of. He came back and gave us a real shot in the arm."

While Stiffler's streak came to an end outfielder Marc Krauss extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a sixth-inning home run to centerfield. The two-run shot gave Ohio a 13-8 lead after six innings.

Robert Maddox III also contributed with a home run to lead off the third inning his sixth of the year.

By game's end, the Bobcats were just happy to end the week with a win after losing three straight games in extra innings.

"It was real important," Carbone said. "I told the guys don't be devastated that we lose the weekend series. What counts is all the games throughout the year."

Ohio now improves to 16-16 overall and 8-4 in the Mid-American Conference.

EMU: 110 411 000 8 11 2
O: 712 003 10X 14 14 6

HR: Krauss (4), Maddox III (6), Keen (1)

E: pitchers Kevin Sikora, Jake Stapf (1), Dan Puls (7) catcher Andrew Marshall
O: pitchers James Moulton, Kevin Mementowski (4), catcher Chris Klimko

WP: Mementowski (1-3) LP: Sikora (0-3)