Box Score

Steve Fowler

ATHENS, Ohio -- Two of the top senior pitchers in the Mid-American Conference squared off Friday afternoon at Ohio's Bob Wren Field, and the Bobcats' Denny McGee got the better of Marshall's Steve Fowler in a 4-1 Ohio win.

The Bobcats improved to 23-21 overall and 10-10 in the MAC with the win while dropping Marshall to 22-23 and 9-12 in league play. McGee (9-2) went the distance in the game for Ohio, posting his league-leading eighth complete game. He allowed just a lone unearned run on six hits while walking five and striking out 11. He stranded 10 Marshall runners on base, including four in scoring position. McGee threw an arm-numbing 158 pitches in the game.

Fowler (5-1) was almost as impressive as he also went the distance for his third complete game of the year. He allowed four runs, but only two were earned, on 10 hits while walking three and striking out four. Both pitchers cruised through the first three innings with little in the way of offensive threats. That changed in the fourth when a single and a hit batter put runners on first and second with two out. Junior outfielder Cory Keylor, who came into the game hitless in 19 straight at bats, doubled to right center to plate both Ohio runners for a 2-0 Bobcats lead.

Ohio added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh thanks to a pair of throwing errors by Marshall third baseman Homer Renshaw, but those runs were irrelevant. Marshall mustered scoring threats in both the seventh and eighth innings, but McGee avoided giving up runs in those innings by recording inning-ending strikeouts with two on in the seventh and the bases loaded in the eighth.

The Herd did avoid the shutout in the ninth inning thanks to an Ohio error. Joe Shetler reached on a two-base error by Rob Shrawder and scored on a David Colangelo single.

Mike Arbinger led Ohio with three hits while Ryan Kyes and Keylor had two each. Colangelo had two of the six Marshall hits in the game. The two teams will meet in a doubleheader on Saturday at Marshall's University Heights field. The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.