Ohio left fielder Mitch Longo (Calvin Mattheis, Ohio Athletics)

Ohio And The Most Unlikely Turnaround

KENT, Ohio — Rob Smith had never coached a good team before. The former Creighton and Purdue pitching coach took over the Ohio University baseball team shortly after a 2012 season in which the Bobcats finished 28-29. But by the time he coached his first game in Athens, almost the entire pitching staff was gone.

That’s to be taken literally–Smith’s first Ohio team lost the entire weekend rotation from the year before, as well as most of the key relief pitchers. Having to build a pitching staff from scratch, on[…]