Rob Smith, Ohio Bobcats

Rob Smith enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats baseball program in 2018.

The Ohio Bobcats have won two Mid-American Conference tournament titles and have made two NCAA Championship appearances over the the last three years. Ohio had made just two NCAA tournament appearance in the 43 seasons prior to the 2015 campaign.

Smith guided Ohio back to another league tournament title and appearance on the national postseason stage in 2017. The Bobcats won seven of their final 10 regular season games and tallied 13 conference victories — including five MAC series wins en route to capturing the No. 5 seed in the league tournament.

No. 5-seeded Ohio capped an improbable league postseason run by defeating No. 3-seeded Eastern Michigan, 7-4, to clinch the 2017 MAC Championship title on May 28 at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio. The Ohio Bobcats earned third third MAC tournament title (1997, 2015, ’17) with the victory. Ohio punched its second NCAA Regional ticket in the last three years as the MAC’s automatic bid with the victory over Eastern Michigan, advancing to the 2017 NCAA Championship Lexington Regional. The No. 4 regionally-seeded Bobcats fell to No. 1 regionally-seeded Kentucky, 6-4, on June 4, then dropped an 11-2 decision to No. 2 regionally-seeded Indiana the following day.

The Bobcats placed five players on the 2017 All-MAC Championship Team — senior outfielder Spencer Ibarra, senior infielder Ty Black, senior catcher Anthony Mrosla, redshirt junior designated hitter/right-handed pitcher Michael Klein and senior right-handed starting pitcher Tom Colletti. Ibarra garnered Most Valuable Player distinction, joining outfielder Bart Leahy (1997) and right-handed pitcher Logan Cozart (2015) as the only players in Ohio’s history to earn such honors.

Under the watchful eye of Smith, Ohio established itself as one of the top pitching staffs in the MAC in 2017. The Bobcats owned a 4.42 team ERA, which ranked second-best in the league. Ohio also ranked second in walks allowed per nine innings (4.12), third in strikeouts per nine innings (8.2) and fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (9.12). The Ohio Bobcats’ pitching staff logged a program-record 483 strikeouts, breaking the previous mark of 420 set in 2003. Ohio’s pitching staff recorded five shutout victories in 2017 after posting just one in 52 games in ’16.

The Bobcats also excelled in the classroom in 2017. Ohio placed seven student-athletes on the 2017 Academic All-MAC Team — redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Cory Blessin...