May 2, 1998

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After waltzing through game one with a 13-4 victory, the OSU baseball team dropped a doubleheader to the Hoosiers 2-0 and 5-3 at Sembower Field Saturday.

With Illinois taking its first two games at Purdue , the Fighting Illini and Minnesota are the only two teams competing for the regular season title. In game one, the Hoosiers scored the only two runs they would need in the third stanza when OSU starter Eric Thompson (Jr., Fairborn, Ohio) lost all control, loading the bases in the second inning and giving up three consecutive base hits in the third. Benji Clause led off the third with a single to left field and moved to third on a double by Dan Haegele. Both runners came home when Roger Rodeheaver rapped a single to left field. Thompson got into trouble again in the fifth, loading the bases after retiring the first two batters. The right hander walked Brandt Childs, hit Doug DeVore and walked Frank O’Connell but struck out Jason Williams to squeeze out of his third jam of the day. OSU blew a second chance to score in the top of the sixth when Dan Seimetz (Sr., Massillon, Ohio) and Mike Kremblas (Sr., Carroll, Ohio) reached on back-to-back singles but could not cross the plate. In the top of the seventh, OSU had runners at first and second with one out but Mark Carek (Sr., Bowling Green, Ohio) lined out to center field and Seimetz was called out on strikes at the plate to end the game.

OSU took the early lead in game two as Mike Lockwood (So., Powell, Ohio) scored on Carek’s double after a leadoff walk. The Hoosiers came right back in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead as the first four IU batters reached base. Clause led off making it to first when Carek booted the ball and Kurt Fullenkamp (Jr., Minster, Ohio) hit Haegele to put a runner in scoring position. Clause scored when Rodeheaver singled to right center and Childs brought in Haegele when his single slid through the hole between third and short. Indiana increased its lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second when Mike Spisak scored when Clause doubled to left field. Childs then homered off Kevin Goodrum (Fr., Mentor, Ohio) in the third for a three-run lead and IU notched a fifth run in the sixth. Kremblas reached on an error in the seventh and scored when Jason Trott (Jr., Dublin, Ohio) belted his fifth home run of the year to pull the Bucks within two, but the Chris Wilson entered the game in relief to close the door.

The Buckeyes (31-13, 14-8) and Hoosiers (28-23, 13-10) play the final game of their series tomorrow at 1 p.m.