Baseball Loses to Louisiana Tech at Lake Area Classic – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/28/1998 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 28, 1998
LAKE CHARLES, La. – LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Ohio State baseball team dropped game two of the Lake Area Classic, losing 9-7 to Louisiana Tech at McNeese State’s Cowboy Diamond.
Ohio State scored in its first at-bat when Dan Seimetz (Sr., Massillon, Ohio) doubled down the right field line, scoring Mark Carek (Sr., Bowling Green, Ohio) who had singled, putting the Bucks up 1-0.
Louisiana Tech took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third with some crafty base-running and a Buckeye error. Ray Lewis led off the inning with an infield single when he rocketed a shot down the first base line that Seimetz barely managed to deflect. Lewis proceeded to steal second and third and Mitch McIlwain walked, giving the Bulldogs runners on the corners. With two outs, Bryan Bell singled to center field bringing home Lewis, and McIlwain scored when Mike Lockwood (So., Powell, Ohio) failed to field the ball cleanly.
In the bottom of the third, the Buckeyes scored a second run to tie the game at two apiece. Lou Santangelo (Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) led off the inning with a double and scored when Seimetz singled to right field.
With the score knotted in the fourth, the Bulldogs blew the game wide open, scoring five runs to go on top 7-2. Matt Miller singled to open the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Marty Guillory then reached first on an infield single that advanced Miller to third. Miller came home to give Tech the lead and Guillory advanced to second on a botched pick-off play. OSU starter Eric Thompson (Jr., Fairborn, Ohio) then hit the following batter and Tommy Bost homered to right center field to put the bulldogs up by four. McIlwain singled to center, reached second on Lockwood’s second error in two innings and came home when Brian Myrow scorched a doubled to left field. Thompson gave way to Kurt Fullenkamp (Jr., Minster, Ohio) who retired the final two batters of the inning.
Dan Zabloudil (So., Newark, Ohio) led of the bottom of the fourth with an infield single and proceeded to steal second and advance to third on a passed ball. Matt Middleton (Jr., Conover, Ohio) singled to left field to bring and Zabloudil and bring the score to 7-3. The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 9-3 in the sixth, scoring twice with two outs. Fullenkamp picked Lewis (who had walked) off first base, struck out Tommy Bost but then hit McIlwain to give Tech a base runner. Brian Myrow followed with a single to right field and appeared to be caught in a rundown, but advanced to second when Seimetz failed to tag him out, throwing home instead. McIlwain scored on the play when Tom Durant (Jr., Columbus, Ohio) failed to block the plate and was late on the tag. Bell singled to right field to score Myrow, stretching the lead to six runs.
OSU managed a run in the bottom of the seventh, but still couldn’t put together a big inning. With two outs, Zabloudil walked and stole second, eventually coming home when Middleton’s infield double hit the cut of the grass and careened off Myrow’s mouth into shallow right field. Myrow remained in the game after a brief stoppage of play to clean up his bloodied face and the inning ended when Durant popped up to the first baseman.
OSU cut the Bulldog lead to three runs in the eighth, scoring twice. With one out, Lockwood, Carek and Seimetz walked to load the bases and Trott poked a single to center field to bring in two runs.
In Ohio State’s final at-bat, Santangelo singled to right field with one out to move Middleton (who had led off with a walk) to third. Middleton came home on a passed ball to bring OSU within two but Lockwood and Carek both struck out, ending the contest.
The Buckeyes play Iowa State tomorrow at noon.
