Baseball Beats Penn State, 8-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/24/1998 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 24, 1998
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Justin Fry (Jr., Munhall, Pa.) struck out 13 batters in eight innings as No. 20 Ohio State topped Penn State 8-2, at Beaver Field Friday. The Buckeyes pushed their unbeaten streak to 10 games and move to 28-10 (12-5 Big Ten) on the year. Penn State’s Nate Bump posted a no-hitter through four innings before Jason Trott (Jr., Dublin, Ohio) finally slid a single through the hole between third and short in the top of the fifth. Bump retired the next two batters but Jeremy Deitrick’s passed ball allowed Trott to move to second and Jason Turner (So., Versailles, Ohio) walked, giving the Buckeyes a pair of base runners.
Jason Driscoll (So., Middlefield, Ohio) singled to right center field, bringing Trott home from second base and moving Turner to third. Driscoll strolled over to second base on a wild pitch and both runners scored when Mike Lockwood (So., Powell, Ohio) singled to the gap in left center. The Lions escaped the inning with just 3-0 deficit when Lockwood was caught stealing for the final out of the inning. The Nittany Lions roared back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring twice to slice the lead to one run. Shortstop Adam Beers reached first on four straight pitches to lead off the inning. Kevin Billotte laid down a perfect bunt to reach and advance Beers to second.
Michael Campo brought both runners in when he doubled to right field and Turner’s weak dribbling throw was too late to the infield. Fry and Bump butted heads for the next three innings until the top of the ninth when OSU increased its lead to 8-2, scoring five unearned runs. Mike Kremblas (Sr., Carroll, Ohio) singled to left field and moved to third on a single by Trott. Matt Middleton (Jr., Conover, Ohio) reached when the ball scooted through second baseman Eric Spadt’s legs, allowing Kremblas to score. Chad Ehrnsberger (Fr., Kalida, Ohio) reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Trott to score and Dan Zabloudil (So., Newark, Ohio) singled to right center to put runners on the corners.
Driscoll brought in two more runs when he doubled to left field and scored when Lockwood singled to center. Fry gave way to Mike Stafford (Sr., Canton, Mich.) in the ninth who struck out two batters and forced a third to fly out, ending the game. Fry recorded his career high mark for strikeouts last year against Penn State, fanning 16 in Columbus to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
PSU starting first baseman Scott Boruta left the game in the first inning after dislocating his finger sliding back to first on an attempted pick off. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions square of in a doubleheader tomorrow at 12 p.m.
