No. 21 Ohio State Loses 7-6 to No. 20 Florida International – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/27/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 27, 2002
Box Score
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – No. 20 Florida International escaped with a 7-6 victory over No. 21 Ohio State in the Buckeyes’ final game at the Homestead Challenge at the Homestead Sports Complex.
In a rare occurrence, OSU coach Bob Todd was ejected in the top of the sixth inning. It was the first time in his 19+ years as a head coach that he has ever been thrown out of a game.
“It was obvious what had been going on the entire game,” Todd said. “After seeing the frustration from our pitchers and our hitters, I felt like something needed to be brought to the attention of the umpire. After a two pitches to shortstop Brett Garrard (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg), I needed to settle him down and help him get refocused. So I called him out of the batters’ box to talk him. The home plate umpire, must have over-heard what I was saying. It was a very good ballgame between two very good teams. It is a shame that the occurrence had to take place.”
In the eighth inning, Florida International scored an insurance run on its third home run of the game, this time by Brad Eldred, to give Florida International a 7-5 lead.
The run proved to be needed as Ohio State scored once in the top of the ninth.Drew Anderson (Fr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) led off the inning with a walk and was knocked in on a single through the left side by Joe Wilkins (Sr., Grove City, Ohio/Dublin Scioto). Doug Deeds (So., Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) had moved Anderson to second with a base hit to shallow right field. Ohio State left two runners on base in the ninth inning and a total of nine runners for the game. FIU only stranded two. Florida International, ranked No. 20 in by the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN coaches poll, led off the second inning with three base hits to left field by Brad Eldred, Daniel Bustamente and Tommy Duenas. All three ended up scoring thanks to another hit, an Ohio State error and a sacrifice fly by Alex Ansoleaga.
Ohio State, which is ranked No. 21 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead. Deeds hit to right center and then Nick Swisher (Sr., Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) walked, putting runners at first and second. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch by Golden Panther starter Carlos Sanchez. Wilkins was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Another wild pitch scored Deeds and moved Swisher and Wilkins up a base. Snavely flew out centerfield scoring Swisher on the sac fly. Terry Pettorini ((So., Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) doubled to bring in Wilkins and a base hit by Doug Dendinger (Sr., Greenwich, Ohio/South Central) scored Pettorini.
FIU reclaimed the lead, 6-5, in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run home run by Duenas that also scored Hector Nunez, who was pinch running for Daniel Bustamente, who doubled to lead off the inning.
E.J. Laratta (Sr., Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) was on a pitch count and pitched only the first three innings. The senior right-handed pitcher threw 36 strikes and left the game with a 4-3 lead. Josh Newman (So., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg) replaced Laratta, but gave up a game-tying home run to left field by Skipton Adams. Newman got the loss to fall to 3-2 on the year. He pitched three innings giving up three earned runs that gave the Golden Panthers a 6-5 lead. He gave up just three hits and struck out two.
The home run that gave FIU a 7-5 lead in the eighth inning came off Buckeye reliever Chris Hanners (Fr., Groveport, Ohio/Desales). It was the hit first hit and the first earned run he has allowed in 15 2/3 innings as a Buckeye.
Offensively for the Buckeyes, Deeds was 3-for-4 and scored twice. Pettorini was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Both of Pettorini’s hits were doubles. Four Golden Panthers accounted for all but one of their nine hits.
The Buckeyes finished the tournament with a 4-2 record and now carry a 12-4-1 record into the Big Ten Conference opener this weekend against Northwestern at Bill Davis Stadium. Friday’s game against the Wildcats will be played at 6:35 p.m.. The teams will play a doubleheader at 4:05 p.m. Saturday and a single game at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on WOSU-AM. Friday’s game will be televised by Sport TV.
