Baseball Falls 8-6 to Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament Opener – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 31, 2002
Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A five-run seventh inning by Notre Dame sparked the Fighting Irish to an 8-6 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday in front of 1,715 fans at Frank Eck Stadium.
Christian Snavely (So., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) gave the Buckeyes a three-run advantage with a two-run shot to rightfield in the top half of the inning that seemed to give Ohio State the needed momentum to take a first-round victory from the Fighting Irish.
“I thought the home run by Snavely swung the momentum to our dugout,” said OSU head coach Bob Todd. “But Notre Dame picked up that momentum in the bottom of the inning.”
Notre Dame scored five runs on six hits in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-5 lead. Three base hits to start the inning loaded the bases and then a base hit by Steve Sollmann scored Ken Meyer, who led off the inning with an infield single. Another single to right by Brian Stavisky plated Javier Sanchez. That prompted a pitching change.
Todd went with Nate Smith (Jr., Bryan, Ohio/Bryan), typically the Buckeyes’ No. 4 starter, in place of starter Josh Newman (So., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg). A Smith wild pitch scored Joe Thaman and then a throwing error by Joe Wilkins (Sr., Grove City, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) on a carom off the wall behind the plate allowed Sollmann to score the go-ahead run. The Irish added another run to leave the inning with a two-run lead.
Newman was charged with all seven runs off 12 hits in 6 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts with just one walk against the 30 batters he faced in dropping to 8-6 on the year. He started strong, retiring nine of the first 10 batters of the game.
“I gave up hits trying to make pitches that would have gotten hitters to ground into a double play,” Newman said. “Every pitch their hitters were right on it.”
Todd defended keeping his starter in the game as long as he did.
“I thought the matchup was still in our favor with a lefthanded pitcher on the mound,” Todd said. “He had given up three hits, but hadn’t allowed a run. There were a lot of reasons we kept him in there.”
A solo home run by pinch hitter Matt Bok in the eighth gave the Irish an 8-5 lead and the Buckeyes added a run in the top of the ninth on a pair of doubles, the second of which by Brett Garrard (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) scored Wilkins. Ohio State finished the game with five doubles, which tied the school record for doubles in an NCAA Tournament game.
“After the seventh inning, it was tough to bounce back,” said Snavely. “We got our guys on but couldn’t get anything going.”
The Buckeyes were sat down in order in the eighth and then got the lead off man across the plate in the ninth inning after a 6-4-3 double play.
J.P. Gagne got the victory for Notre Dame as he pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts and one walk. He improved to 8-4 with the decision.
Wilkins and Lance Rolston (Jr., Athens, Ohio/Alexander) each finished with a pair of hits to pace the Buckeyes. Each went 2-for-4, but Rolston added an RBI and scored once. Snavely’s ninth blast of the year netted him two RBI. Anderson, Rolston and Garrard each batted in one run. For the Irish, Sollmann and Kris Billmaier each had three hits. Sollman was 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored once.
It was a great game for Buckeye fans in the first six innings.
Ohio State scored in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Drew Anderson (Fr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) scored Doug Dendinger (Sr., Greenwich, Ohio/South Central) who led off the inning with a double. A fly out by Wilkins moved Dendinger to third to set up the score.
Newman had kept the Irish silent in the first three innings, but Notre Dame had back-to-back hits to lead off the fourth inning. Sollmann singled to right field and then scored on a double to left-centerfield by Stavisky to tie the game. A sac bunt moved Stavisky to third and then a ground out by Andrew Bushey scored him to give the Irish a 2-1 lead through four innings.
The Buckeyes evened the score in the fifth inning. Lance Rolston (Jr., Athens, Ohio/Alexander) knocked in Wilkins, who led off the inning with a double down the leftfield line.
Ohio State took the lead in the sixth inning thanks to a balk by Notre Dame reliever Chris Niesel. Doug Deeds (So., Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) singled to shallow centerfield and then moved to third on a double to right by Nick Swisher (Jr., Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg). That hit prompted the pitching change that brought in Niesel for starter Peter Ogilvie. Niesel got Dendinger to pop up and then got Wilkins looking on strike three, but not before a balk gave the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead.
The loss by the Buckeyes drops them into the loser’s bracket game Saturday at 12:05 p.m. against the loser of tonight’s game between top-seeded South Alabama and fourth-seeded Kent State. Notre Dame will meet the winner of that game at 4:05 p.m. The winner of the loser’s bracket game and the loser of the winner’s bracket game will then meet at 8:05 p.m. Saturday with the winner of that game advancing to meet the winner of the middle game on Sunday for the championship.
