Baseball Bombs Eastern Michigan 15-7 in Nightcap – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 15, 2003
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Terry Pettorini (Jr., Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) had a solo home run and a grand slam in a 4-for-6 effort to lead Ohio State to a 15-7 victory over Eastern Michigan in the second game of an opening day doubleheader Saturday at Bill Davis Stadium.
Pettorini had an RBI single in the first and then had home runs in consecutive at bats – the first a solo shot and the second a grand slam – in the third and fourth innings before getting a base hit in the fifth. The six RBI were the most of the junior’s career. His previous high was five in a 38-15 Buckeye win over Toledo last season. The grand slam was the first by a Buckeye since Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) belted a bases-loaded, pinch-hit, game-winning, top-of-the-ninth slam to beat Michigan State in 2001. It was also the first time a Buckeye had home runs in consecutive at bats since Snavely went yard twice against Northwestern last season.
An Eastern Michigan (2-8) throwing error on a base hit by Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover) allowed Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Snavely walked and then Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) single to score Caravati. Pettorini singled to leftfield to score Snavely and give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead after one.
The Buckeyes (5-3) added runs in the second (sacrifice fly by Caravati) and third (Pettorini’s solo home run) to go up 5-0 entering the top of the fourth inning, but Eastern Michigan erupted to score four times in the frame, including back-to-back home runs by Derrick Peterson (two-run homer) and Ryan Goleski (solo). Another run scored on Luke Beeler’s double. That pulled the Eagles within one.
But that was as close as it would get the rest of the way as Ohio State countered with a six-run stanza in the bottom of the inning.
Three consecutive walks to Caravati, Snavely and Farinacci set the table for Pettorini’s heroics as he lifted a ball over the fence in left-center to hand the Buckeyes a 9-4 lead. Drew Thomas (Fr., Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Briggs), Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) and Derek Kinnear (Jr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) all singled – Kinnear’s scored Thomas – before the first out of the inning could be recorded, a fly out by Anderson. A shot by Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) down the left-field line scored Rabin, the Buckeyes’ sixth run of the inning.
Farinacci homered in the seventh and the Buckeyes went on to score three times in the eighth. The Eagles scored three times off relief pitching in the eighth and ninth innings.
Rabin and Farinacci each had three hits and Garrard and Kinnear each had two hits for Ohio State, which tallied 20 hits in the game. That total was seven more than the Buckeyes had at Louisiana-Lafayette, which had been the most in a game this season.
Josh Newman (Jr., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelsburg) started the game for the Buckeyes and went 5.0 innings, allowing four EMU runs (all earned) on seven hits. He struck out four without allowing a walk in evening his season record to 1-1. Greg Prenger (Sr., Harpster, Ohio/Upper Sandusky) pitched 3.0 innings and allowed two runs on three hits and Brett Hatcher (So., Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) recorded the final three outs. Six different pitchers saw action for Eastern Michigan, but it was starter Dave Pieron, who got the loss for the Eagles. He went just 1.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits.
Eastern Michigan had 12 hits in the game, led by Ryan Arnett, who went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Goleski was the only other Eagle with multiple hits.
Ohio State will play host to Detroit in a 1 p.m. Sunday doubleheader at Bill Davis Stadium.
