Minnesota Clinches Big Ten With 9-2 Win Over Ohio State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2003
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The baseball Buckeyes knew that winning four games at first-place Minnesota would be a tall order. But with ace Scott Lewis (So., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) on the mound with his perfect 9-0 record, Ohio State was confident it could start the series off on the right note.
No one informed the No. 27 Golden Gophers of the Buckeyes’ plan and Minnesota handed Lewis and Ohio State their first Friday night conference loss and clinched the Big Ten regular season for the second time in as many seasons against the Buckeyes with a 9-2 victory at Minnesota’s Siebert Field.
Lewis dueled against Glen Perkins, the Gophers redshirt freshman left-handed hurler, who improved to 9-1 with a complete-game, six-hit victory. Lewis dropped his record to 9-1 in getting the loss. An elbow injury forced Lewis to depart after 3 2/3 innings. He allowed six runs (three earned) on five hits with a walk and a season-low four strikeouts.
The Buckeyes started the game off by jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but Perkins gave up just three hits over the last six innings, and at one point, retired 12 Buckeyes batters in a row.
With one out in the top of the first inning, Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) gave the Buckeyes their first base runner and turned him into their first run of the night. Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) laid a beautiful bunt between the mound and the third base line, beating out the throw and successfully moving Rabin to second. A wild pitch by Minnesota Glen Perkins moved both runners into scoring position and then Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover) flew out to right, scoring Rabin on the sacrifice to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead.
The Buckeyes added a run in the third inning to go up 2-0. Rabin led off the inning with a double off the wall in left-center field and then advanced to third on a ground out by Snavely. Rabin scored for the second time of the game on a throwing error by Gopher third baseman David Hrncirik who fielded a Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agroua) grounder and then threw wide of first.
Minnesota rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the third with two outs, capitalizing on a lead-off walk to Hrncirik. Then with one out, Tony Leseman singled to shallow right field. Sam Steidle grounded out to advance the runners before a pair of hits led to three runs for the Gophers. Ben Pattee singled through the right side to score both Hrncirik and Leseman. Pattee moved to second on a throw home by Snavely on Pattee’s single. Luke Appert doubled to straight away center field to bring in Pattee and give the Gophers a 3-2 lead.
The Gophers scored two more runs in the fourth inning, though the Buckeyes should have been out of the inning without allowing a run thanks to a fielding error by second baseman Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). After a lineout to short by Scott Welch, designated hitter Jon Becker grounded to second, but Anderson could not come up with the ball. Hrncirik popped out, which should have put the Buckeyes and Lewis back in the dugout A double by David Roach and then a triple by Leseman, scored the two unearned runs.
The injury to the elbow of Lewis’ pitching arm forced him to depart after the triple by Leseman, giving way to Kyle Brown (Sr., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington). Brown’s first pitch was wild and scored Leseman to put the Gophers on top 6-2.
Minnesota added a pair of runs in the sixth to take a six-run lead. With one out, Hrncirik drew a walk before getting hit in on a triple to center field by David Roach. The run was the first scored by Minnesota with less than two out in the game. Leseman was hit by a pitch and then a Sam Steidl grounder to second caught Leseman on the fielder’s choice, though Roach scored on the play for the 8-2 advantage.
Another Gopher crossed the plate in the seventh inning, again with two outs, to take a 9-2 lead. Welch singled to right and then scored on a double to left-center by Andy Hunter.
The Buckeyes left a total of six base runners in the first four innings. The greatest scoring opportunity came in the fourth inning when they left a pair of runners after a lead-off hit by Rabin. After the first out of the inning, Jedidiah Stephen (Fr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) doubled Rabin over to third, but Perkins responded with a pair of strikeouts. Ohio State managed just one hit the rest of the game.
Now, attention turns to the remaining three games of the series. Ohio State must win two games or hope for two Michigan losses, or any combination thereof, to lock down the second seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament, which now will be held at Minnesota’s Siebert Field, by virtue of them winning their third Big Ten regular season title in the last four years.
The series continues Saturday with a doubleheader at 5:05 p.m. (EDT) before concluding Sunday with a single game at 2:05 p.m.
