Minnesota Rallies for 5-4 Victory over Baseball in Finale – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2003
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Ohio State had taken a 3-2 lead fifth inning, but could hold on to it as Minnesota scored twice in the seventh and added another run in the eighth to rally for a 5-4 victory over the Buckeyes in the series finale at Siebert Field.
The Golden Gophers came back in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the lead, scoring twice on a double down the right-field line by Scott Welch. Tony Leseman reached on a fielding error by Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) and then moved to second on a walk by Sam Steidl. The pair was bunted over to second and third, before Welch’s shot down the right-field line put Minnesota on top 4-3.
The Gophers (37-18 overall and 24-6 in the Big Ten) added a run of insurance with a home run by Gary Dick that cleared the park over the right-field fence to give the Gophers a 5-3 lead.
The Buckeyes (37-18 and 20-12) scored one run in the top of the ninth inning to close the final score to 5-4. Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) singled to lead off the inning and Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) doubled to put runners at second and third before Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a pop out in foul territory by Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura), Wes Schirtzinger (Fr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) walked in the Buckeyes’ fourth run of the game.
Ohio State left the bases loaded with just one out, failing to get the tying run across the plate. Derek Kinnear (Jr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) popped up in foul ground to the first baseman and then Garrard looked at the third strike to end the game.
The Buckeyes out-hit the Gophers 13-8 and had two-hit games from Rabin, Snavely, Farinacci, Cody Caughenbaugh (Fr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley), Kinnear and Garrard.
The Gophers struck first on a gift from Ohio State. David Hrncirik led off the inning with a single to right field and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gary Dick. Hrncirik advanced to third on a single to shallow left-center field and then scored on a balk by OSU starter Chris Hanners (So., Groveport, Ohio/DeSales).
Snavely tied the game with his third home run in as many games. The blast left the park in right-center field and bounced off the scoreboard to tie the game 1-1. The shot was his 12th of the season and the 30th of his career, which tied him for 10th on the school’s all-time list with Ken Tirpack (1989-92).
The Buckeyes got the lead on an RBI-single up the middle by Kinnear, which scored Caughenbaugh, who had a two-out triple that could have been a ruled a home run as it cleared the fence to hit the support of the scoreboard and bounced back into play. Buckeye skipper Bob Todd argued the call, but it did not matter as the Caughenbaugh wound up scoring on the Kinnear single.
Minnesota evened the score 2-2 in the fourth on a double by Tony Leseman down the left-field line. The two-bagger scored Hrncirik, who had a one-out single to right.
A two-out walk by Snavely in the fifth inning led to the Buckeyes’ third run of the game. He reached second on a throwing error by Minnesota shortstop Scott Welch on a ground ball by Caravati. Farinacci then singled to right-center field to score Snavely and put the Buckeyes up 3-2.
Brian Bull got the win for Minnesota in 1 2/3 innings to improve to 5-2 as the Gophers took three of four games from the Buckeyes. Bull gave up one run on four hits and allowed one walk after coming into the game in the seventh inning for starter Matt Loberg. Jeff Moen picked up his eighth save after getting the final three outs after Moen boarded the first two Buckeye batters in the ninth. Hanners got the loss to fall to 4-3. He pitched the first 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on seven hits. He had five walks and struck out three.
Ohio State is the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which gets underway Wednesday at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, Minn. The Buckeyes will play the higher seed between the winners of game one (No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed) and game two (No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed) at 4:35 p.m. Thursday. All games will be broadcast on WOSU Radio (820 AM).
