Minnesota Survives Comeback by Buckeye Baseball to Advance – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 24, 2003
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Minnesota scored five runs in the first three innings and held on against an Ohio State comeback for a 5-4 victory Saturday at Siebert Field to advance to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game Sunday afternoon. The Buckeyes now must play Penn State later Saturday in an elimination game. The winner will play Minnesota and must win twice to earn the Big Ten’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead thanks to back-to-back singles to lead off the game. Sam Steidl led off the game with a base hit up the middle and then Ben Pattee singled through the left side to put runners at first and second. Steidl stole third and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Elder.
Ohio State countered with a run in the top of the second to tie the game 1-1. With one out, Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) reached on an infield single to third. He moved to third on a hit by Cody Caughenbaugh (Fr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley). Caughenbaugh reached on a fielding error on Pattee, the Gophers’ rightfielder. Farinacci scored on a ground out by Derek Kinnear (Jr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton).
The Gophers scored three times in the bottom of the inning to re-take the lead. Three doubles and a walk led to the trio of runs. David Hrncirik doubled to lead off the inning and then OSU starter Chris Hanners (So., Groveport, Ohio/DeSales) walked Jon Becker to put runners at first and second for the second straight inning. The runners each advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt by David Roach. A double by Tony Leseman scored both Hrncirik and Becker and then Pattee doubled in Leseman to give Minnesota a 4-1 lead after two innings.
Elder led off the third inning with a home run over the fence in left field to put the Gophers up 5-1. Following the home run, Hanners walked Welch and that prompted OSU coach Bob Todd to bring in Kyle Brown (Sr., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington). Brown made it possible for the Buckeyes to stay within striking distance. He retired batters in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and in all, 12 of his first 13 batters.
Ohio State picked up a run in the fifth inning to close the deficit to three runs, 5-2. The Buckeyes finally got the lead-off man on board with a single to shallow right-center field by Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). After a strikeout by Jedidiah Stephen (Fr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah), he was caught at second on the fielder’s choice of a grounder to third by Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind/Brownsburg). Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) singled up the middle to plate Anderson from second after his team-leading 17th stolen base of the season.
Garrard made it a two-run game with his fourth home run of the season in the top of the seventh. He led off the inning with a shot over the fence in left-center field just to the right of the 360 sign to make the score 5-3. The Buckeyes went in order following the bomb by Garrard, meaning the meat of the order would come up for Ohio State in the eighth inning.
Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) led off the eighth inning and sent a rocket to second, where 2003 Big Ten Player of the Year Luke Appert made a spectacular defensive play to stop the ball and throw on to first to catch Snavely and end the Buckeye rightfielder’s hit streak at 16 games. Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover) also fired a missile to third, where Hrncirik made a great defensive play to set up the put out of Caravati at first.
Those two defensive plays proved to be killers for Ohio State as Farinacci teed off on a pitch from Minnesota starter C.J. Woodrow that left the park over the fence in right-centerfield to pull the Buckeyes within one run, 5-4. The home run was the seventh of the season by the OSU first baseman.
The Buckeyes had a slight chance in the top of the ninth inning. Kinnear led off the inning with a base hit to right-centerfield before a pair of outs. Anderson was then hit by a pitch by reliever Jeff Moen to put runners at first and second. He then got Rabin to ground into a fielder’s choice at third, that Hrncirik fielded and touched the bag to end the game.
Woodrow picked up the win to improve to 8-3 on the year after going 7 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs (all earned) on eight hits with six strikeouts against no walks. Moen picked up his ninth save of the season as Hanners was pegged with the loss to fall to 4-4.
Of the Buckeyes’ nine hits, six were by Rabin, Farinacci and Garrard. Minnesota also finished with nine hits, including two each from Pattee and Elder. The Gophers had two errors, while the Buckeyes played error-free baseball for the second straight game.
Ohio State (38-19) falls into the loser’s bracket and will face off against Penn State (29-27), which won 3-2 in an elimination game against Michigan to start action Saturday. Minnesota (39-18) will play the winner of that game for the Big Ten Tournament Championship Sunday at 1:05 p.m. and would have to lose twice not to win the championship and the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.
