Baseball Wins Second Straight Big Ten Tournament Title – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 26, 2003
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Four Buckeyes hit home runs, including two by Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg), as Ohio State cruised to a 17-10 victory over Minnesota at Siebert Field in the second championship game to win its second straight Big Ten Tournament title and the sixth in the program’s history.
It is the first back-to-back tournament titles since the Buckeyes won titles in 1994 and 1995. Ohio State has tournament titles in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2002, when it beat Minnesota 6-3, also at Siebert Field.
Garrard was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 Big Ten Tournament in going 9-for-19 with a .474 batting average. He had four home runs for five RBI and touched 23 bases. Joining him on the all-tournament team by pitcher Josh Newman (Jr., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg), outfielders Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) and Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East), and designated hitter Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover).
Minnesota took the early lead scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Sam Steidl led off the game with a double to right-center field and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Pattee. Steidl scored on Luke Appert’s grounder that was misplayed by Buckeye second baseman Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). Appert scored the second run when he was hit in on a single by Jake Elder to give the Gophers an early 2-0 lead.
Like it did in the second inning of the first game, Ohio State put up a five spot on the scoreboard in the third inning. Garrard launched a home run just to the left side of the batter’s eye in straight-away center field to leadoff the inning. It was his sixth home run of the season and his third of the Big Ten Tournament.
Minnesota starter Jay Gagner then hit Jedidiah Stephen (Fr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) and then walked Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) after a fly out by Anderson. Snavely struck out before Caravati loaded the bases on a fielding error by Gopher third baseman. Derek Kinnear (Jr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) then came through with the clutch, two-out double to left-center to clear the bases and give the Buckeyes a 5-2 lead.
The Gophers were able to close the gap to one run, 5-4, in the bottom of third on back-to-back singles by David Roach and Tony Leseman, but the Buckeyes found more offense in the top of the fourth to increase its lead.
Garrard led off the inning with an infield hit to third base and then moved to second on a bunted base hit by Stephen. Anderson reached on a fielder’s choice that caught Stephen at second. With runners at the corners, Rabin flew out to right to score Garrard on the sacrifice for the second run of the inning.
Then it was back-to-back jacks by Snavely and Caravati to build the Buckeye lead to 9-4. The home run by Snavely was his 15th of the year, while the shot by Caravati was his fourth of the season. The long-distance departures were the third home runs hit by each player in the Big Ten Tournament and were the first back-to-back home runs by Ohio State since May 24, 2002 in a 6-2 victory over Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament.
Garrard went deep for the second time of the game and the fourth time in the conference tournament to give the Buckeyes an 11-4 lead in the fifth inning. He became just the third player to hit four home runs in a Big Ten Tournament, joining Tim McIntosh (1986) and Jason Kennedy (2001), both from Minnesota. Garrard’s 23 total bases and 1.278 slugging percentage are also tournament records.
Another three runs were plated in the sixth inning. Rabin scored on a sacrifice fly by Caravati, which was the Buckeye designated hitter’s 12th RBI of the tournament, a tournament record. A wild pitch scored the second run and then a ground out by Cody Caughenbaugh (Fr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley) scored the third run of the inning to give the Buckeyes a 14-4 lead.
Minnesota scored another run in the bottom of the sixth to drop lead OSU lead to nine runs. Andy Hunter singled to right-center field to score Appert, who boarded with a one-out double.
Caravati drove in Anderson for his 13th RBI of the tournament to put Ohio State back on top by 10 runs until Minnesota added another run in the bottom of the inning. The Buckeyes then added another two runs in the ninth, before giving way to a four-spot by Minnesota in the bottom of the ninth.
The teams combined for a tournament record 42 hits, easily surpassing the previous record of 34 hits.
Newman got the win to improve to 7-5 on the season. He pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed one run (earned) on four hits with one strikeout. Gagner got the loss. He gave way to nine runs (five earned) on eight hits. He walked two and struck out five and was one of seven Gopher pitchers used against Ohio State.
Ohio State will find out Monday at 12:30 p.m. where it will be place in the NCAA Division I Championship when the seeding for this year’s tournament is announced live on ESPN2. The 16 regional sites were announced earlier Sunday.
Big Ten All-Tournament Team P Glen Perkins, Minnesota P Josh Newman, Ohio State P Josh Lewis, Indiana C Jake Elder, Minnesota 1B David Roach, Minnesota 2B Luke Appert, Minnesota 3B David Hrncirik, Minnesota SS Brett Garrard, Ohio State OF Christian Snavely, Ohio State OF Mike Rabin, Ohio State OF Ben Pattee, Minnesota DH Steve Caravati, Ohio State MOP Brett Garrard, Ohio State
