Ohio State Claims 3-2 Win in Opener vs. Michigan State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 9, 2003
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scott Lewis (So., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) struck out 11 batters in a winning effort as Ohio State defeated Michigan State 3-2 Friday night at Bill Davis Stadium.
The win was the ninth of the season against no losses for Lewis, who improved to 17-2 in his second year as a Buckeye. His .895 win percentage moved him in front of Steve Arlin (1965-66), who had previously held the best percentage of .889. Ohio State will retire Arlin’s No. 22 jersey Saturday between games of a 4:05 p.m. doubleheader against the Spartans. Lewis pitched 7 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts, moving his season total to 123, third place in school annals behind Arlin’s 1965 total of 165 and his 1966 total of 129. The Buckeye lefty now has 214 career strikeouts, moving into 14th on the school’s all-time strikeout list.
The downside to his history-making victory was that he walked four batters and gave up a pair of home runs on four hits. The home runs were the first he allowed this season. He also had his second error of the game, which put a runner at first base before he got his final strikeout of the night on his 126th pitch. Ohio State coach Bob Todd opted to go with Matt Davis (So., Mason, Ohio/William Mason), who came on to pitch the final 1 2/3 innings allowing one hit with his one strikeout. The save was Davis’ 10th of the season, which tied the season record set by Cory Cox in 2001 during Davis’ redshirt season.
Countering the two runs scored by Michigan State via the long ball, the Buckeyes (32-15 overall and 16-9 in the Big Ten) scored all three of their runs by the sacrifice.
Ohio State scored the first run on a sac fly by Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) that plated Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). Garrard had led off the inning with an infield hit to short.
The Buckeyes added their second run again by a sac fly in the fourth inning. Steve Caravati (So., Dover, Ohio/Dover) reached on a fielder’s choice and then moved to third on a bloop single over the out-stretched arm of Spartan second baseman Charlie Braun. He scored on a fly to right field by Cody Caughenbaugh (Fr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley).
Michigan State third baseman James Moreno led off the top of the fifth inning with a home run to straight-away center field to pull within a 2-1 score. The home run was the fifth of the season for Moreno.
The third Buckeye run also scored on a sac fly by Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East), who led off the inning with a double down the left-field line that snuck fair past third base. He moved to third on a single to center by Snavely and then gave Ohio State a 3-1 lead when he scored on a fly to left by Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura).
Michigan State (18-29, 8-14) scored another run in the top of the seventh inning. Brett Wattles got the second home run of the game and the season off Lewis, sending a shot out to right field to pull within a 3-2 score. It was his fifth home run of the season.
Snavely finished the game 1-for-1 for the Buckeyes with a hit to center in the sixth inning to go with a sac fly and a pair of walks, his 50th and 51st of the season. He now has the third most walks in a season and is within range of Nick Swisher’s 2001 record of 60. Five other Buckeyes accounted for the team’s six hits, while Michigan State had five hits by different players.
The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 4:05 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium. Immediately following the first game, Ohio State will retire Arlin’s jersey. A postgame fireworks display will follow the second game.
