Baseball Cruises Past McNeese State 8-1 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2004
Box Score
MOBILE, Ala. – Ohio State left-handed pitcher Josh Newman struck out a season high seven batters to pick up his 26th career victory and the Buckeyes supported him with 14 hits as they defeated McNeese State 8-1 Friday at the 19th annual Coca-Cola Classic at South Alabama’s Stanky Field.
Newman, a senior from Wheelersburg, Ohio (Wheelersburg), retired the batters in order in all but one of the first six innings of the game. McNeese State got its first hit, a double by Dustin Schroer, in the third inning to break a string of seven straight putouts to start the game. He then retired the next 11 batters before the Cowboys got their second hit in the seventh inning. While Newman was pitching his best outing of the year, Ohio State provided the offense.
Steve Caravati (Jr., Dover, Ohio/Dover) led off the second with one of four Ohio State hits in the inning. He went to second after the first career hit, an infield single by Jason Zoeller (Fr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) that went off the glove of McNeese State starting pitcher Chris Denton. Brett Garrard (Sr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) singled to left-center field to score Caravati from second base and then a single through the left side by Jedidiah Stephen (So., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) scored Zoeller to give the Buckeyes the early 2-0 lead.
Stephen led off the fifth inning with his first home run of the season and the seventh of his career. The shot sailed out of the park in left field, clearing the 20-foot wall about 370 feet from home plate. Jacob Howell (Fr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) doubled down the left-field line, sneaking the ball inside third base. He moved to third on a single to right by Mike Rabin (Jr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East). Howell scored on a wild pitch by Cowboy reliever Joey Poirrier to give the Buckeyes a 4-0 lead after five. The Buckeyes turned a leadoff double down the left-field line by Garrard into their fifth run of the game. Garrard stole third and then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Kinnear (Sr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton). Howell drew a walk to put runners at the corners, but the inning ended with a double play by McNeese State.
The Cowboys finally got on the board in the seventh inning. With one out, Brian Bernhardt reached on an error by Garrard at short and then moved to second on a balk by Newman before a ground out to first by Charlie Kingrey advanced the runner to third. Designated hitter Michael Thompson singled up the middle to score Bernhardt and pull within a 5-1 score of Ohio State. The hit was just the second by the Cowboys.
Newman, who finished with 128 pitches, got the first two outs of the eighth inning and then gave up back-to-back base hits by the Cowboys. That prompted OSU skipper Bob Todd to bring in closer Trey Fausnaugh (Fr., Circleville, Ohio/Westfall). He gave up a hit to load the bases before a check swing by Bernhardt tapped the ball back to the pitcher who threw home to catch Chad Carnahan for the third out of the inning.
Kinnear’s second sacrifice of the game, this time a fly out to right field, scored Garrard, who led off the inning with a single to left-center field. He moved to second on a wild pitch and then to third on a single to left by Stephen. Howell boarded on a fielder’s choice that caught Stephen at second and then a double by Rabin put two runners in scoring position for Caravati, who singled to shallow center field to score the two runs and build the Buckeye lead to 8-1. Fausnaugh walked one, but got out of the ninth unscathed for his second save of the season in 1 1/3 innings.
Newman, who improved to 2-2 on the season, gave up one run (unearned) on four hits to go with his seven strikeouts against no walks in 7 2/3 innings. It was the first time since a relief appearance against Minnesota in the second championship game of the Big Ten tournament May 25. It was the first time since April 19 against Indiana that he did not walk a runner after a start. Denton, the McNeese State starter fell to 2-2 on the year.
Stephen finished 4-for-4 with a home run and a pair of RBI while Garrard was 3-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored. Anderson, who added two RBI, and Rabin each added two hits as the Buckeyes totaled 14 hits, the highest total of the season. Five different Cowboys accounted for five hits.
Ohio State, now 4-6 on the year, continues play at the 19th annual Coca-Cola Classic Saturday against South Alabama at 3:30 p.m. Saturday before closing the event vs. Winthrop at noon Sunday.
