Baseball Falls Into Three-way Tie For First with 6-1 Loss to Michigan – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 23, 2004
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Michigan scored three runs to break a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth inning and held Ohio State to only three hits the rest of the way to knock off the first-place Buckeyes 6-1 Friday night in front of a season-high 4,455 fans at Bill Davis Stadium. With the loss, Ohio State slipped into a three-way tie for first place with Michigan and Minnesota, which beat Northwestern 9-1 earlier Friday.
Michigan starter Jim Brauer improved to 3-2 with the complete-game victory. He gave up the one run on eight hits while striking out five and walked three. Kyle Bohm was 3-for-5 with five singles and two RBI to lead Michigan at the plate. Chris Getz, A.J. Scheidt and Brandon Roberts each had two hits as the Wolverines out-hit the Buckeyes 11-8.
Michigan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, scoring a lead-off walk by Eric Rose with a fielder’s choice by Matt Butler that caught Bohm at second. Rose had moved to third on a hit-and-run by Bohm.
Ohio State got the run back in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on a pair of base hits by Steve Caravati (Jr., Dover, Ohio/Dover) and Jedidiah Stephen (So., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) to start the inning. Jason Zoeller (Fr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) delivered the two-out RBI scoring Caravati to tie the game 1-1. Caravati’s lead-off single to right-center field extended his hit streak to a career long 13 games.
The Wolverines scored three runs in the fifth inning to break the tie and take a 4-1 lead. Back-to-back singles by Roberts and Leif Mahler and a walk by Rose loaded the bases with one out. Bohm then delivered a single up the middle to score the first two runs before Rose scored on a suicide squeeze. Michigan turned another leadoff walk in the seventh into its fifth run of the game to take a four-run lead. Rose walked for the third time of the game to start the inning and then stole second before going to third on a fly out by Matt Butler. With two outs, Brad Roblin doubled to left field to bring in Rose, who scored for the third time of the game. That marked the end of OSU starter Josh Newman (Sr., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg), who allowed all five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts to get the loss and fall to 5-4 on the season. Three of his four walks led to runs. The senior lefty had started strong allowing only one hit until Michigan took the lead with a pair of hits in the fourth inning.
The Buckeyes wasted a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, failing to capitalize with runners at the corners and no outs. Brauer responded with three strikeouts to get out of the inning against the Buckeyes’ nine-, one- and two-hole hitters. Zoeller reached first on a fielding error by the Michigan third baseman, which snapped a string of six straight batters retired by Brauer.
Michigan added a run in the top of the ninth inning with a sacrifice fly by Scheidt that scored Bohm, who led off the inning with a single. He moved to second when Butler was hit by a pitch and then went third on a fielder’s choice by Roblin.
Zoeller led Ohio State at the plate going 3-for-4 with the team while five others provided one hit apiece.
The Buckeyes (18-15 overall, 8-5 Big Ten) and Wolverines (20-14, 8-5) continue the series Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 4:05 p.m. Ohio State will retire Steve Arlin’s No. 22 jersey immediately following the first game. Arlin was a two-time All-American pitcher for the Buckeyes in 1965 and 1966, guiding the team to the national championship in 1966. Arlin was 24-3 in his two-year career in Columbus. The series then concludes Sunday with a single game at 1:05 p.m.
