Ohio State Slugs Way Past Illinois 14-3 in First Game of DH – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 3, 2004
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State stormed out to a 12-3 lead through three innings and cruised to a 14-3 victory in the first game of doubleheader Saturday at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes’ 14 runs were the most this season and came on a season-high 17 hits.
Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the first inning without the aid of a hit. Mike Madsen (Jr., Chesterland, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) walked the first two batters before getting Ryan Hastings to ground into a double play. Trevor Huisinga scored on a fielding error by Buckeye shortstop Brett Garrard (Sr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg).
Ohio State answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to five hits, including singles by both Drew Anderson (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) and Jacob Howell (Fr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) to open the inning. The runners each moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Steve Caravati (Jr., Dover, Ohio/Dover). Jedidiah Stephen (So., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) grounded to second but the ball a throwing error on Hastings, the Illinois second baseman allowed him to reach first and Anderson to tie the game 1-1.
Paul Farinacci (Jr., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) singled to right-center field to score Howell and then back-to-back singles by Ronnie Bourquin (Fr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) and Garrard scored Farinacci to give Ohio State a two-run lead.
That lead didn’t last long as the Illini scored twice in the top of the second to tie the game, but Ohio State erupted for six runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-3 lead. Derek Kinnear (Sr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) got things started with a single to center and then after a foul out by Anderson, Howell singled. Caravati then singled to right-center field to score Kinnear, giving the Buckeyes a 4-3 lead. That prompted an Illinois pitching change as “Itch” Jones replaced Jim Conroy with Brandon Murphy.
Murphy got Stephen to line out to center, but then hit Farinacci to load the bases for Bourquin, who delivered with a two-RBI single to right-center field to build the lead to 6-3. That closed the book on Conroy, but the scoring continued. Garrard reached on a fielding error by Illini third baseman Brian Raymond that also allowed Farinacci to score. Mike Rabin (Jr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) tripled to right-center field and scored both Bourquin and Garrard for the six run advantage.
The Buckeyes plated another three runs in the third inning to take a 12-3 lead on singles by Anderson, Howell and Bourquin. For Howell and Bourquin, both freshmen, it was their third hits of the game. Howell finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and scored three times while Bourquin was 3-for-3 with RBI.
Ohio State scored twice more in the fifth inning to go up 14-3. Caravati singled and moved to second on a throwing error by Raymond. He moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a double by Stephen. Stephen reached third on a single by pinch hitter Adam Schneider (Fr., Agoura Hills, Calif./Agroua). Jason Zoeller (Fr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) sacrificed himself with a fly to right to score Stephen.
In addition to the three-hit efforts by Howell and Bourquin, Anderson, Caravati and Kinnear each added two hits. Five different players accounted for the five runs by the Illini, which finished with four errors in the game.
Madsen pitched 6.0 innings giving up the three Illinois runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked five. Jesse Paciorek (Jr., Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood) pitched the final inning for Ohio State. Jimmy Conroy, who came in with a 4-1 record and 3.09 ERA gave up six runs (all earned) on eight hits with no walks and no strikeouts in 1.1 innings. Brandon Muphy and Aaron Saving went the rest of the way.
Ohio State (9-10 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) and Illinois (6-12, 0-2) finish off the doubleheader later Saturday before concluding the series Sunday with a single game at 1:05 p.m. Ohio State leads the series 2-0. NPR 820 (WOSU-AM) will broadcast the games.
