Three-Run Shot by Caravati Lifts Buckeyes to 11-6 Win at Indiana – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2004
Box Score
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Ohio State junior outfielder Steve Caravati belted a three-run home run to break a 6-6 tie in the sixth inning and then the Buckeyes scored twice more in the ninth inning to get past Indiana 11-6 Friday at Sembower Field. With the win Ohio State improved to 21-17 overall and 10-7 in the Big Ten.
Caravati (Dover, Ohio/Dover) cleared the fence in right-center field above the 370 sign and extended his team lead in home runs to nine, but more importantly gave the Buckeyes the lead for good. Derek Kinnear (Sr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) and Drew Anderson (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) also scored on the play. Kinnear led off the inning with a single to left-center field and Anderson followed with a single through the left side before getting bunted up with a sacrifice by Jacob Howell, his fifth of the season.
The Buckeyes plated two huge insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning, capitalizing on a lead-off double down the left-field line by Jedidiah Stephen (So., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah). Brett Garrard (Sr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) drew a one-out walk. Paul Farinacci (Jr., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) singled in Stephen with a shot to shallow left-center field and then Mike Rabin (Jr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) knocked in Garrard to put the Buckeyes up 11-6.
Farinacci finished the game 3-for-5 with four RBI, while Caravati, who has at least one hit in 16 of his last 17 games, was 2-for-3 with three RBI to pace the Buckeyes, which out-hit the Hoosiers 15-10 in the game to overcome three errors.
The Buckeyes loaded the bases without the aid of a hit in the first inning after an error, a hit batsman and a walk. Garrard sent a shot to the fence in straight-away center field, but it was caught at the fence by centerfielder Reggie Watson.
When Garrard came to the plate again in the third inning, the bases were again loaded. But this time, facing only one out, the senior shortstop delivered two runs to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead. Garrard was able to reach second on the throw home and Ronnie Bourquin (Fr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South), who had walked to load the bases, reached third. Farinacci hit his second home run, a three-run shot to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Buckeyes were in line to get out of the bottom of the inning without any damage, but with one out and two out, OSU third baseman Stephen threw a routine ground ball in the dirt trying to put out Jay Brant at first. He instead reached on the error. The very next batter, Seth Bynum, cleared the bases with his sixth home run of the season to pull within two runs, 5-3.
Jacob Howell (Fr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) sent his first career home run out of the park in right field to lead off the fourth inning. The run put the Buckeyes up by three runs, 6-3.
Another Ohio State error allowed the Hoosiers to tie the game, 6-6, in the bottom of the fourth. Kevin Mahar extended his lead in the Big Ten with his 12th home run of the season. The solo shot cleared the fence in center field with one out. Ryan Donley reached on a fielding error by Stephen at third, which would have been the second out of the inning. OSU starter Josh Newman (Jr., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg) walked his second batter of the game before getting Cody Wargo to fly out to center. The Buckeyes should have been out of the inning at that point, but Watson singled to load the bases. Brant singled to center to score Donley and Richardson to even the score with a pair of unearned runs. Five of the first six Indiana runs were unearned thanks to the pair of Buckeye errors.
Newman gave way to Jesse Paciorek (Jr., Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood) to start the seventh inning. The eight hits he allowed yielded six runs, though only one run, the home run by Mahar in the fourth inning, was earned. He walked two and struck out four to improve to 6-4 on the season and win the 30th game of his career. Nick Vitielliss got the loss, allowing eight runs on nine hits with two walks and one strikeout. Paciorek picked up his second save of the season.
Watson was 3-for-5 and Wargo was 2-for-3 to lead Indiana, which fell to 23-18 overall and 7-10 in the Big Ten.
The teams continue the series Saturday with a double dip at 2:05 p.m. (EDT) before concluding the four-game set Sunday with a single game at 2:05 p.m. (EDT). NPR 820 (WOSU-AM) will broadcast the first game Saturday and the game Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on the Internet at www.wosu.org.
