Luebke Takes No-Hitter into Seventh in 4-1 OSU Win vs. Panthers – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 20, 2005
Box Score
BRADENTON, Fla. – Freshman left-handed pitcher Cory Luebke took a no hitter through 6 2/3 innings and kept Wisconsin-Milwaukee off the scoreboard until the ninth in a 4-1 victory by Ohio State Sunday at IMG Academy. Luebke allowed four hits in his getting his first complete game victory of his young Buckeye career.
Luebke, a 19th-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates last year following his graduation from Marion Local High School, retired the first eight batters of the game before hitting Matt Curran in the third, but responded to sit down the next 12 batters until Jesse Hart broke up the no-hit bid in the seventh with a line drive off the top of the glove of Buckeye shortstop Jedidiah Stephen (Jr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah).
Curran led off the ninth inning with a hit to right, but Luebke trying to keep the shutout intact, got a ground out by Mike Goetz and struck out pinch hitter Robert Michalkiewicz. But Blake Kangas singled to right to put runners at the corners and Jesse Hart got the Panthers on the board with a single through the right side to deliver Curran.
Luebke got his first win in a scarlet and gray uniform and struck out nine batters without a walk and threw just 101 pitches. The Ohio State defense played well behind Luebke, who got 10 ground outs and seven fly or pop outs with his nine strikeouts, the most by a Buckeye pitcher this season. Luebke is now 1-0 on the year with a 2.18 ERA and a team-best 19 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.
Wes Schritzinger (So., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth inning with a single up the middle that scored Matt Angle (Fr., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling), who led off the inning with a single through the right side. The Buckeyes had three hits and a walk in the inning to take a 1-0 lead. Paul Farinacci (Sr., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) also singled in the inning as Ohio State left the bases loaded. Curran, the UWM third baseman made a great play to stop a Mike Rabin (Sr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) grounder, but threw it in the dirt at first. The error allowed Rabin to advance to second. A passed ball moved Rabin to third and a throwing error on Panthers catcher Brooks Graff, who began his college career at Ohio State before transferring to UWM, allowed Rabin to score and give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead in the seventh.
The scoring was not finished in the inning, however, as Ohio State went on to add two more runs to take a 4-0 lead. After Schirtzinger grounded out, Jason Zoeller (So., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) singled through the left side and then Ronnie Bourquin (So., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) doubled to right-center, putting two runners in scoring position for Cody Caughenbaugh (Jr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley). Caughenbaugh delivered his eighth and ninth RBIs of the season with a shot to right field.
All but one of the Buckeyes came through with a hit as Ohio State out-hit the Panthers 8-4 and benefited from three UWM errors. Hart had two hits to lead the Panthers.
Ohio State, which improved to 7-4 overall and 3-0 on its spring break trip, will play Illinois-Chicago Monday at 2:30 p.m. at IMG Academy.
