Oregon State Sinks Ohio State with Ninth-Inning Walk-Off Home Run – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 4, 2005
Box Score
CORVALLIS, Ore. – National No. 8 seed Oregon State, which tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the eight with an RBI single, won the game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off home run by Shea McFeely to escape a pesky Ohio State team and move to the winner’s bracket.
The Buckeyes led 3-2 going into the eighth inning, but left the bases loaded after putting the first two men on base. Oregon State ace Dallas Buck, who brought an 11-1 record and a 1.93 ERA into the game, walked his fifth batter of the contest and hit his second to put two runners on for Steve Caravati (Sr., Dover, Ohio/Dover). Caravati moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt to chase Buck out of the game. That brought in closer Kevin Gunderson, who got Ronnie Bourquin (So., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) to strikeout and then intentionally walked Jason Zoeller (So., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) to load the bases. Pinch hitter Adam Schneider (So., Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura) grounded out to strand all three runners.
Cole Gillespie drove in Jacoby Ellsbury with a single to right to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. Ellsbury lead off the inning with a double over the head of Mike Rabin (Sr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) in center field and moved to third on a sacrifice by Tyler Graham. OSU starter Mike Madsen (Sr., Canfield, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) got the next batter to strike out before hitting Darwin Barney to put runners at the corners. Madsen then walked Mitch Canham to load the bases before Gillespie singled to right to tie the game. The inning ended when right fielder Matt Angle (Fr., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) threw home to nab the go-ahead run at the plate.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, that run came in the bottom of the ninth. After they went quietly in the top of the inning, OSU coach Bob Todd lifted Madsen and brought in closer Rory Meister (Fr., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) to face Oregon State in the bottom of the ninth. Meister was 8-1 with four saves entering the game, but it was déjà vu, all over again. McFeely took the first offering from Meister and sent it over the fence in left-center field to give No. 2 Oregon State the walk-off victory. Just three games ago, Meister gave up a two-run home run to Minnesota to lose the first championship game in the Big Ten tournament.
Gunderson improved to 6-2 on the year in pitching 1.2 innings without allowing a hit. He walked one and struck out one. Meister fell to 8-2 with only one pitch. Buck went 7.1 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with five walks and five strikeouts. Madsen went eight innings and allowed three runs on eight hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts.
The home run was McFeely’s only hit of the game in four at bats. Oregon State (42-9 and ranked second in three of the four national polls) had nine hits in the game, two each from Ellsbury, Andy Jenkins and Canham. The Buckeyes relied on small ball and got only four hits in the game, their fewest since a three-hit effort in game two at Illinois April 2. Wes Schritzinger (So., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) had two of the four Buckeye hits.
Madsen worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but the Beavers got to him in the second when Jenkins, the Oregon State clean-up batter, lead off with an infield hit to shortstop. Only three pitches later, Canham deposited a 2-0 Madsen pitch just over the right-centerfield wall for a 2-0 Beaver lead. Madsen induced the next two batters to fly out to right field, then gave up a single to right to designated hitter Mike Lissman before getting out of the inning with a strike out, catching Ryan Gipson looking on a called third strike.
The Buckeyes got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. After being held to one hit and not reaching second base through the first three innings, Rabin lead off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a ground out by Caravati and third on a ground out by Bourquin. With two outs, the Buckeyes had runners at first and third after Zoeller was hit by Buck. Farinacci followed with a two-out single through the right side of the infield to cut the Beaver lead to 2-1.
The Buckeyes knotted the score at 2-2 in their half of the sixth inning. Rabin again led off the inning with a walk. Caravati followed with a double to the right-field wall to move Rabin to third. With runners on second and third and no one out, Bourquin hit into an RBI fielder’s choice to score Rabin and tie the game.
Ohio State, 39-19 and ranked 34th in the nation by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, put a runner in scoring position with no one out again in the seventh, when Schirtzinger laid down a bunt single to reach. He was sacrificed over when Jedidiah Stephen (Jr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) laid down a bunt of his own and reached on a throwing error by Oregon State catcher Matt Canham that led to Schirtzinger reaching third. Farinacci was next up and hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Schirtzinger to put the Buckeyes ahead, 3-2.
The Buckeyes move on to play Saturday at 4:05 p.m., EDT, in a loser’s bracket game against No. 2 seed Virginia, which lost 5-3 to St. John’s in the early game Friday. Oregon State will play St. John’s in the winner’s bracket game at 9:05 p.m. All Ohio State games will be broadcast by NPR 820 (WOSU-AM) and on the Internet at www.wosu.org.
