Jedidiah Stephen Gets Four Hits in 9-6 Victory vs. Northern Iowa – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2006
Box Score
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Ohio State shortstop Jedidiah Stephen was a perfect 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly to help fuel a 9-6 Buckeye victory over Northern Iowa at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium. With the win, Ohio State improved to 5-4, moving above the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Stephen had a pair of doubles to start the game before ending the game with sacrifice fly and two singles. His four hits were part of a 16-hit Buckeye attack. In the three games in Clearwater, Ohio State has scored 39 runs on 54 hits. Saturday against the Panthers, five other Buckeyes finished with two hits each.
Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) and Stephen, a senior from Caldwell, Ohio (Shenandoah) each drove in a run in the bottom of the first inning to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead. Jacob Howell (Jr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) led off the inning with a single through the right side and went to second when Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) beat out a bunt. Bourquin scored Howell with a single down the left-field line and then after a double play, Bourquin scored from first on Stephen’s seventh double of the season. His added a double in the third.
In the second, it was more Ohio State as both runs scored thanks to a throwing error on UNI shortstop Brandon Douglas. With one out, Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) and Josh Hula (Fr., Castalia, Ohio/Margaretta) singled and then after a strikeout, Angle loaded the bases with an infield single. Then on what should have been the third out of the inning on routine grounder to shortstop by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg), Douglas threw the ball wide of second base trying to nab Angle. The throw was wide and both Zoeller and Hula scored to extend the Buckeye lead to 4-0. Northern Iowa got two runs back to pull within a 4-2 score in the top of the third after an RBI single by Mark Frieske and an RBI double by Nate Trumm.
The Buckeyes came back with three runs in the bottom of the third getting an RBI single from Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) followed by a two-run home run by Zoeller. It was Ohio State’s second home run of the season and gave the Buckeyes a 7-2 lead. The Buckeyes added another run in the fourth on Stephen’s sacrifice fly to center field. In the sixth, Fryer launched the team’s second home run of the game, sending a solo shot over the fence in left field to build a 9-2 lead.
The Panthers (7-4) finally started getting to OSU starter Dan DeLucia (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) in the top of the seventh. He did not walk a batter until the fifth and walked batters in the seventh and ninth. Jesse Oster started the inning with a double and scored on a single by Douglas. Douglas went to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a throwing error by Fryer, the Buckeye catcher. He later scored on a Frieske single, the third hit of the inning. He got out of further damage getting pinch hitter Jason Smith to line out to second base for an unassisted double play.
DeLucia pitched 8.2 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season (1-1). Rory Meister (So., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) got the final out of the game, but not before giving up a pair of hits, including a double to his first batter that scored the final two Northern Iowa runs. Taylor Sinclair took the loss for the Panthers to fall to 1-2.
Stephen batted in two runs, while Zoeller scored twice in a 2-for-4 day that produced two runs. Joining Zoeller with two hits were Howell, Angle, Schirtzinger and Hula. Frieske and Douglas each had two hits for Northern Iowa, which had 11 hits in the game. UNI had two errors to one by Ohio State.
The Buckeyes conclude their visit to Clearwater, Fla., vs. Bethune-Cookman Sunday at 1 p.m. at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium.
