DeLucia Pitches Three-Hitter in Complete Game 14-0 Shutout of UMass – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2006
Box Score
BRADENTON, Fla. – Ohio State pitcher Dan DeLucia allowed only three hits in a nine-inning complete-game shutout and the Buckeyes pounded out 18 hits in a 14-0 victory over Massachusetts Sunday at IMG Academy.
DeLucia did not allow the first hit until the fifth inning and gave up one hit in each the eighth and ninth innings. He struck out four and walked two in getting his first complete game since beating Virginia in last year’s NCAA tournament. The junior from Columbus, Ohio (Bishop Watterson), hit a batter in the top of the first and walked the first two batters of the second. Both times he got out of trouble. Even after he allowed his first hit, a single through the left side by Joe Catone to lead off the fifth, he picked him off and got a pair of fly outs to get out of the inning. DeLucia threw 106 pitchers and got batters out in order in the third, fourth and sixth innings as he picked up his second win of the season (2-1).
The Buckeyes continued their recent success at the plate with their sixth consecutive game with 16 or more hits. Ohio State, which has a five-game win streak, has scored 73 runs on 111 hits in the last six games.
Sunday against the Minutemen, the hit parade started early.
The game started with four straight hits with an RBI double from Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) and an RBI single from Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South). Jedidiah Stephen (Sr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) was hit by a pitch to load the bases for J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion), who drove in two more runs with a single to center field. Following a walk to Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North), Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) drove in the fifth run with a single down the left-field line. Shuck was thrown out at the plate trying for another run. Jacob Howell (Jr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland), who singled up the middle to start the Buckeye first, came to the plate again. This time, he drove a ball to the gap in right-center field to score two more runs, capping the seven-run inning with his eighth career triple. He is tied for 10th in school history.
Shuck plated two more runs in the second inning with a single up the middle. Bourquin boarded on a one-out single and went to third on a two-out throwing error by the UMass catcher on a bouncer by Stephen. Both scored on Shuck’s single to give Ohio State a 9-0 lead.
Three straight walks with one out loaded the bases for Bourquin and he delivered two with a single to right-centerfield to put the Buckeyes up 11-0.
The final three runs scored in the sixth. Pinch hitter Michael Arp (Fr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) led off the inning with a single up the middle and went to second on a wild pitch. He stayed put on a single to shallow center field by Zoeller. Another wild pitched moved both runners into scoring position before Jonathan Zizzo (So., Youngstown, Ohio/Sarasota [Fla.]) drew a walk to load the bases. After a second fly out of the inning, Bourquin drove in Arp and Zoeller with a single to left for his fourth and fifth RBI of the game.
Bourquin, the hottest of the Buckeyes at the plate, finished 5-for-6, flying out to left after five straight singles to start the game. Howell was 3-for-3 with two RBI and Shuck was 2-for-4 with four RBI. Bourquin ran his hit streak to a team-leading eight games and is batting .520 in the team’s 11 games this season.
Stephen’s 11-game hit streak dating back to the season-ending loss to St. John’s in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, came to an end against UMass. He was hit by a pitch in the first inning and reached on a throwing error in the second before lining out to left. He was replaced in the fifth by Tony Kennedy (So., Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington South), who was 1-for-2 with a double in the seventh.
Rory McDonald, the starting pitcher for the Minutemen, got the loss. He allowed nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
The Buckeyes, which began their spring break trip Sunday vs. UMass, improved to 7-4 this season and will play five games over the next five days on their spring break trip to Bradenton, Fla. Next up for Ohio State is Cornell Monday at 2:30 p.m. at IMG Academy.
