Buckeye Comeback Falls Short in 2-1 Loss to Minnesota – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 13, 2006
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Minnesota scored runs in the fourth and seventh innings and then survived a late comeback bad by Ohio State to hand the Buckeyes a 2-1 loss Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader at Bill Davis Stadium.
Minnesota’s Luke MacLean got the game’s first hit to lead off the top of the third inning and went to second when designated hitter Kyle Baran drew a walk. That put two runners on base with no one out. OSU starting pitcher Cory Luebke struck out the next batter and then got a pair of fly outs to get out of the inning unscathed.
Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) led off the bottom half of the inning with a double down the left-field line and then went to third on a fly out by Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North). That was as far as he would get when Golden Gopher starter Dustin Brabender got a lineout and a fly out to strand a run 90-feet away.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Luebke hit Mike Mee to start the inning and then Andy Hunter singled right to advance Mee to third. Dan Lyons popped up to the pitcher and Luebke caught Sean Kommerstad looking at strike three, but MacLean sent the ball just out of reach of Buckeye shortstop Jedidiah Stephen (Sr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) and into left field to plate Mee for the early lead. The inning ended when leftfielder J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion) threw out Andy Hunter who tried to score on a single by Baran.
Ohio State left another runner at third base in the fourth inning. Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) drew a walk to lead off the inning and went to second on a wild pitch before moving to third on well struck ball by Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) that was caught by centerfielder Matt Nohelty on the warning track. Stephen drew a walk to put runners at the corners but Shuck grounded out to third to end the threat. The Buckeyes had a runner in the fifth and got the lead-off runner on board in the sixth. Angle led off with a base hit to shallow center field, but was erased on a fielder’s choice by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg). That brought an end to Brabender’s day as Minnesota went to Andy Peters, who got a ground out and a popup to end the inning.
Baran launched a one-out, one-run home run to left-center field in the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference. Ohio State turned a lead-off pinch hit single by Michael Arp (Fr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) into its only run of the game in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Adam Schneider (Jr., Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura) singled up the middle to move Arp into scoring position before Miller followed with a base hit deep in the hole at short that scored Arp as the Buckeyes avoided being shut out for the first time this season. Peters struck out the next two batters to end the game and earn his fifth save.
Brabender improved to 4-5 in going 5.1 innings. He limited Ohio State to three hits. Luebke fell to 6-5 on the year in tossing his sixth complete game of the season. He allowed the two runs on seven hits and struck out five with a pair of walks.
Miller had two of the Buckeyes’ six hits, while Nohelty, MacLean and Baran each had two hits in the Gophers’ seven-hit offense. Neither team committed an error and each team stranded seven runners. Ohio State left four in scoring position.
Ohio State (32-16 overall, 16-10 Big Ten) and Minnesota (25-24, 12-14) will follow this game with the second game of the doubleheader before concluding the series with a single game Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Both games will be broadcast by AM 920 WMNI and on ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
