Buckeyes Clinch Third Seed with 3-0 Shutout of Penn State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2006
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State freshman Jake Hale pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout in leading the Buckeyes to a 3-0 victory over Penn State to salvage a doubleheader split Saturday in front of 3,497 fans at Bill Davis Stadium. Penn State won the first game of the twinbill 3-2 after the Buckeyes opened the series Friday night with a 4-3 victory.
With the victory, the Buckeyes (34-19 overall, 18-12 Big Ten) clinched the third seed in the Big Ten tournament, May 24-28, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines have won the first three games of their Iowa series to earn the top seed, while Northwestern will be the No. 2 seed.
Hale, a freshman right-handed pitcher from Albany, Ohio (Alexander), pitched his third complete game of the season to improve to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play. He tied a season high with six strikeouts, but walked four in throwing 124 pitches.
Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) gave the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when he launched his sixth home run of the season over the fence in right-center field. The ball left the park about 20 feet left of the scoreboard, which sits just behind the 370 sign in right-center, to also score Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg), who doubled to right-center with one out.
That proved to be the only runs the Buckeyes would need, but they added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit, RBI by Adam Schneider (Jr., Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura). Wes Schirtzinger started a two-out rally with a single to left-center and stole second before Justin Miller (Fr., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) drew a walk. That prompted a Penn State pitching change and coach Robbie Wine went to lefty Matt Ogrodnik, who got Schneider in an 0-2 hole before he sent a base hit through the right side.
Hale allowed three hits, walked three and hit another batter, but Penn State stranded all seven batters. The Buckeyes left eight runners on base.
Penn State starting pitcher Seth Whitehill was tagged with the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year. He allowed the three runs on seven hits. He struck out five and walked three in 5.2 innings.
Bourquin and Fryer led the Buckeyes with two hits apiece. Bourquin drove in two with his home run and Schneider delivered the other run with his sixth-inning, pinch-hit single.
Prior to the game, Ohio State recognized its 1966 team that won the College World Series. The Buckeyes went 5-1 in Omaha and beat Oklahoma State 8-2 for the title. The national championship was the last by a Big Ten team.
Ohio State and Penn State conclude the series Sunday with a single game at 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on AM 920 WMNI and on ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Three Buckeye seniors – Cody Caughenbaugh, Chris Hanners and Jedidiah Stephen – will be recognized before the game, the final regular-season contest for Ohio State.
