Ohio State Eliminated from Big Ten Tourney in 3-2 Loss to Wolverines – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2006
Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Trying to reach its fifth straight Big Ten tournament championship game, the Buckeyes could not overcome three errors and a wild pitch the scored the winning run in a 3-2 loss to Michigan that ended Ohio State’s season and sent Michigan to the championship game, where it will meet Minnesota for the title.
In the bottom of the fourth, Derek VanBuskirk doubled to right-center field and was able to reach third when rightfielder Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) tried twice to pick up the ball. A.J. Scheidt tied the game when he scored VanBuskirk with a sacrifice fly to left.
Michigan took the lead in the sixth thanks to the third Buckeye miscue of the game. Adam Abraham led off the inning with an infield bunt single and went to second on a sac bunt by Doug Pickens. OSU starting pitcher Jake Hale (Fr., Albany, Ohio/Alexander) tried to pick Abraham off at second, but the throw sailed into center field and Abraham advanced to third. He gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead when he scored on a wild pitch, the first by the Ohio State starter.
The third Michigan run scored on a suicide squeeze in the eighth inning. Jeff Kunkel led off the inning with a double down the right-field line and went to third on a fielder’s choice by Abraham. Kunkel slid under the throw from reliever Rory Meister (So., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) to third base.
Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) knocked in J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion) in the top of the ninth inning with a double to right-center field. Schirtzinger drew a lead-off walk, but was erased on the first of two straight fielders’ choice. The run pulled the Buckeyes within the 3-2 final. Fryer struck out to end the game.
Eric Rose was the only Wolverine with multiple hits in the seven-hit offense. Ohio State finished the game with five hits, all from different players. Angle’s RBI was the only run driven in by his team. The other scored on an error.
Neither team crossed the plate in the first or second innings, though Ohio State left the bases loaded and Michigan left a pair of runners in scoring position in the first frame.
The Buckeyes scored the first run in the top of the third on a miscue by Leif Mahler on a ground ball by Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South). Angle drew a one-out walk and went to second on a ground out by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and scored from second when Mahler could not corral Bourquin’s grounder and it went into left field.
Schirtzinger led off the seventh with a single to left and coach Bob Todd would try to get his team to get something going on the base paths. But Michigan catcher Jeff Kunkel threw out Schirtzinger at second on a stolen base attempt. After a ground out by Justin Miller (Fr., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby), Michigan starter Zach Putnam ended his day by walking his next two batters. That brought in Ben Jenzen, who got Fryer to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Putnam walked six batters in the game, but the Buckeyes could not capitalize. He picked up the win to improve to 6-1 in a 7.0-inning outing in which he allowed an unearned run on three hits. Putnam had two strikeouts.
Hale took the loss for the Buckeyes to fall to 4-5. Both runs he allowed were unearned on seven hits. He struck out four and walked two.
The one-run decision was the third in five meetings this season against Michigan, all of which were won by the Wolverines.
Michigan would need to beat Minnesota twice to win its first Big Ten tournament championship since 1999. The first game would be played tonight at 7:10 p.m. and if the Wolverines would win, the teams would meet again Sunday at 12:05 p.m. to decide the title.
In all likelihood, Ohio State ended its season with a 37-21 overall record. The NCAA will announce the field for the 2006 NCAA tournament Monday at 12:30 p.m., EDT, on ESPN.
