Buckeyes Move into First-Place Tie with 6-4 Win at Michigan State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 6, 2006
Box Score
LANSING, Mich. – Ohio State broke a 3-all tie with three runs in the top of the sixth inning and survived a late rally by Michigan State in a 6-4 victory Saturday to complete a doubleheader sweep and clinch the series with its third win. With the triumph, the Buckeyes moved into a first-place tie with Northwestern and Michigan atop the Big Ten standings.
Knotted at three, Jedidiah Stephen (Sr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) doubled to left-center field to score Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) to put the Buckeyes on top. Angle led off the inning with a double to left-center and to third on a sacrifice bunt by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg). With runners at second and third, Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) gave the Buckeyes a 6-3 lead with a single through the right side.
Michigan State came back with one run in the bottom of the inning, but stranded a runner in scoring position. In the bottom of the seventh, Josh Barrera (Fr., Somerset, Ohio/Sheridan) put the first two runners on base, but 19th-year head coach Bob Todd went to his bullpen and responded in a way with his most solid close of the year, striking out all three batters he faced to earn his fifth save of the season. Barrera earned the win to improve to 3-1 on the year.
Offense won the first two games of the series and played a huge part in game three, but the defense was challenged in game three and made big plays when it needed to. Ohio State pounded out 13 hits and did not commit an error. The Buckeyes (31-14 overall, 15-8 Big Ten) scored twice in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Angle reached on a one-out infield single and drew a two-out walk. Stephen drove Angle home with a single to right and Chris Macke (So., Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute North) singled through the right side to plate Bourquin.
The lead was short-lived when Michigan State answered in the bottom of the inning. Troy Krider tripled to left-center and scored on a sacrifice by Kyle Day. Ryan Basham was awarded a triple when the ball rolled to the right-field wall after getting by a diving Schirtzinger. He scored on a single to center by Alan Cattrysse to tie the game.
In the top of the second, Fryer reclaimed the lead for the Buckeyes with a single to left-center field to score J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion), who boarded on a one-out single up the middle. He stole second and then went to third on a ground out by Angle to set up the go-ahead score.
OSU starter Jake Hale (Fr., Albany, Ohio/Alexander) walked Cattrysse, the lead-off runner of the fourth inning. He went to second on a single by Adam Tripp and to third on a sac bunt by John Lee before scoring on a ground out by Jamey Embree. Second baseman Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) made a great stop and made the throw to first. With runners at first and third, Stephen, the Buckeyes’ shortstop, fielded a ball in the hole and made a great throw to first to end the inning and keep it a tie game.
Hale departed the game with one on and one out in the fifth. He gave way to Barrera., who allowed one run on three hits in 1.2 innings of relief. Hale left the game after allowing the tying run on six hits in 4.1 innings. Craig Brookes took the loss to fall to 1-3.
Stephen and Schirtzinger each accounted for two RBI. Macke and Fryer knocked in the other two runs. Stephen was 2-for-4 and Schirtzinger was 1-for-4. Shuck led all Ohio State batters with a 3-for-5 performance. Krider was 3-for-3 for Michigan State (21-24, 9-14).
Shuck’s triple in the top of the seventh was his second this season and was the 23rd by the Buckeyes this season. The total tied the 1966 national championship team for second on the all-time list and is two off the record set in 1991. Ohio State got a line out, a strikeout and a ground out to strand Shuck at third.
Bourquin drew three walks in the game, including two intentional passes with runners at third when he came to the plate in both the fourth and sixth innings. When the Spartans decided to pitch to him with two away in the top of the seventh, he grounded out to end the inning and strand Shuck at third. He turned two of walks into runs, but did not have a hit for the first time in 13 games, ending the longest hit streak by a Buckeye this season.
The Buckeyes have won 11 of 14 games and took advantage of Northwestern and Michigan both losing two of the first three games in their respective series vs. Minnesota and Illinois to move into a first-place tie with the two teams.
The series concludes with a single game Sunday at 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on AM 920 WMNI and on ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
