Ohio State wraps up sweep of North Florida, 9-3, Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2007
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COLUMBUS, Ohio>/b> – Ohio State wrapped up a two-game sweep of North Florida, beating the Ospreys, 9-3, Wednesday in the final game of a two-game non-conference series at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes took game one, 8-7, Tuesday.
Wednesday’s game was part of Columbus Public Schools Day, with more than 3,000 sixth-graders from 30 Columbus Public Schools attending an educational pep rally and then the game. CPS Day was designed to show young students the opportunities for and advantages of higher education and the importance of staying in school.
The Buckeyes improved to 32-19 on the year, North Florida is 23-30. OSU heads to Penn State Friday-Sunday for the final Big Ten series of the season. Ohio State must win one of its four games in the series to qualify for the Big Ten tournament.
Ohio State jumped out to an early lead, pushing two runs across in the bottom of the first. Matt Angle (Jr., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) reached on a one out walk and then stole second. Eric Fryer (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) singled to left moving Angle to third. J.B. Shuck (So., Galion, Ohio/Galion) followed with an RBI single to right and Justin Miller (So., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Buckeyes made it 4-0 with two more runs in the bottom of the second. Tony Kennedy (Jr., Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington South) singled with one out and moved to second on a Cory Kovanda (Fr., Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) walk. Jacob Howell (Sr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) singled to load the bases and then North Florida’s pitcher Jonathan Turner unleashed a wild pitch, scoring Kennedy. Angle knocked in the fourth run with a single to right. North Florida cut the OSU lead to 4-1 with a run in the top of the third, but the lead grew to 5-1 as the Buckeyes tallied a run in the bottom of the fourth on a UNF error.
The Ospreys got the run back in the top of the fifth, making it 5-2, but Ohio State stretched the lead to 8-2 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Ryan Dew (Fr., Croton, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) and Kennedy led off the home half of the fifth with back to back singles, with Kennedy advancing to second on the throw to third. Kovanda followed with a hard hit that deflected off the second baseman, driving in two runs. After an error moved Kovanda to third, Angle followed with an RBI single to make it 8-2.
The Buckeyes scored their ninth and final run in the bottom of the seventh, with Kennedy scoring on a wild pitch after initially reaching on catcher’s interference.
Eric Best (Fr., Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) started the game for the Buckeyes and went two innings. He gave up two hits and walked three. Taylor Barnes (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) relieved Best in the third and pitched three innings, picking up his first career win. Josh Edgin (Fr., Three Springs, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) and Darren Sizemore (So., Hamilton, Ohio/Ross/Georgetown Univ.) also threw for OSU, with Edgin throwing three scoreless innings and Sizemore pitching the final inning.
Turner took the loss for UNF, falling to 4-2 on the year, as he went just two innings and gave up four earned runs. The Ospreys used four pitchers in the game.
Ohio State had 10 hits in the game and North Florida 12. Angle was 2-for-3 with two RBI and Kennedy and Howell also had two hits each. Kovanda drove in two runs.
