Ohio State Falls to Penn State, 3-2, in 10 innings Friday in University Park, Pa. – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2007
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Ohio State lost to Penn State, 3-2, in 10 innings Friday in the first game of a four-game Big Ten series at Medlar Field in University Park, Pa.
Ohio State is 32-20 overall and 14-13 in Big Ten action, while Penn State is 26-23 overall and 18-9 in the conference. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions will play games two and three of the series starting at 4:05 p.m. ET Saturday at Medlar Field. Saturday’s two seven-inning games will be followed a final nine-inning game at 1:05 p.m. ET Sunday.
The Buckeyes still need just one win out of the remaining three games to qualify for the Big Ten tournament. The top six teams qualify for the Big Ten tournament and OSU sits in sixth place in the conference, 1.5 games ahead of seventh-place Michigan State and one game behind fifth-place Illinois. Illinois defeated Michigan State, 6-5, Friday night.
Penn State took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, scoring an unearned run.
Penn State starter Seth Whitehill retired the first 12 Buckeyes he faced until J.B. Shuck (So., Galion, Ohio/Galion) led off the top of the fifth with a single.
In the OSU fifth, Jason Zoeller (Sr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) earned a two-out walk and moved to second on a Brian DeLucia (Fr., Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) single. Cory Rupert (Fr., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) followed with an RBI single to right center to tie the game at 1-all.
The Buckeyes took a 2-1 lead with a run in the top of the sixth. Matt Angle (Jr., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) reached on a leadoff walk, and after two OSU outs, stole second base. Justin Miller (So., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) then singled through the left side, driving in Angle to give Ohio State its first lead of the game.
Ohio State ace Cory Luebke (Jr., Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local) started for the Buckeyes and went seven strong innings, giving up just one unearned run. He struck out nine and walked just one in a no decision.
Rory Meister (Jr., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) relieved Luebke in the eighth. The Nittany Lions were able to push across their second unearned run in the eighth to tie the game at 2-all. Things remained tied until PSU scored the winning run with one out in the bottom of the tenth. Meister fell to 3-6 on the year.
Whitehill went seven innings in a no decision. He gave up two earned runs on four hits. Matt Ogrodnik relieved Whitehill in the eighth and pitched scoreless innings to earn the win and improve to 3-2.
The Buckeyes had just four hits in the game, Penn State 10.
