Ohio State loses to Penn State, 3-2, Saturday in second game of double header – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2007
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Ohio State lost to Penn State, 3-2, Saturday in the third game of a four-game Big Ten series at Medlar Field in University Park, Pa. The Buckeyes dropped the first game of Saturday’s double header, 4-2, and now must win the final game of the series Sunday to qualify for the Big Ten tournament. OSU also lost, 3-2, in 10 innings Friday.
Ohio State is 32-22 overall and in seventh-place in the Big Ten at 14-15, a half game behind Michigan State (15-15) and a game behind Illinois (15-14). The Spartans and Illini play Sunday. The top six teams qualify for the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes own the tiebreaker over Illinois and would advance to the tournament if tied with the Illini.
Penn State improved to 28-23 overall and 20-9 in the conference. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions wrap up the series at 1:05 p.m. ET Sunday.
Just like the first game Saturday, Penn State took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a solo home run, but the Buckeyes responded with a run in the top of the second to tie it at 2-all. Justin Miller (So., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) reached on an error, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Jason Zoeller (Sr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) single.
But PSU regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third for a 3-1 advantage.
The Buckeyes cut the Penn State lead to 3-2 with a run in the top of the sixth. Eric Fryer (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a Miller sacrifice fly. Ohio State was unable to bring the tying run home as PSU held on for the win. Jake Hale (So., Albany, Ohio/Alexander) started the game for the Buckeyes and went all six innings, giving up three earned runs on just four hits. He walked three and struck out four.
Paul Hawkins started for PSU and went five innings for the win, improving to 4-0 on the year. He allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits. Drew O’Neil pitched the final 1.1 innings for his tenth save of the season and second of the day.
The Buckeyes had seven hits in the game, Penn State four.
