Baseball: DeLucia Wins Final Home Start; 10-Run Inning Fuels Sweep – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio State won two of three games Saturday against Illinois at Bill Davis Stadium as the Buckeyes celebrate 125 years of baseball this weekend.
Ohio State is now 27-22 overall and 13-13 in the Big Ten. Illinois is 29-20 and 15-12 in conference play.
Prior to the start of Friday night’s game, the Ohio State athletic department honored head coach Bob Todd for his pending induction into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He will be inducted in January of 2009. The game was suspended due to heavy rain in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Illinois leading, 7-2.
Saturday’s long afternoon of baseball began with the completion of Friday’s game, which Illinois won, 9-4. The Illini scored two runs in the ninth on back-to-back RBI hits by Craig Lutes and Nick Stockwell. Ohio State scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings on RBI singles by Dan Burkhart and Justin Miller, respectively.
Jake Hale took the loss and fell to 5-3, allowing seven runs, three earned, in 5.1 innings. Kevin Manson pitched 6.0 innings for Illinois and allowed two runs, one earned, to improve to 7-1. Mike Sterk pitched the final three innings for his third save.
Ohio State came back to win the first game of the regularly scheduled doubleheader, 9-4. After Illinois scored a run in the first, the Buckeyes scored three in the bottom of the inning. Tony Kennedy, Zach Hurley, and J.B. Shuck all walked to load the bases. Miller doubled home Kennedy and Hurley, and Shuck scored on Ryan Meade’s fielder’s choice to short.
Illinois threatened to tie the game in the sixth. Daniel Webb doubled to deep left center, scoring Brandon Wikoff. Aaron Johnson attempted to score, but Tyler Engle made a strong throw to catcher Dan Burkhart, who blocked the plate superbly, to throw out Johnson at the plate.
The Buckeyes blew the game wide open with six runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Burkhart singled and then scored after the right fielder could not field Brian DeLucia’s single cleanly. DeLucia later scored on Kennedy’s bases-loaded walk, and Cory Kovanda scored on a wild pitch. Hurley drove in Engle and Kennedy with a single to center, and Miller had a RBI single to finish the scoring.
DeLucia, in his last start at Bill Davis Stadium, pitched 5.1 innings for the win, allowing only four hits and two runs with three walks and five strikeouts. Eric Best earned his seventh save with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Ohio State won the final game of the day, 14-8. The Illini took a 1-0 lead in the third, but Ohio State responded with three in the bottom of the inning. Five straight hits to start the inning plated three runs. Shuck, Miller, and Meade each had RBI singles.
Illinois had a big inning in the fifth. John Schlichter led off with a homer to left. After three consecutive singles, Bonadonna doubled home three runs. Three straight walks scored another run, and a fielder’s choice gave Illinois a 7-3 lead. The lead increased to 8-3 when Johnson scored as Ryan Hastings was caught stealing.
After Illinois scored seven runs in the top of the inning, the Buckeyes scored 10 of their own in the bottom half. The first six batters reached base, including Rupert with a two-run double, and Burkhart with a run-scoring single. With two outs and the bases loaded, Miller delivered a big hit, a three-run double down the left field line. Three batters later, Cory Rupert hit a bloop triple down the right field line, scoring two more runs. The Buckeyes scored 10 runs on seven hits in the inning.
The Buckeyes added another run in the sixth on J.B. Shuck’s RBI single.
Eric Best improved to 3-1 with the win, throwing 1.1 scoreless relief innings. Ben Reeser took the loss for Illinois, falling to 3-2.
Game Notes:
- The two wins gave Ohio State its first doubleheader sweep this season.
- With hits in each of the three games this weekend, Justin Miller extended his hitting streak to nine games. During the streak, Miller is 17-for-35 (.486) with 15 RBI.
- With two or more RBI in each of the first three games of the series, Miller has a team-high 17 multiple RBI games.
- In the series, Miller is 7-for-13 with nine RBI.
- In Game One of the series, Zach Hurley set a career-high with four hits.
- In Game Three, Cory Rupert drove in a season-high (tied career-high) four RBI to go along with three hits, including a double and triple.
- In the top of the fifth inning, Illinois sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs on six hits.
- In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ohio State sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring 10 runs on seven hits. The 10 runs were a season-high for an inning, and the most runs the Buckeyes scored in an inning since scoring 14 runs in the first inning at Penn State on May 8, 2005.
- The Buckeyes drew a big crowd at Bill Davis Stadium, a season-high 4,705 fans.
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