Baseball: Buckeyes Lose in Extra Innings, 4-3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
IOWA CITY, Iowa Iowa scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th inning to record a comeback, 4-3, win over Ohio State Thursday at Duane Banks Field on the campus of the University of Iowa. Ohio State had led 3-2 late in the game before the Hawkeyes tied it in the eighth and won two innings later.
Ohio State gave starter Jake Hale an early 1-0 lead as hot-hitting Justin Miller, this week’s Big Ten Player of the Week, led off the second with a double. He move to third on a ground out and scored an RBI grounder by Cory Kovanda.
The Hawkeyes came back with two of their own in their half of the second behind RBI singles by Wes Freie and Kevin Hoef.
The score stayed that way through five innings. Iowa starter Andrew Porter retired eight consecutive Buckeyes between the end of the second and the start of the fifth and then worked through the fifth fine after allowing a leadoff walk. Ohio State’s Hale was equally as effective in his three innings after the second, facing just one batter over the minimum to keep the score at a tight 2-1.
Ohio State regained the lead in the sixth inning, 3-2. Tony Kennedy led off the inning with a double down the left field line and J.B. Shuck ripped a triple to right center his team-high third of the year that easily scored Kennedy. Team RBI leader Miller then hit a grounder to third that held Shuck…momentarily. Miller was thrown out at first and on the throw Shuck bolted home and his head-first slide just beat the return throw, giving the Buckeyes the lead.
Iowa’s Tyson Blauser reached third base with two out in the bottom of the sixth on a walk, sacrifice and ground out, but he was left stranded when right fielder Michael Arp robbed T.J. Cataldo by making an over-the-head running grab of a hard-hit line drive.
A hit batter and a walk with one out in the seventh chased Iowa starter Porter and in relief came Jason Belk. Belk recorded the final two outs of the inning to preserve a fine first start by Porter, who finished with 6.1 innings pitched and three earned runs allowed with four hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
Ohio State left two runners stranded in both the sixth and seventh innings and could not extend the lead, and Iowa took advantage of its opportunities in the eighth. The Hawkeyes scored the tying run on a single by Curtis Mueller and with the bases loaded and one out Eric Best relieved Hale and the Buckeyes caught a break. Best got Cataldo to line out to Kennedy, which should have scored Curry from third, but left fielder Kennedy alertly fired the ball to second base to double up Mueller, who was lingering too far off to get back, and end the inning with the score tied at 3-all.
The game was effectively in extra innings at this point. Here’s how it played out:
- Ohio State went three-up and three-down in its half of the ninth.
- Iowa got its leadoff runner on via a walk in the ninth, but Best got three consecutive fly-outs and the teams went into the 10th.
- Ohio State went three-up and three-down in the 10th.
- The dangerous Curry led off the Iowa 10th with a single to center off Best.
- Curry advanced all the way to third on a wild pickoff attempt.
- Ohio State attempted to intentionally walk the next two batters. The first went as planned. During the second intentional pass, a wild pitch scored Caleb from third to end the game.
Iowa improves to 21-31 and 9-20 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes dropped to 28-23 overall and 13-14 in the Big Ten. Brock Albert pitched the final three innings for Iowa to pick up the win and improve to 5-3. Best took the loss and is now 4-2.
Game Notes:
- Local artist Paul Donaldson brought us all back a few years to Woodstock days, in fact by playing an electric violin version of the National Anthem before the game.
- Jake Hale pitched another fine outing, going 7.1 innings and allowing just three runs and scattering five hits. He walked four and struck out four.
- Hawkeye starter Andrew Porter was pulled from the bullpen for the start…just a change of pace for the last-place Hawkeyes, who had nothing to lose. Porter had made 30 appearances this season, but all in relief.
- Kudos to Ohio State catcher Dan Burkhart who fired a rocket to Cory Kovanda covering second base to easily retire Big Ten steals leader Caleb Curry, who was trying to steal in the fifth. Curry entered the game with 38 steals.
- Iowa entered the game with a Big Ten best 128 steals. They had zero this game.
- Iowa’s Justin Toole had his 25-game hitting streak snapped. It was the ninth-longest streak in the country. Ben Guez from William and Mary has the nation’s longest streak this season at 32 games.
- Big Ten Player of the Week Justin Miller extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a second inning double.
- Northwestern and Michigan State each lost Big Ten games on Thursday. Penn State, the fourth team, along with Ohio State, fighting for the final three Big Ten tournament berths, was trailing big at Minnesota.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
