Baseball: Wolosiansky Stops Wolverines Streak – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Ann Arbor, Mich. Dean Wolosiansky pitched 6.1 innings of four-hit ball and Cory Kovanda scored a seventh-inning, go-ahead run to spark Ohio State to a 3-2 win over Michigan in the second game of a doubleheader at Ray Fisher Stadium. Michigan won the opener, 6-1.
Wolosiansky, a red-shirt freshman, did not let the fact that Ohio State was down 2-0 in the series and had lost 11 consecutive regular season games to the Wolverines affect his effort. He shut out the Wolverines for four innings and never let the home team get comfortable at the plate. He walked three and struck out three in improving his record to 7-2. Michael Powers, the third Michigan pitcher, dropped to 5-4 with the loss.
Cory Kovanda scored twice, including the winning run in the seventh, and Justin Miller had two RBI to pace the Buckeyes in a series that has been dominated by pitching and features just 37 combined hits by the two teams and only five extra base hits.
The Buckeyes are now 24-20 overall and 11-11 in the Big Ten. Michigan is 33-11 and 19-4.
“That was a good game,” a most modest Wolosiansky said afterward. “It was a game where everyone pulled together. I felt good and the guys made some phenomenal plays behind me. [Eric] Best came in and sealed the deal. He could not have been better than what he was. And Kovanda, Miller and others got some great hits when we needed them.”
Ohio State loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning and ended up scoring two runs. Tony Kennedy, who led off with a single, scored on an RBI single by Miller and Kovanda scored on a single by Ryan Meade. In the process, Ohio State sent Michigan starter Travis Smith to an early seat on the bench.
Ohio State had many opportunities to add to their runs total but ended up leaving runners on the bases in every inning. Five times the team left a man stranded at second or third base. Michigan contributed four errors as well.
In the second inning Ohio State had two men on with nobody out. But Michigan reliever Tyler Burgoon got a strikeout and a bang-bang play at the plate to keep J.B. Shuck from scoring on Zach Hurley’s single. A force play then ended the inning.
The first two Buckeye batters reached base again in the fourth Dan Burkhart on an error and Tyler Engle after getting hit by a pitch. But Michigan caught a break when Miller’s ball up the middle deflected off a diving second baseman’s glove right to the shortstop covering second who threw to first for a double play. Burkhart was left stranded at third on an inning ending groundout.
“We’ve got to be mentally tough enough to fight through games like this,” Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. “We’re learning to get over frustration. We did a good job of it in the second game.”
Michigan tied it in the fifth, scoring two runs off three hits. Mike Dufek’s pinch-hit RBI double tied the score.
Kovanda led off the top of the seventh with a double down the left field line off Powers. J.B. Shuck then sent a rocket down the line that first baseman Derek VanBuskirk could not handle for a hit all the way. Kovanda stopped at third. Miller then hit a first-pitch single to left to score Kovanda for a 3-2 Buckeye lead. Murphy struck out three of the last four batters he faced to keep it a one run lead.
Wolosiansky came out in the seventh and got two outs but walked two batters. Eric Best came in to get the last out on a grounder up the middle for his sixth save of the season.
Game 1: Michigan 6, Ohio State 1
The opener was won by Michigan, 6-1. Just like Friday night’s game, Ohio State opened the scoring with a run in the first. J.B. Shuck, who reached on error, stole second and moved to third on a single by Justin Miller, scored on Ryan Dew’s sacrifice fly to right.
And just like Friday, both pitchers Dan DeLucia for Ohio State and Chris Fetter for Michigan were in complete control of the proceedings. DeLucia allowed just two base runners through the first three innings with one of those reaching on an error. Fetter retired eight straight Buckeyes after back-to-back first inning singles by Zach Hurley and Justin Miller.
DeLucia came out after three innings though he wasn’t able to get his arm completely loose, according to coach Bob Todd after the game and was replaced Alex Wimmers. Wimmers, who struck out both Michigan batters he faced on Friday, gave up a couple of walks in the inning but got out of it without allowing any runs and the two teams went to the fifth with Ohio State still leading, 1-0. DeLucia allowed just the one hit, did not walk a batter and struck out three in a fine, albeit short, effort.
And just like Friday, Michigan scored late inning runs. Michigan grabbed the lead with two runs in the fifth inning. The first extra base hit of this series a double by Leif Mahler to the deep right field corner scored Kevin Cislo, who had reached on a one out single, to tie the game at 1-apiece. An intentional walk to Luke Recknagel loaded the bases and then Zach Putnam, the pitching star in game one for Michigan, hit a deep sacrifice fly to left to score Jason Christian. Adam Abraham then singled to left, but Zach Hurley threw out Mahler at home plate with a perfect strike to Dan Burkhart.
Michigan added four more runs in its half of the sixth off three hits and helped along by two errors to put the game away. Jason Christian had a two run home run in the inning.
Fetters, just like Putnam on Friday, pitched the complete game win to improve to 8-1. He gave up just four hits and did not walk a batter. Michigan, for the second game in a row, had just seven hits.
Game Notes and More…
- This has been a pitcher’s series so far. Through three games, Ohio State has 19 hits and a .221 average. Michigan has 18 hits and a .247 average.
- Ohio State’s staff ERA vs. Michigan is 4.29. Michigan’s ERA is 1.17.
- Only three players total are hitting over .300 this series. J.B. Shuck, who will take the mound and try to even the series in the finale at 1:05 p.m. Sunday, is hitting .667 in the series (6-of-9). Michigan’s Jason Christian (.571) and Zach Putnam (.375) are the only others above .300.
- Ohio State has scored in the first inning of all three games.
- The 6-1 Michigan win in the first game was its 11th consecutive regular season win over the Buckeyes.
- The Buckeyes used to own the Wolverines. Bob Todd’s teams either won or tied 13 of the first 15 series played from 1988 to 2002 (nine wins; four ties and only two series losses). Perhaps this win can be a start of a new trend. Afterall, Dean Wolosiansky is only a freshman and he understands what playing Michigan is all about.
- “Today, it was Michigan,” Wolosiansky said. “It’s a different kind of game when you play them and you can feel it. It’s more than just a win at stake. It’s pride. It’s the school. They have a great reputation, like Ohio State does, and it was nice to get a win over them.”
##OhioStateBuckeyes.com##
