Gray Forces Deciding Game 5 with 9-2 Win – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – With its backs to the wall and needing a win to force a deciding Game 5, the Ohio State’s Gray team took an early lead and cruised to a 9-2 victory over the Scarlet Wednesday night before 133 fans at Bill Davis Stadium. The win sets up a deciding Game 5 Thursday with a 3 p.m. start.
Freshman outfielder Tim Wetzel had three hits, including a double and a bases loaded, two-out triple in the fifth inning to spark the Gray. Catcher Greg Solomon also had three hits plus two RBI in support.
“It was good to see the Gray come out and set the tempo themselves,” head coach Greg Beals said. “Their backs were against the wall and they went out and won this game today. They got hits when they needed it, they got the pitching they needed and they played solid defense.”
Senior Dean Wolosiansky picked up the with with 4.0 innings of two-hit, two-run baseball. He struck out three and walked four, and kept the Scarlet from having any big innings at the plate. Paul Guey pitched 3.0 innings of scoreless relief to earn the save.
“Dean is a true competitor,” Beals said. “This was big for this staff to see him come out and compete like he did today.”
Gray’s bats were jumping early. Led by the leadoff hitter Wetzel, the first four batters of the game singled. A wild pitch and a fifth single came later in the inning to give the Gray a quick 3-0 lead. RBI hits came off the bats of juniors David Corna and Solomon.
Scarlet battled back with a run in the third and one in the fourth. Hunter Mayfield walked, stole a base and scored on a Ryan Cypret groundout. Steel Russell opened the fourth with a sharp single and ended up scoring to cut the lead to 3-2.
A sacrifice fly by freshman Jake Isabel increased the Gray lead to 4-2 in the fourth inning and then Wetzel, after a Scarlet error, hit his bases loaded triple to break the game open and give the Gray a commanding 8-2 lead after five innings.
“I wasted an at-bat early in the game and I had an opportunity to pick myself and my team up in the fifth inning,” Wetzel said. “I just happened to come through in a big situation. They had an error and we had to make them pay because we needed to win this game.”
And that’s what his team did…setting up the deciding game on Thursday.
Outfielder Michael Carroll, a sophomore transfer from Duke University, had three of the Scarlet team’s five hits.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
