Five-Run Eighth Propels Ohio State to 5-3 Win Over Minnesota – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State came from behind with a five-run eighth inning to defeat Minnesota, 5-3, in the first game of the Big Ten tournament Wednesday afternoon at Huntington Park. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 26-25 on the season and will play at either 3:30 p.m. or 7:05 p.m. Thursday against either Illinois or Michigan State.
The Buckeyes had the first chance of the game in the bottom of the first when they rallied with two down to put runners at first and third after a Ryan Cypret walk and a single through the right side by Josh Dezse but Minnesota starter T.J. Oakes was able to strike out Matt Streng to end the Ohio State threat.
Both Oakes and Ohio State starter Drew Rucinski cruised through the following two innings until Minnesota was able to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Justin Gominsky singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third on a single up the middle by Nick O’Shea. The Buckeyes then looked to be out of the inning when Dan Olinger hit what looked to be a double play ball to short but it was ruled that Dezse pulled his foot off first base, allowing the run to score. Kyle Geason then doubled to left to put runners on second and third with two down but Rucinski was able to strike out Troy Larson to limit the damage to one run.
In the meantime, Oakes retired 10 consecutive Buckeyes before a leadoff single in the fifth by David Corna.
After giving up the run in the fourth, Rucinski shut the Golden Gophers down through the middle innings but ran into trouble in the eighth, giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Andy Henkeymeyer and Gominsky before getting pulled in favor of Andrew Armstrong. The left-hander came on and gave up a two-run double to O’Shea, the first batter he faced, to put Minnesota up 3-0.
The Buckeyes then took the lead with a five-run eighth, using five hits and two Minnesota errors. Greg Solomon led off the inning with a bunt single and, after a groundout by Tyler Engle, Brian DeLucia singled to put runners on first and third with one down and knock Oakes from the game. Tim Wetzel then followed with an RBI single to score Solomon before Cypret grounded a potential double play ball to second base that Matt Puhl was unable to come up with, allowing another run to score to cut the Golden Gopher lead 3-2.
Minnesota closer Scott Matyas then struck out Dezse swinging before Streng singled through the right side to bring home Wetzel to tie the game. Cypret then scored the go-ahead run on a failed pickoff attempt by catcher Kurt Schlangen and Corna doubled off the top of the left field wall to score Streng for a 5-3 Buckeye lead they would not relinquish.
Rucinski threw 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits while striking out three. Jared Strayer picked up the win in relief for the Buckeyes to improve his record to 4-3 on the season while Dezse worked a perfect ninth inning for his fifth save of the season.
NOTES
– The Buckeyes move to 3-1 on the season against Minnesota after taking two of three last weekend at Target Field.
– Ohio State had not had much luck this season when trailing after seven innings, going 1-19 heading into Wednesday’s game.
– Matyas had allowed opponents to hit just .129 heading into the game. He gave up three hits in 0.2 innings Wednesday against the Buckeyes.
