Ohio State Stunned in the Ninth by Illinois – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio– Ohio State was all set to advance in the winner’s bracket of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament at Huntington Park. But then Illinois, the Big Ten co-champion of the regular season, came up for its last at bat, scored four runs in the ninth for its 19th comeback win of the season and stunned the Buckeyes, 5-4, to advance into a 7:05 p.m. game Friday vs. Michigan State, the other co-champion of the league.
Ohio State must now come back in 12 hours and face Minnesota at 12:05 p.m. Friday in an elimination game. The winner of that game will then play a second elimination game, against Purdue in a 3:35 p.m. start.
The 26-26 Buckeyes had ridden home runs by Brian DeLucia and Greg Solomon and another solid start from Brett McKinney to build a 4-1 lead going into the ninth inning. But facing Ohio State’s closer and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Josh Dezse for a second inning, the Illinois bunched five hits and a walk together in the inning to pull off its fifth consecutive last-at bat win. Davis Hendrickson hit the first pitch he saw from Andrew Armstrong into left field to score the winning run.
“A disappointing loss,” Ohio State coach Greg Beals said. “I feel bad for the guys. It’s a difficult loss. We asked a lot of Josh. He’s our closer and he’s going to be great. He already is. Today is part of his maturation process. His pitching two innings isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility, but we asked him to do something he hasn’t done all year.”
DeLucia hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, and also singled and scored twice, and Solomon hit an inside-the-parker with a man on in the eighth to spark the Buckeyes’ offensively.
The game was somewhat of a good-old-fashioned pitcher’s duel through six innings. McKinney may not have carried a no-hitter into the seventh like he did against Illinois three weeks ago, but he was good enough to have allowed just one run off eight hits through 6.0 innings. He walked only one and struck out one.
Illinois’ Kevin Johnson, who the Buckeyes torched for nine runs off nine hits in 2.2 innings earlier this year, was quite frankly lights out, scattering just three hits and walking none through six.
Illinois had taken a 1-0 lead in the third inning, collecting its run off two hits around a stolen base. Josh Parr scored it after opening the inning with a single. His brother, Justin, singled him home.
DeLucia, who saved a run from scoring in the second inning by throwing out Brandon Hohl at the plate to end the inning, tied it in the fourth with one mighty rip of the bat. His first home run of the year went out of the deepest part of the park – straight-away center field 400 feet away – and, according to Huntington Park stat folks, it rocketed off his bat at a staggering 104 miles per hour.
Jared Strayer entered the game at the start of the seventh inning. He surrendered a double and a hit batsman, but he was awesome none-the-less, striking out the side to send the game into the eighth inning still tied at 1-apiece.
The eighth inning was good for the Buckeyes in their 5-3 win over Minnesota Wednesday – the team scored all five of its runs that inning – and it was good to the Buckeyes tonight. After David Corna led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second, Solomon’s inside-the-park home run went to the wall in center field to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead. His sharp, sinking liner skipped over the glove of a diving Willie Argo and rolled to the fence. Solomon beat the relay to score despite taking a hard knee to the thigh from catcher Adam Davis.
After DeLucia singled to chase Johnson, Tim Wetzel greeted Chris Pack with a single to left to score the speedy DeLucia, who had previously stole second base, for a 4-1 lead.
Josh Dezse came into the game to pitch in the eighth and got out of the inning despite a couple of walks. Then came the ninth.
Tournament Tidbits and Other Random Thoughts…
- Nearly a two-hour rain delay during the preceding game – Purdue vs. Michigan State – delayed the start of the game nearly two hours. Official start time was 8:51 p.m. One has to love those big-time, late night starts…just like the playoffs!
- The first three half innings all ended on 2-4 caught stealing erasers. Also: Brian DeLucia’s elimination of Brandon Hohl at the plate ended the the Illinois second.
- DeLucia’s right arm is legit. He ranks among the Top 10 nationally in outfield assists with 10.
- The last Buckeye to hit an inside-the-park home run was DeLucia. His was a grand slam that caromed around the outfield at Northwestern’s Rocky Miller Park in 2008.
- Come on out and support the Buckeyes and the Big Ten Conference tournament. There are three games Friday starting at noon. Tickets are only $10 ($7 for children and senior citizens) and one ticket is good for all three games.
- Ohio State may have the second-most wins in the Big Ten Tournament history – 50 – but only four have come against Illinois. The Illini hold a 5-4 edge in wins over Ohio State in Big Ten tournament games.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
