Ohio State
Michigan State
Ohio State Falls, 2-1, at Michigan State – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2012
Follow the Buckeyes on Twitter
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Ohio State baseball team dropped a 2-1 decision to Michigan State Sunday afternoon at McLane Stadium. The Buckeyes fall to 14-11 on the season, 2-3 in the Big Ten, while the Spartans improve to 16-8 overall, 1-1 in conference play.
The Spartans took the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Ryan Jones singled through the left side to lead off the game and came around to score on a two-out RBI single to right by Joel Fisher.
Ohio State answered right back to tie it in the top of the second when David Corna doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Joe Ciamacco and scored on an RBI groundout by Patrick Porter.
Both pitchers then cruised until King ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. A walk, sacrifice bunt and single put runners at the corners with one down but Blaise Salter’s squeeze attempt failed as King fielded the bunt and threw home to get Fisher at the plate for the second out. King then struck out Anthony Cheky swinging and send the game to the seventh tied.
The Spartans then took the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Jones singled through the left side and advanced to third with nobody out on an errant pickoff throw by King. The junior left-hander was able to get Jordan Keur to hit a come-backer to the mound for the first out and Torsten Boss popped out for the second out of the inning but Tony Wieber followed with an RBI single through the left side to give Michigan State the lead.
Michigan State starter Andrew Waszak was able to retire the final 10 Buckeyes he faced before Wieber came on in the ninth. Josh Dezse was hit by a pitch with one down in the inning but Wieber induced a 1-6-3 double play to end it.
King pitched well, allowing one earned run on nine hits while striking out three over 7.0 innings pitched but received the loss to drop to 2-3 on the season. Waszak picked up the win, allowing one earned run on two hits over 8.0 innings.
The Buckeyes and Spartans conclude the three-game set at 3:05 p.m. Monday at McLane Stadium.
GAME NOTES
– The game marked the first time the Buckeyes were held without a stolen base since March 10, a streak of 10 consecutive games.
– Josh Dezse was hit by two pitches Sunday, moving his total to a team-high nine.
– Over the first two games of the series, Ohio State’s starting pitchers have combined to allow just one earned run over 17.0 innings pitched.
