Ohio State
Penn State
Ohio State Edged by Penn State, 5-4 – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2012
Follow the Buckeyes on Twitter
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Ohio State baseball team fell to Penn State, 5-4, Saturday afternoon at Medlar Field. With the loss, the Buckeyes drop to 24-19 on the season, 8-9 in the Big Ten, while the Nittany Lions improve to 21-22, 7-7 in conference play.
Ohio State took the lead with a run off Penn State starter Steven Hill in the top of the second. A single by Mike Carroll and a walk by Patrick Porter put runners on first and second with one down. After Hill got David Corna to fly out to right for the second out of the inning, Kirby Pellant found the hole in the right side to score Carroll for the 1-0 lead.
Penn State answered right back to tie it in the bottom of the frame against Ohio State starter Brian King when Luis Montesinos walked with two down, stole second and scored on an RBI single to left by J.J. White.
Things stayed quiet until the top of the fifth when Tim Wetzel singled up the middle with two down, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single to left by Ryan Cypret to give Ohio State the 2-1 advantage.
The Buckeyes threatened again in the top of the sixth when a pair of walks and a Penn State error loaded the bases with two down but Hill was able to strike out Greg Solomon to keep it a one-run game.
Penn State then took the lead with a pair of runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning. Joey DeBernardis doubled to lead off the inning and came around to score on an RBI single up the middle by Jordan Steranka. After a strikeout and a fly out, White singled to put runners on first and second with two down and J.C. Coban lined a single into center to give the Nittany Lions the 3-2 lead.
After David Fathalikhani induced a 1-2-3 double play to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, the Buckeyes took the lead with a pair of runs on three hits in the top of the eighth. Carroll and Brad Hallberg singled to lead off the inning to knock Hill out of the game. Dave Walkling came on to strike out Patrick Porter but Corna singled to left to score Carroll and Solomon plated Hallberg with an RBI groundout to put Ohio State on top 4-3.
However, the Nittany Lions loaded the bases with one down in the bottom of the eighth against Fathalikhani on two walks and a hit batter. Andrew Armstrong then came on to face Sean Deegan but threw a wild pitch to score White and balked in Coban for the go-ahead run.
Dezse doubled to center with one down in the ninth but Carroll grounded out and Hallberg struck out to end it as the Nittany Lions escaped with the victory.
Carroll went 2-for-5 with two runs scored while Hallberg went 2-for-4 with a run scored in his team-high 17th multi-hit game of the season.
The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions meet in the rubber game of the three-game set at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
GAME NOTES
– Josh Dezse has reached base safely in 42 of 43 contests this season.
– Brad Hallberg recorded his team-high 17th multi-hit game.
