Ohio State Downs Toledo, 9-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes

Tuesday, March 24

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State

15-6

Toledo

8-16

Toledo

Ohio State

Ohio State Downs Toledo, 9-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes

3/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 24, 2015

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State baseball team continued to take care of its home turf Tuesday evening with a 9-2 win over Toledo at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. With the victory over the Rockets (8-16), the Buckeyes improve to 15-6 overall and 8-2 at home in 2015.

“I thought we got off to a slow start today but finished really strong,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We got some big two-out hits and quality at bats late in the game. Those are big difference makers on the scoreboard. Jacob had a quality start and our bullpen really gained control of the game tonight. We have to come back out here tomorrow and bring our best against another in-state school.”

The Ohio State offense scattered nine runs on 11 hits led by Connor Sabanosh and Craig Nennig, who each had two RBI and a run scored. Ronnie Dawson also had a pair of hits. Troy Montgomery, L Grant Davis and Aaron Gretz also scored a run and drove in a run in the contest, while Troy Kuhn homered vs. the Rockets.

Toledo’s top hitter was an impact early on in the contest as AJ Montoya posted a two-out home run vs. OSU starting pitcher Jacob Niggemeyer in the top of the first to give the Rockets a 1-0 advantage.

Ohio State got a runner on base in the first two innings, but failed to score a run vs. Toledo starter Alex Wagner. But the Rocket lead wouldn’t last much longer. A two-out, two-run double to left center by Connor Sabanosh in the bottom of the third plated a pair of runs to give Ohio State the 2-1 lead. Craig Nennig and Troy Montgomery walked vs. Wagner to set up the scoring play.
After giving up the long ball, Niggemeyer settled down and sent down the next nine batters he faced until Toledo got a two-out single to right. He fanned the next batter for his third strikeout to leave the runner stranded in the fourth.

Troy Kuhn added a run in the bottom of the fourth with his third home run of the year sending a ball over the wall to dead center at Bill Davis Stadium.

The Rockets made it a one-run game in the top of the fifth with a sac fly to right center to make it 3-2. With two runners on, pitching coach Mike Stafford went out to talk to the OSU freshman and it paid off. Niggemeyer ended the frame with back-to-back flyouts, getting Montoya on the third out to right field.

After a scoreless frame by Niggemeyer in the sixth, Toledo decided to go to its bullpen in the bottom half and the Buckeyes tacked on a fourth run following a sacrifice fly by Ronnie Dawson to score Sabanosh.

With a 4-2 lead, Jake Post relieved Niggemeyer in the seventh and sent down the UT bats in order. Ohio State added two runs in the seventh on sac flies by L Grant Davis and Montgomery, respectively, to extend the advantage to 6-2.

Ohio State opened the game up in the bottom of the eighth with three runs. Pinch hitter Aaron Gretz singled down the right field line to score Dawson, while Nennig slapped a two-out, two-run single to give Ohio State the 9-2 scoring line.

Niggemeyer improves to 2-0 after tossing six innings and limiting the UT bats to two runs on seven hits, no walks and three strikeouts. Post threw 1.2 innings in relief and allowed no runs, one hit with a pair of Ks. Left-handed Michael Horejsei came into the game with a runner on first and two down in the top of the eighth and stranded the runner on a lineout to Kuhn. He threw one scoreless inning and allowed no runs or hits. Kyle Michalik finished the game off with the final out of the contest with a strikeout.

Ohio State closes its 11-game homestand against Akron at 5:05 p.m. ET Wednesday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. GAME NOTES ? Ohio State improves to 28-7 all-time vs. Toledo. The Buckeyes have won the last 21 meetings. ? With a lead-off single in the bottom of the first, Troy Montgomery extended his hit streak to 13-consecutive games and his reached base streak to 16 straight games. Both are career highs. ? Troy Kuhn made his first career start at first base. ? Connor Sabanosh extended his reached base streak to a career-best 15 straight games. He also posted his first multi-RBI game of 2015 and sixth multi-hit performance.