Walk-Off Buckeyes Top Rebels, 6-5, in Friday Night Thriller – Ohio State Buckeyes

Friday, April 10

Columbus, OH

Ohio State

23-7

UNLV

13-19

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UNLV	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	5	12	3
Ohio State	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	6	8	2

Walk-Off Buckeyes Top Rebels, 6-5, in Friday Night Thriller – Ohio State Buckeyes

4/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 10, 2015

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s safe to say the 2015 Ohio State baseball team has a flair for the dramatic. For the third-consecutive game, the Buckeyes (23-7) claimed a victory in walk-off fashion at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. Ohio State rallied from a three-run deficit in the final three innings to defeat UNLV (13-19), 6-5, in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off single by Troy Kuhn to extend the team’s win-streak to a season-best six straight games.

“These guys aren’t playing for themselves,” head coach Greg Beals said. “They are playing for each other. That’s what fun about this team. They are playing for that whole group in the dugout.”
With the score tied 5-5, Troy Montgomery hit a lead-off double to begin the team’s fourth walk-off win in the last five games and seventh overall this season. Kuhn was the hero again as the OSU junior knocked a one-out single on a 2-0 pitch to left field to plate Montgomery, who beat the throw at the plate to end the game.
“It’s hard to downplay a walk-off and we had the top of our order up,” Beals said “We all felt very confident that we could put ourselves in position to win. Montgomery leads off with an extra-base hit and that allowed our two through four hitters to swing away. This is a fun group. They have some character; there is no doubt about that.”
After the Buckeye bats rallied to tie the contest at 5-all in the seventh, the OSU bullpen stood strong and denied the Rebel hitters in the final two innings. Beals used four different pitchers in the top of the eighth and the strategy worked as UNLV came up empty at the dish. Right-hander Adam Niemeyer threw two scoreless innings on two hits. With two runners on in the eighth, left-hander Michael Horejsei threw one pitch and got a fly out before Trace Dempsey tossed 1.1 scoreless innings allowing no hits. Right-hander Jake Post allowed a walk before Horejsei relieved him on the hill with one down.
“I hope that told everyone in the bullpen that I felt like we were going to win this game,” Beals said. “It was critical to put a zero up in the eighth inning and give Dempsey a clean slate in the ninth. They got the lead-off guy on and bunted him over and we went matchups from there on out. Adam Niemeyer did a great job tonight to give us two full innings. It gave our offense a chance.”
Niemeyer put UNLV down in order in the seventh to set up a two-run bottom half for the Scarlet and Gray. With the bases loaded on a 3-2 count and two down, UNLV shortstop Nick Rodriguez rushed a throw to first base on a grounder to allow both Craig Nennig and Montgomery to cross home plate and even tides at 5-5.

Montgomery went 3-for-4 with four runs scored with a double, while Kuhn was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Kuhn, a native of Zionsville, Ind., claimed the walk-off double in a win over Penn State last Monday in Columbus.
“This is the best team chemistry we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Kuhn said. “We are a team that likes to come back from behind and win games. Our guys are tough and we back each other up.”
The Rebels plated one run in each of the first five innings vs. Ohio State left-hander Tanner Tully to take a 5-2 lead.
Ohio State answered in the bottom half on a two-out RBI single through the right side by Kuhn. In the second, the Rebels regained the lead with a single to left with two down vs. Tully. A single to center field extended their lead to 3-1 in the third.
Connor Sabanosh, the B1G leader in sac flies, sent his sixth of the year out to centerfield to score Montgomery to cut the deficit to 3-2. However, the Rebels continued to swing away at the dish and found hits to push their advantage to three runs. However, Tully limited the damage in the fifth when he induced a ground ball double play up the middle to Nennig who stepped on second and fired over first for the final out. Tully threw five innings in a no decision on 10 hits, five runs, three earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts.
Niemeyer came into the game to begin the sixth and kept the Rebels off the board for the first time in the contest, stranding a runner at second. UNLV right-hander Ben Wright limited the OSU bats to three hits through the first five frames, but got into some trouble in the bottom of the sixth and was pulled with runners on the corners and no down. Sabanosh connected on a 2-1 pitch for his seventh double of the year before Pat Porter singled up the middle. Reliever Cody Roper then was on the hill and hit Kuhn to load the bases. Nick Sergakis picked up a sac fly to center field as Sabanosh beat the throw to the plate to make it a two-run deficit, 5-3.
UNLV reliever Kenny Oakley received the loss to fall to 2-3, while Dempsey was credited with the win and improves to 7-1 in 2015.
The contest was Military Appreciation Night as the Buckeyes honored those who have served and are serving in the military. OSU students and veterans John Berger (Navy), John Niznik (Marines) and Zach Cooper (Marines) threw out first pitches in front of 998 fans in attendance. The Air Force ROTC was also on hand as tonight’s Color Guard.

GAME TWO The Buckeyes and Rebels meet for the second time of the three-game series at 3:05 p.m. ET Saturday. Right-hander Travis Lakins (1-2, 4.02 ERA) squares off vs. right-hander D.J. Meyers (2-2, 4.37 ERA) at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.

GAME NOTES · Ohio State improves to 14-2 at home in 2015. · Pat Porter extended his hit streak to 10-consecutive games (career-high). · Troy Montgomery tied his career high with four runs scored and had his ninth multi-hit game of 2015. He leads the team with a season-high 31 runs scored this year. · Troy Kuhn picked up his eighth multi-hit game and third multi-RBI game.