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Penn State
Troy Montgomery’s Walk-Off Hit Lifts Buckeyes Past Penn State, 7-6 – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 5, 2015
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the bat of Troy Montgomery, the Ohio State baseball team claimed its fifth walk-off win of the season, defeating Penn State, 7-6, Sunday on a beautiful afternoon at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes improve to 21-7 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten play, while the Nittany Lions fall to 8-17 overall and 1-3 in conference action.
Montgomery headed to the plate 0-for-5 on the day, but came through in the clutch with a one-out, walk-off RBI double down the right field line to plate pinch runner Tre’ Gantt for the gamewinning run. Senior co-captain Aaron Gretz started the rally with a lead-off single to left field vs. relief pitcher Sal Biasi. Senior pitcher Trace Dempsey received the win, throwing the ninth inning to improve to 5-1.
“This is a series where we need to take care of business and we’ve been playing some good baseball lately,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We left guys on base early on, but we kept playing for nine innings. We didn’t pitch particularly well today, but played pretty good defense. We swung the bats well and hit the ball hard too. This team has confidence late in the ball game and it showed again today.”
Pat Porter and Troy Kuhn had back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the sixth to give Ohio State a two-run lead, but the Nittany Lions battled all afternoon, scoring in five straight innings to tie it at 6-6 in the top of the eighth. Ohio State was in business in the bottom half with the first two runners aboard vs. reliever Jack Anderson, but double play and groundout ended the chance.
Ohio State starter Travis Lakins received a no decision in the contest after throwing six innings and allowed four runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Jake Post threw the next two innings and gave up two runs on four hits with a walk and a pair of strikeouts. Ohio State threatened to strike the scoreboard in the opening two frames, but PSU starter Taylor Lehman got the called strike three in both innings to keep it scoreless.
However, the Buckeyes plated four runs on three hits and two PSU errors to take a 4-0 lead after three innings. Connor Sabanosh knocked his first home run of his OSU career with a shot over the wall in left for the 1-0 advantage. After Porter reached third base on an error in center field, Kuhn made it 2-0 with a RBI single up the middle. Craig Nennig went the other way on a 2-1 pitch vs. Lehman for a two-run double down the right field line. Both runs were unearned, but Lehman’s day ended following the scoring play as Dakota Forsyth came in for relief work in the third. The bases were loaded following a walk to Montgomery, but Forsyth got back-to-back fly outs to limit the damage.
Lakins cruised through the first three innings with six strikeouts, but the Nittany Lions tallied three big hits in the next three innings to tie it at 4-4. Penn State cut the deficit to a one-run contest, scoring a run in the fourth and a pair of runs in the fifth, respectively. A double by Christian Helsel plated Jim Haley in the fourth before Greg Guers sent a blooper over the head of Nennig in shallow left center to push two more runs across the dish. Lakins kept it a 4-3 contest with a fly out to Porter in right field.But the `Lions came right back in the top of the sixth to even the score at 4-4 when Ryan Richter slapped a one-out single up the middle. A 4-6-3 double play got Lakins out of the sixth, but both teams would then have to rely on the their bullpens the rest of the way.
With a 6-4 lead, Penn State continued to scrap away at the plate and made it 6-5 when Aaron Novak hit a solo homer vs. Post in the top of the seventh. But the OSU right-hander left two on base with a strikeout over the outside corner to keep the score in favor of the Scarlet and Gray. A RBI single in the top of the eighth by James Coats knotted the score for the second time, 6-6.
Ronnie Dawson made the play of the day in the field when he kept the game tied in the top of the ninth with an over the shoulder grab in left field for the final out of the inning and stranding the PSU runner on third base.
At the plate, Porter was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, home run and RBI, while Kuhn was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, home run and two RBI. For Penn State, Anderson received the loss to fall to 3-3.
SERIES FINALE Ohio State and Penn State close out the series at 1:05 p.m. Monday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. LHP Ryan Riga (5-1, 0.76) faces RHP Nick Distasio (1-3, 2.74)
GAME NOTES · The Buckeyes have won nine of their last 10 games and are now 12-2 at home. It was the team’s fifth walk-off win of the season. · Ohio State hit back-to-back home runs for the first time since Feb. 27, 2011, when former Buckeyes Ryan Cypret and Brad Hutton went back-to-back in the second inning vs. Western Michigan. · Connor Sabanosh boasted his first home run as a Buckeye. He has a season-high 14 RBI in 2015. · Craig Nennig posted his third multi-RBI game of the year, while Pat Porter picked up his team-best eighth multi-RBI performance. · Nick Sergakis collected his fourth multi-hit game, while Pat Porter had his team-best ninth of the season. · Troy Kuhn and Porter each hit their 10th home runs of their careers. Porter leads the team with 25 RBI.
