Buckeyes Sweep Penn State on Troy Kuhn’s Walk-Off Double – Ohio State Buckeyes

Monday, April 6

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State

22-7, 7-2

Penn State

8-18, 1-4

Penn State

Ohio State

Buckeyes Sweep Penn State on Troy Kuhn’s Walk-Off Double – Ohio State Buckeyes

4/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 6, 2015

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The late-inning magic for the Ohio State baseball team at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium continued on Monday. The Buckeyes (22-7, 7-2 Big Ten) plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Penn State, 8-7, and claim the sweep vs. the Nittany Lions (8-18, 1-4 Big Ten) in a three-game series in Columbus. Troy Kuhn was the hero this time when he sent a one-out, opposite field double down the right field line to score Pat Porter. The win marked the sixth walk-off victory in 2015 and third walk-off winner in a six-day span for the Scarlet and Gray.

“Our guys know that they can come back and win a game no matter what,” head coach Greg Beals said. “They have that ability. We had great at-bats at the end and our baserunning was excellent today. Montgomery and Porter both flew out of the box in the ninth and put themselves in a position to reach extra bases. They bobbled it and Pat was ready to go to second after making a big turn. Those little things can help you win ball games.”

Troy Montgomery began the rally when he crushed a 1-1- pitch for a triple off the wall in left vs. PSU reliever Sal Biasi. Connor Sabanosh then tied it on a sac fly to left to knot the score at 7-all. Porter followed with a liner to right field and then got into scoring position following a bobble by the PSU right fielder to set up Kuhn for his team-best 11th double of the season.

“I told them to play to win and don’t worry about losing,” Beals said. “Give Penn State credit though. They fought hard all weekend and competed until the final pitch.”

After collecting the gamewinning double vs. reliever Jack Anderson, Kuhn, a native of Zionsville, Ind., touched second base and then realized a mob was approaching. The OSU junior infielder took off into center field before realizing there was nowhere to go and finished off the day with a head-first slide on the turf as his teammates piled on.

“I just ran to left to get away from it, but you can’t run forever,” Kuhn said. “I was 0-for-4 before the hit, but I’ve been on the pitchers all day. I got a fastball on the outer half and was able to take it the other way.”

The win marked the first Big Ten sweep for the Buckeyes since the 2013 campaign. Ohio State is now tied for third place in the conference with a 7-2 mark. Trace Dempsey received the win to improve to 6-1, throwing a scoreless ninth inning, while Porter went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Montgomery scored three times with a double and triple, while L Grant Davis was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI.

The nation’s longest innings scoreless streak came to a close on a called balk in the top of the second with two down and the bases loaded. Ryan Riga’s OSU scoreless record ended at an impressive 30.2 IP, which also tied Trace Dempsey’s earned run scoreless streak of 30.2 during the 2013 campaign. After the called balk, Riga limited the damage when he struck out Skerpon on a called strike three. He threw four innings in a no decision on seven hits, three walks with five strikeouts.

“It just wasn’t Riga’s day and that’s baseball,” Beals said. “The one positive thing is that we didn’t run up his pitch count. Hopefully he will be strong for his next outing.”

Porter made a diving catch in right field to end the top half of the first to save two runs and kept Riga’s record-breaking stretch going for two more outs.

Ohio State jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening two innings vs. PSU starter Nick Distasio. Porter had a RBI groundout in the top of the first. Penn State then scored its first run in the second inning on the season with the balk to tie it, 1-1, but the Buckeyes rebounded with four runs in the bottom half. L Grant Davis singled to right field with one down to plate Nick Sergakis and Craig Nennig, respectively. Porter followed with a two-run single to center field to extend the lead to four runs.

But the Nittany Lions found themselves back in the game in the bottom of the fourth when Greg Guers connected on a 3-2 pitch vs. Riga for a two-out, three-run home run. Ohio State stranded a runner in the bottom half of the fourth and redshirt freshman Kyle Michalik relieved Riga to begin the fifth. The `Lions were able tie it at 5-5 when Ryky Smith posted another two-out hit vs. the OSU pitching staff on a single down the right field line. Michalik kept it even with his second strikeout of the inning. He threw 1.1 innings and allowed one run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Nennig regained the lead for the home squad when he singled up the middle vs. PSU reliever Sal Biasi to push Sergakis across. The Nittany Lions got out of a bases loaded situation after Biasi got the 5-2-3 groundball double play to keep it a one-run deficit.

The Blue and White kept the momentum going, though, taking their first lead of the weekend when White had a RBI ground out and Smith doubled to left center for 7-6 PSU advantage vs. OSU left-hander Michael Horejsei, who gave up two runs on three hits in one inning. Seth Kinker threw 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

UP NEXT Ohio State will next play two midweek games against in-state opponents. The Buckeyes face Dayton Tuesday and Kent State Wednesday at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium with both start times at 6:35 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES · The Buckeyes have won 10 of their last 12 games and are now 13-2 at home. It was the team’s six walk-off win of the season. · It was the first Big Ten series sweep since the team swept the Nittany Lions on April 27, 2013 in Columbus. · Dempsey picked up his team-best sixth win of the year (career-high). · Porter leads the team with 28 RBI in 2015, which is third-most in the Big Ten. · Montgomery crossed the plate three times and has a team-best 27 runs scored, which is fifth-most in the Big Ten.