Ohio State
35-19
Iowa
39-14
Buckeyes Drop 3-2 Heartbreaker vs. Iowa in B1G Tournament – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2015
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Ohio State baseball team suffered a 3-2 loss against Iowa in the final at bat in its opening game in the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Target Field. Facing two strikes with two down, Iowa’s Nick Day hit a two-run, walk-off home run against senior closer Trace Dempsey to win the game for the Hawkeyes (39-14). The seventh-seeded Buckeyes (35-19) will now face sixth-seeded Indiana at 9 a.m. CT Thursday in an elimination game.
Ohio State battled back to take a 2-1 lead over Iowa with a run in both the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Tied at 1-1, Pat Porter launched a solo shot over the wall in right field vs. UI reliever Nick Hibbing to give the Scarlet and Gray their first lead. The 2015 First-Team All-Big Ten Selection, Porter went 3-for-4 with a home run. Junior Zach Ratcliff was 2-for-3 with two doubles in the contest.
Starting pitcher Travis Lakins had a great day on the mound, limiting the Iowa bats to one run on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts over eight innings. He tossed six straight scoreless frames after giving up an RBI groundout in the second to keep the team in the game but receives a no decision. Dempsey received the loss to fall to 9-3, allowing two runs on one hit with a walk and strikeout.
Iowa starting pitcher Tyler Peyton kept the Buckeyes off the board until the seventh inning when Tre’ Gantt sent a sacrifice fly to right field to plate pinch runner Jake Brobst and tie game at 1-all. Ratcliff doubled for the second time off the right-hander to set up the scoring play. Ohio State couldn’t add any more runs on the board as Hibbing escaped the seventh with a strikeout with OSU runners on the corners. Hibbing relieved Peyton after a single by Craig Nennig followed the OSU run with one down.
Iowa manufactured a run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead. After a sacrifice bunt, Jimmy Frankos registered a RBI groundout to plate a run vs. Lakins. He ended the inning with his first strikeout of the day. Lakins left two on base in the bottom of the third to keep it a 1-0 deficit, but Ohio State left a one runner on base in the second, third and fourth innings vs. Peyton. Montgomery, Dawson and Porter each had singles, while Ratcliff doubled, but was left on third base.
Lakins cruised through the bottom half of the fourth with no problems, ending the UI at-bat with a 4-3 double play by L Grant Davis. He left two more UI runners on base in the bottom of the fifth when he induced a ground ball to Nennig who flipped over to Davis for the final out. In the sixth, Porter knocked a two-out single to left, but was stranded on first base after Peyton struck out his seventh batter of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Lakins left the seventh Iowa runner on base when he induced a fly out to center.
The contest vs. the Hoosiers will be streamed on BTN Plus ($) and fans can also listen on the radio on AM 1460 ESPN. Left-hander Ryan Riga (5-3, 3.10 ERA) will square off vs. left-hander Kyle Hart (4-0, 1.85 ERA).
Ohio State Head Coach Greg Beals
Opening Statement
“Really good college baseball game today. We don’t feel good about losing, obviously. No moral victories, but really good college baseball game — played well on both sides and pitched well on both sides. I give Iowa credit, they played well. We walked two guys on the day and both those guys scored, and I think we missed a pitch there in the 9th inning that we’d really like to have back and it ends up being the difference in the ball game.”
On trying to around after losing so many close games recently:
“This stretch these last three weeks have kind of just been tough. We could have easily won four or five of those games but we’re finding ways not to win those games. We spent a lot of time during the season where we found ways to win those ball games. They have to turn it around internally. On the field, I don’t know how much more we can do. Like we said, it’s one pitch. […] It’s just them having the ability to put it away and get back and play a good baseball game tomorrow.”
On Lakins
The thing he did today was he pitched very effectively with his fastball, which means he was pitching ahead in the count, which also allows him to control his pitch count.”
Ohio State Senior OF Pat Porter
On turning their game around:
“Just go out there tomorrow and focus on Indiana now. The game is over with, it was just one pitch … and we’ll be okay tomorrow.”
On Trace Dempsey
“Trace is going to be fine. He’ll be back tomorrow and he’ll probably go 1-2-3. It was one pitch. He pitched really well, and it was just one pitch. He’ll back tomorrow morning.”
Ohio State Senior Catcher Aaron Gretz
On turning their game around:
“It’s just a matter of executing. Today it was one pitch and the last three weeks it’s been one or two plays away, and we need to play a full baseball game in order to beat all these good teams. We’re right there — that’s the most frustrating part. It’s just one or two plays, one bounce one way, and the game is just completely different. So we just need to get back to the basics and play a complete game. I thought we played really well today and we were one strike away from winning right there, and it just goes to show you that every pitch matters.”
On what allowed him to have such a good game:
“I was just trying to hit fast balls and off-speed balls and it really worked out for me. I was really seeing the ball well today and really just seeing every pitch.”
GAME NOTES
- With a single in the top of the third, Troy Montgomery extended his reached base streak to 31 straight games.
- Pat Porter boasted his 20th multi-hit game and his team-best 11th home run of the year.
- Zach Ratcliff collected his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hibbing (3-1)
L: Dempsey, Trace (9-3)
Batting:
2B: Ratcliff, Zach 2
HR: Porter, Pat 1
RBI: Porter, Pat 1 ; Gantt, Tre' 1
SF: Gantt, Tre' 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Porter, Pat 1 ; Brobst, Jake 1
PO: Porter, Pat 1
Batting:
HR: Day 1
RBI: Frankos 1 ; Day 2
SH: Roscetti 1 ; Day 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Goodman 1 ; S.-Joblinske 1 ; Day 1
HBP: Roscetti 1
