Miscues Costly in 8-7 Loss at UNLV Sunday – Ohio State Buckeyes

Sunday, March 13

Las Vegas, NV

Ohio State

7-6-1

UNLV

7-7

Ohio State

UNLV

Miscues Costly in 8-7 Loss at UNLV Sunday – Ohio State Buckeyes

3/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 13, 2016

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Ohio State baseball team fell short at UNLV, 8-7, Sunday afternoon at Wilson Stadium. The Rebels (7-7) posted a seven-run, sixth inning and took advantage of five Ohio State errors in the contest to post a 2-1 lead in the four-game, non-conference series. With the loss, the Buckeyes drop to 7-6-1 in 2016.

Down 8-4, the Buckeyes rallied with two runs in the seventh and a run in the ninth, but couldn’t find one more on the board to force extra baseball. Ohio State left-hander starting pitcher John Havird received a no decision, while redshirt sophomore pitcher Austin Woodby fell to 2-1. UNLV starter Kenny Oakley received the win to move to 2-2. UNLV reliever Ben Wright picked up his second save of the season.

Offensively, junior left fielder Ronnie Dawson went 3-for-5 with two home runs, including a grand slam, double, five RBI, three runs scored, while freshman third baseman Brady Cherry was 2-for-4 with a home run, RBI, two runs scored and a walk. Senior second baseman L Grant Davis was 2-for-4 with a run scored and senior shortstop Nick Sergakis was 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and walk.

DAWSON’S BIG DAY AT THE PLATE
No. 4 was a force at the plate today vs. the Rebels. In the fifth on a 3-2 pitch vs. Oakley, Dawson, a native of Grove City, Ohio, launched his second career grand slam deep over the wall in right center with two down. It marked the second time this series the OSU left fielder has homered vs. the Rebels. The rally started when senior second baseman L Grant Davis when he reached base on an error. A five-pitch walk to junior centerfielder Troy Montgomery was then followed by an infield single by freshman third baseman Brady Cherry.

In the seventh, Dawson sent a laser over the wall in right field vs. reliever Ryan Hare to cut the deficit to two runs. In the ninth with one down, he roped a double down the right field line and scored his third run of the day on a RBI double by senior co-captain Nick Sergakis.

CHERRY BOMB
A native of Pendleton, Ind., Cherry hit a solo shot over the wall in left field for his third home run of the season on a 1-2 pitch vs. Hare. The Buckeyes went back-to-back for the first time this season following Dawson’s second home run of the game in the following at-bat.

HOW THE REBELS SCORED
UNLV capitalized on a fielding error with two down in the bottom of the first to plate the first run of the game. Down 4-1, the Rebels rallied with a seven-run, five-hit sixth inning, while also capitalizing on two OSU errors. Havird was relieved by redshirt sophomore right-hander Austin Woodby after a two-run single by Justin Jones cut the OSU lead to one. A walk followed before a sacrifice bunt and throwing error tied the game at 4-all. A fielding error at third base on a second sac bunt attempt set up a RBI single by Cody Howard to give UNLV it second lead of the afternoon. A RBI single, RBI ground out and wild pitch pushed the home team’s lead to four runs through six frames.

STARTER TALK
A native of Mesa, Ariz., Havird scattered eight hits on four runs, two earned with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings of work. He kept it a one-run contest for five innings in his fourth start of the year, leaving a runner on third base in both the second and fourth innings, respectively, in a no decision performance.

UP NEXT
Ohio State and UNLV conclude the four-game set at 9:05 p.m. ET Tuesday at Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev. Freshman right-hander Ryan Feltner (0-1, 3.09 ERA) will make his third start of the season vs. the Rebels.

WORTHY NOTES

Ohio State drops to 3-5 all-time vs. UNLV.
The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten with 17 home runs this season through 14 games.
Ohio State launched three home runs in a single game for the third time in 2016.
The Scarlet and Gray hit back-to-back home runs for the first time this season and first since April 5, 2015, when Pat Porter and Troy Kuhn went back-to-back in the bottom of the sixth vs. Penn State in a 7-6 victory.
Dawson launched his second career grand slam and third and fourth home runs of the season. He has 15 home runs in his OSU career, which leads all active Buckeyes. Dawson had a season-high five RBI day as well and three extra-base hits.
Sergakis has reached base safely in all 14 games. He leads the Buckeyes with 24 hits. He also has a hit in four straight contests and picked up his team-best ninth multi-hit game.
The OSU bullpen struck out five UNLV hitters: Yianni Pavlopoulos (2), Michael Horejsei (2) and Joe Stoll.
Montgomery extended his reached base streak to five-consecutive games.
Dawson picked up his fifth multi-hit game, while Cherry earned his third multi-hit performance.
Davis posted his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Jake Brobst made his first career start today, while Tre’ Gantt started for the first time in right field in 2016.