No. 24 Minnesota Rallies to Win 4-3 vs. Ohio State Friday Night – Ohio State Buckeyes

Friday, May 20

Minneapolis, Minn.

Ohio State

37-17-1, 14-9

Minnesota

34-17, 16-6

Ohio State

Minnesota

No. 24 Minnesota Rallies to Win 4-3 vs. Ohio State Friday Night – Ohio State Buckeyes

5/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 20, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The Ohio State baseball team saw its seven-game win streak snapped Friday night as No. 24 Minnesota rallied with a four-run, sixth inning to win, 4-3, over the Buckeyes and secure the outright regular season B1G title in front of a stadium-record crowd at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, Minn. With the loss, the Buckeyes drop to 37-17-1 and 14-9 in B1G play, while the Golden Gophers improve to 34-17 and 16-6 in conference action.

“It was a tough ball game today and the loss eliminates us from the regular season championship race,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We played some really good baseball but had a tough sixth inning. A couple things didn’t go our way. We had a few chances to make some plays but just weren’t able to make them. Not errors, just not able to get that big play when we needed it to get us out of the sixth. Tomorrow is a big game for us. We need to win the series on the road and continue our strong trend.”

Left-handed pitcher John Havird received the loss to drop to 6-3. Dalton Sawyer earned the win to improve to 7-5. At the plate, Craig Nennig hit a two-run home run, while classmate Ryan Leffel doubled vs. the Gophers.

THREE-RUN LEAD TO START
Sawyer had some issues with control in the opening innings and Nennig made him pay for it following a one-out walk to Tre’ Gantt in the top of the third. On a 0-1 pitch, Nennig launched his fifth home run of the year off the rooftop of a field crew garage behind the left field fence to put the Buckeyes ahead by two runs. In the fourth, Leffel doubled down the right field line with a runner on first, but both Buckeyes had to hold after an unfortunate bounce at the track ruled it a ground rule double. Sawyer then struck out a hitter to leave them stranded. In the sixth, the Buckeyes added a third run when Troy Kuhn scored on a passed ball. He walked before Troy Montgomery laid down an infield bunt single to put two runners on base. A ground out by Washington moved the runners to set up the Minnesota miscue and OSU score for the 3-0 advantage.

ONE TOUGH INNING
Everything seemed to be going well for the Scarlet and Gray with the 3-0 lead, but that changed quickly in the bottom of the sixth. The Gophers scored four times on five hits vs. Havird to take a one-run lead. A lead-off single set up a bunt base hit that rolled all the way down the third base line and stayed fair as it bounced off the bag to put the first two runners on base. The Gophers bunted again and this time it fell in front of the mound off the end of the glove of a diving Havird to load the bases. A 4-6-3 double play then made it 3-1 before a two-out infield single cut the Buckeye lead to one run. But a two-out RBI triple by Micah Coffey on a 1-2 pitch vs. Havird tied the game at 3-all. With a runner on third, a wild pitch allowed Coffey to score the go-ahead run for the Gophers, 4-3.

DOUBLE PLAY KILLERS
The Buckeyes had the lead-off man aboard in both the seventh and eighth, but ground ball double plays ended both potential inning rallies. A 1-2-3 ninth sealed the title-clinching win for the Gophers.

ON THE MOUND
Havird had a shaky start against the Gophers with two singles and a hit by pitch to load the bases, but a ground ball double play from Kuhn to Jacob Bosiokovic kept Minnesota off the board. He got of a second inning when he picked off a runner at second base. Havird then put up three straight zeros until the unfortunate sixth inning. He was relieved by right-hander Ryan Feltner with two down in the seventh. Havird finished with four runs on 10 hits, four strikeouts and no walks in 6.2 innings of work. Feltner kept it a one-run deficit, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings on no hits with two strikeouts.

UP NEXT
Ohio State and No. 24 Minnesota conclude the series at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Right-hander Adam Niemeyer (4-2, 3.38 ERA) squares off vs. right-hander Toby Anderson (7-1, 3.12 ERA). The game will be streamed on BTN Plus ($). The 2016 Big Ten Baseball Tournament bracket will be announced tomorrow evening.

WORTHY NOTES

Ohio State drops to 90-90-1 all-time vs. the Gophers, while head coach Greg Beals is 8-6 all-time vs. Minnesota.
Ohio State falls to 14-9 in Big Ten play and fourth in the conference standings with one game to go.
The Buckeyes are now 6-2 vs. nationally-ranked opponents.
The team’s seven-game win streak was snapped tonight and as the five-game B1G streak.
Ohio State falls to 9-10 in away games.
The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten with 51 home runs this season.
The Scarlet and Gray have a .985 fielding percentage in the last 10 games.
Reached base streaks: Washington (7) and Montgomery (5). Sergakis did not reach base for only the third time this year in 55 games played. His six-game hit streak was snapped.
Hit streaks: Dawson (5).
Havird made his 14th start of the year, while Feltner appeared in 17th game. Feltner has allowed just one run 18.0 innings of work out of the bullpen in 2016.
Nennig knocked his fifth home run of the year and recorded his 12th multi-RBI game.
Montgomery walked for the 45th time this season, which is tied for fifth on the OSU-single season list.
Leffel doubled for the seventh time in 2016 and 18th in his career.