Sixth Inning Lead Not Enough as Huskies Overcome Buckeyes

Sunday, February 19

Sarasota, Fla.

4:00 pm

Ohio State

1-2

UCONN (Snowbird Classic)

2-1

UCONN

Ohio State

Sixth Inning Lead Not Enough as Huskies Overcome Buckeyes

2/19/2023 9:56:31 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SARASOTA, Fla. – Despite overcoming a four-run deficit to take the lead in the sixth inning, the Buckeyes (1-2) dropped game three in their four-game series with UCONN (2-1), 8-6, Sunday evening.

Game Recap

The Huskies got on the board first, taking a 2-0 lead over Ohio State after a two-run homerun in the top of the first inning.
Marcus Ernst had the first hit of the game for the Bucks in the bottom of the first, singling right back to the pitcher, but he was later picked off for the third out of the inning.
Another two-run homer for UCONN in the top of the second doubled its lead, 4-0.
In the top of the fourth, with the Huskies still ahead 4-0, Nolan Clegg relieved starter Josh Timmerman with one out on the board and a runner on first. Clegg caught the next two batters swinging to get out of the inning quickly.
In the bottom of the fourth frame, Josh McAlister hit a lead-off single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. A single to left field from Kade Kern drove McAlister home. Nick Erwin followed that up with a solo homerun, his first since 2020, to cut the UCONN lead in half, 4-2.
McAlister was walked to lead-off the bottom of the sixth inning. A single from Ernst advanced McAlister to put runners on first and second. Another RBI single from Kern scored McAlister to put OSU down by just one, 4-3. Erwin came in clutch again; after Kern stole second, Erwin hit a two-RBI infield single to put the Buckeyes in the lead, 5-4.
UCONN, however, reclaimed the lead in the seventh inning. With one out on the board, two batters were walked; the first stole second before both had a double-steal to put both runners in scoring position. A third batter was walked to load the bases and the next batter reached on an error, sending one run across to tie the score, 5-5. Then, a two-RBI single from the Huskies put them back in the lead, 7-5.
Joey Aden had a lead-off double for the Buckeyes in the bottom of the seventh and McAlister was walked again. Kern picked up his third single of the night to load the bases and a sac fly from Erwin plated a run to put Ohio State within one run of the lead, 7-6.
UCONN scored once more, in the top of the eighth, on an RBI single to get back ahead by two, 8-6.
Only two runners reached base the remainder of the game for the Buckeyes as they dropped game three to UCONN, 8-6.

Buckeyes by the Numbers

Kern had a team-high three hits. Erwin and Ernst each added two.
Erwin had a team-high and career-high four RBIs. Kern batted in two runs.
McAlister led the team in runs scored with two.
McAlister and Kern each had one stolen base.
Starter Timmerman struck out four and gave up four earned runs on four hits in a 3.1-inning no-decision.
Tim Baird (0-1) took the loss. He walked three, which resulted in three earned runs, in a third of an inning pitched.
Wyatt Loncar struck out three and gave up one earned run in 1.2 innings pitched. Clegg, Jaylen Jones and Landon Beidelschies each fanned two and Jacob Gehring and Blayne Robinson struck out one batter each.

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