Ohio State Claims Regional Title with 9-7 Win vs. Auburn – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 1, 2003
Box Score
AUBURN, Ala. – No. 31 and third-seeded Ohio State battled back for a 9-7 upset victory over No. 13 and top-seeded Auburn to win the NCAA Auburn Regional Sunday afternoon and earn the team’s first appearance in a Super Regional since 1999.
That season the Buckeyes battled Cal State-Fullerton in a Super Regional at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus after sweeping through the Columbus Regional with a win over Bowling Green and a pair of victories against Mississippi State. This season, Ohio State will take on Southwest Missouri State, which won the Lincoln Regional Sunday with a 7-0 victory over Nebraska. The site of the Super Regional between the Buckeyes and Bears will be announced Monday.
Ohio State swept through the Auburn Regional beating second-seeded Clemson 10-8 Friday, before sending Auburn to the loser’s bracket Saturday with a 6-2 victory. Auburn would have needed to win two games against Ohio State Sunday to win the regional championship, instead the Buckeyes disposed of the Tigers in one game.
The Buckeyes had to come back for their 44th victory of the season, which is tied for the fifth highest total in school history.
Auburn scored the first two runs of the game in the top of the second inning on a total of four hits, including RBI singles by Clete Thomas and Derek Sain. Bobby Huddleston led off the inning with a base hit through the left side and then moved to third on a double to right-center field by Karl Amonite. Huddleston scored on a single through the right side by Thomas and then after a strikeout by Scott Schade, Amonite scored on a base hit to shallow left-center field.
The Buckeyes came back in the bottom of the inning to score one run on a sacrifice fly by Brett Garrard (Jr., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). Paul Farinacci (So., Westlake Village, Calif./Agoura) reached on a throwing error by Auburn shortstop Chuck Jeroloman and moved to second when Auburn starter Chris Dennis walked Cody Caughenbaugh (Fr., Newark, Ohio/Licking Valley). Farinacci moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Kinnear (Jr., Kenton, Ohio/Kenton) before scoring on Garrard’s sac fly to left. The Tigers answered that with three runs in the third including back-to-back home runs by Huddleston and Amonite. OSU starter Chris Hanners (So., Groveport, Ohio/DeSales) opened the inning by striking out Javon Moran, but then gave up a single to Tug Hulett. Huddleston followed with a homer to left-center field over the 385 sign and the Amonite sent a shot that cleared the wall in right to build a 5-1 lead.
A leadoff double to left field by Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) in the third inning led to another run by the Buckeyes. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Mike Rabin (So., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) to make the score 5-2.
Ohio State manufactured three runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 5-5. Farinacci singled through the right side to start the inning and then after a fly out by Caughenbaugh, Kinnear singled through the left side to put runners at first and second for Garrard, who sent a shot deep to the gap in left-center field to score both Farinacci and Kinnear. He advanced to third on a throw to try to catch Kinnear at the plate. He scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
Despite the three-run rally by the Buckeyes, they could not hold the Tigers off the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. Hanners walked Huddleston to open the inning and was promptly replaced by Kyle Brown (Sr., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington). Brown got Amonite to ground out before Thomas sent a shot under the glove of a Anderson, who made a great stab at the ball diving to his right, but the ball went under his glove. That hit scored Huddleston to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead. The second run scored on a base hit to right field by Schade to make the score 7-5. Brown then got the next two batters to strike out to end the inning.
Ohio State erupted three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a one-run lead. Farinacci led off the inning with a single to center and then moved to second on a one-out ground out by Kinnear. Garrard singled to left to score Farinacci from second and then as the ball got past Sean Gamble in left, Garrard advanced to second. That allowed him to tie the game on a triple by Jedidiah Stephen (Fr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah). The Buckeyes took an 8-7 lead when Stephen scored the go-ahead run on an error by Hulett, the Tigers’ second baseman.
Trent Luyster (So., Flushing, Ohio/Harrison Central) came in to pitch for Brown after he gave up a two-out double to Schade. Luyster struck out Sain for the final out of the inning.
Caughenbaugh gave the Buckeyes a run of insurance in the seventh inning with a solo home run to right that was fair by about five feet. It was his first career home run as a Buckeye and gave Ohio State a 9-7 lead.
Luyster then retired the first two batters of the eighth before Hulett tripled to right-center field. That hit forced Bob Todd to bring in closer Matt Davis (So., Mason, Ohio/William Mason). Davis walked Hulett and then hit Huddleston to load the bases before getting Amonite to fly out to center to end the inning.
After the Buckeyes went in order in the bottom of the eighth, Davis walked Thomas. He then got Schade to ground into a 4-3 double play before getting Sain to fly out to Rabin in center to end the game and send the Buckeyes to meet Southwest Missouri State in Super Regional action next weekend.
Brown picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the year. He went 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run (earned) on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Davis pitched himself out of a jam in the eighth to pick up his third save of the regional and his 14th of the season. Steven Register, who entered the game with a team-best 16 saves for the Tigers, was tagged with the loss to fall to 3-3.
Anderson, Farinacci and Garrard each finished with two hits as the Buckeyes scored all nine runs on just nine hits, while 14 hits by Auburn produced their seven runs. The Tigers left 10 base runners, while the Buckeyes stranded only four. Garrard finished 2-for-3 with four RBI.
Anderson was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Auburn Regional for 6-for-14 (.429) with four home runs and seven RBI. He also had two doubles and touched 20 bases (more than double any other Buckeye) for a slugging percentage of 1.429. Joining him on the All-Regional team were teammates, Garrard, Caughenbaugh and Mike Madsen (So., Chesterland, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin), who beat Auburn 6-2 on Saturday.
Ohio State will find out Monday at noon (EDT) if it will host the Super Regional with Southwest Missouri State or have to travel to Springfield, Mo. The winner of the best-of-three-game Super Regional will advance to Omaha, Neb. for the College World Series June 13-23. Ohio State has made four appearances in the CWS, but none since 1967. The Buckeyes finished as the runner-up in 1965 before claiming the National Championship in 1966.
NCAA Auburn Regional All-Tournament Team
C: Tim Lahey, Princeton
1B: Karl Amonite, Auburn
2B: Drew Anderson, Ohio State
3B: Scott Schade, Auburn
SS: Brett Garrard, Ohio State
LF: Cody Caughenbaugh, Ohio State
CF: Javon Moran, Auburn
RF: Zane Green, Clemson
DH: Steve Caravati, Ohio State
P: Mike Madsen, Ohio State
P: Colby Paxton, Auburn
Most Outstanding Player: Drew Anderson, Ohio State (unanimous)
