Baseball
Buckeyes Rally to Down
Hoosiers in Extra-Inning Thriller
Walkoff home run by Joe Wilkins wins it
By John Porentas
It took more than seven innings for the Buckeyes to finally put it
all together, then another three for them to subdue the Indiana Hoosiers
by a final of 11-10 in ten innings in the first round of the Big Ten
tournament.
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Photo by
J.C. Pennington
Catcher Joe Wilkins gave the Bucks the win over Indiana with his
10th inning home run. |
For seven innings the Buckeyes struggled yesterday at the place you'd
want to struggle at the least in a baseball game, the pitcher's mound.
OSU starter Josh Newman, reliever Brandon Steen and reliever Chris
Hanners were hammered by Indiana hitters, giving up 19 hits and 10
runs in 7 2/3 innings of work. The OSU pitching staff simply could
not retire the Hoosiers.
Over those innings, Indiana established a comfortable 10-8 lead.
The only thing that kept the game that close was a succession of Indiana
baserunning mistakes that cost them runs, runs they would eventually
wish they had, as well as three Indiana errors that figured in OSU's
scoring.
The Hoosiers looked positively unstoppable until OSU redshirt freshman
left-hander Matt Davis entered the game with with two outs in the
eighth inning and the bases loaded. Davis got Indiana catcher Josh
Romero to fly to right to end the inning. That out also ended Indiana's
offensive fireworks for the day.
From that point on Davis would allow just one hit, a leadoff double
in the ninth by Joe Kemp, and then retire six consecutive Hoosiers
in the ninth and 10th innings while allowing no runs.
While Davis was providing some much-needed heroics on the mound, the
Buckeyes were getting some equally heroic performances at the plate.
Trailing 10-8 in the bottom of the ninth, OSU put runners at first
and second with one out when Nick Swisher was hit by a pitch leading
off and Drew Anderson walked after one was out. OSU senior leftfielder
Doug Dendinger then came to the plate and laced a line drive into
the alley in right-center that rolled to the wall. Swisher scored
easily on the play and the swift Anderson raced all the way from first
base, sliding home safely to tie the game at 10-10.
"I was thinking there was no way this guy would beat us,"
said Dendinger.
"I was looking for a fastball. I was ready. They had (Indiana
centerfielder Kennard) Jones way over in left-center. I knew Drew
would have a great chance to score," Dendinger said.
Following Dendinger's double, pinch hitter Lance Rolston walked,
centerfielder Mike Rabin flied to right, and second baseman Christian
Snavely also walked to load the bases with two out and bring up shortstop
Brett Garrard.
Garrard worked the count full and took what looked like ball four,
but plate umpire Perry Costello didn't see it that way. Costello called
the pitch, which looked high and outside, a strike, bringing protests
from Dendinger at third and from OSU Head Coach Bob Todd. Instead
of producing the game-winning run, Garrard was called out with a rally-ending
strikeout.
With the game tied at 10, Davis set the Hoosiers down 1-2-3 in the
top of the 10th. Indiana ace reliever Ryan Smith, who had come on
in the eighth inning, got the first two hitters in the 10th. The right-handed,
sidearm-throwing Smith then faced right handed hitting OSU catcher
Joe Wilkins with two down and nobody on.
In the ninth inning, Smith had struck out Wilkins looking on three
straight pitches, making Wilkins look bad in the process. Wilkins,
however, got more than his share of revenge in the 10th. Behind in
the count at 1-2, Wilkins took the 1-2 offering deep over the left-centerfield
fence. The ball hit a tree on the other side of the fence and bounded
back into the field of play, making for some momentary confusion as
to whether it was a homerun or not, but the secondbase umpire finally
signaled homerun. The jubilant Wilkins made his trot around the bases
and was mobbed by his teammates as he crossed the plate with the game-winning
run.
"He started me off with two sliders and I looked bad on the
last one," said Wilkins of his first at bat against Smith. Wilkins,
however, is a quick learner, and anticipated a slider from Smith again
in his second at bat as well.
"I took the first pitch in my last at bat and was expecting
the slider and that's what he gave me," Wilkins said.
OSU will meet Northwestern Friday at 8:00 PM in a pivotal game in
the tournament. A win in the game Friday would give the Buckeyes an
enormous edge in the tournament.
If OSU can defeat Northwestern, its next opponent will have played
at least three, possibly four, games depending on other outcomes before
facing the Buckeyes. Under those circumstances, OSU's pitching situation
should be much better than whatever opponent it might face. That opponent
will have used many pitchers just getting to the game with the Buckeyes.
A loss Friday, however, would negate that advantage, causing the Buckeyes
to have to play an extra game if they are to win their way into the
championship game.
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