Please patronize our advertisers to help
keep theOzone.net free for everyone.

The-Ozone.net Mall

Interesting, Fun companies with interesting, quality products - and the-Ozone gets a piece of the action!

Baseball
Buckeyes Lack Discipline in 5-4 Loss to Bowling Green
By Tony Gerdeman

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Bowling Green (14-19) came to Columbus having lost five non-conference games in a row, but found the Ohio State (15-16, 5-4) bats to their liking as they held the Buckeyes to just six hits in their 5-4 win over their Big Ten hosts.

The Falcons got their offense going in the third inning when Frank Berry and Andrew Kubuski hit back-to-back singles. Both advanced on a wild pitch from Buckeye starter Dean Wolosiansky. A second wild pitch brought Berry home to score. An Alex Davison single then brought Kubuski home as well.

They tacked on another run in the fourth when second baseman Ryan Cypret booted a double-play ball, allowing Clay Duncan to score.

Tim Wetzel flied out to start the bottom half of the inning, but then the Buckeye bats started to warm up. Cypret followed Wetzel with a single to left field, and after a Josh Dezse strikeout, Matt Streng added an infield single, sending Cypret to third. With two outs, Brad Hallberg had an infield single of his own, scoring Cypret to make it 3-1.

David Corna followed for the Buckeyes and hit a double off of the base of the left field wall, scoring both Streng and Hallberg to tie the ballgame.

After a quiet fifth inning, the Falcons strung together four consecutive base hits in the sixth, scoring twice. The Buckeyes got something going in the eighth inning when Cypret reached on a fielder's choice and Dezse followed by reaching base thanks to an error by shortstop Jon Berti. Cypret, who moved to third on the error, was then brought home thanks to a balk by pitcher Charles Wooten.

Ohio State went 1-2-3 in the ninth to seal the game. Matt Malewitz got the win for the Falcons, throwing 6.0 innings and giving up just five hits and three earned runs. He entered the game with an 8.04 ERA, and left it with a 7.06 ERA.

“Very disappointed,” said coach Greg Beals after the game.

“Very disappointed. I give their guy some credit, he threw some strikes. But we did not handle our approach very well. We hit four balls hard. We get six hits and three of them are chunks. Wetzel stung a ball. Corna stung a ball. Engle hit two line drives to center field that were outs. And those were better hits than the balls we got hits on.

“We just didn't have any discipline. I don't know what we thought we were trying to do in the batter's box tonight, but we did not have any discipline to stay on the outer half of the plate and get hits. The strike zone was a little bit wide, which helped. It was a pitcher's strike zone, but it was that way both halves of the game.”

It was the second time in two weeks that an in-state school came into Bill Davis Stadium and took a game from the Buckeyes.

“It was just a lack of concentration and a lack of focus,” said Beals.

“I've warned these guys, I've been on the other side. I've been in that locker room. When teams come to Ohio State, it's a big, big game, and they want to beat you. And they go home thinking, 'Yeah, that place is awesome, but those guys aren't that good'. And we can't let that happen. And we've done it now a couple of times. It's a big game for those teams that come in, and our guys have to understand that they can't just throw their hats on the field and the Block O is gonna win the game.”

For Ohio State, Wetzel extended his hitting streak to twelve games with an eighth-inning single. Preceding the Wetzel hit, Brian DeLucia appeared to hurt himself leaving the batter's box on a grounder. After the game Beals confirmed that DeLucia merely hit his knee with his bat, but he'll be fine.

Up next for Ohio State is a big weekend series at Penn State (21-12, 5-4) as both teams try to get out of their three-way third-place tie, and make a move on the top of the Big Ten standings.

Box Score

Donate by Check :

Ozone Communications
1380 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43212

Help us bring you more Buckeye coverage. Donate to the-Ozone.

Click here to email this the-Ozone feature to a friend...or even a foe.

(c) 2010 The O-Zone, O-Zone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.