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Baseball
Buckeyes' Wild Pitching Ends in 7-3 Loss to Wildcats
By Tony Gerdeman

Northwestern first baseman Paul Snieder went 2-3 with 3 RBIs, and three Wildcat pitchers withstood nine Ohio State hits while giving up just two earned runs to lead the Wildcats (8-15, 1-1) in a 7-3 win over the Buckeyes (9-11, 1-1).

Ohio State was led by second baseman Ryan Cypret who had four hits on the day. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, Cypret never came to the plate with a runner in scoring position.

“We've gotta figure something out,” Buckeye coach Greg Beals said.

“We've got to find a way to set up the middle of the lineup and we haven't quite found that yet. We've got to get on base. It's frustrating when your three-hole guy has four hits and no RBIs. He was the one trying to get things set up as opposed to driving stuff in.”

Northwestern didn't need to set up any base runners because the Buckeyes were doing the job for them. The Wildcats got their scoring started early when Ohio State starter Dean Wolosiansky walked the first three batters he faced, and then threw a wild pitch and gave up a single to bring all three home. After the first inning, Northwestern led the game 3-0 and only had one hit to show for it.

The Buckeyes got the second inning started well when third baseman Matt Streng led off with a triple to centerfield. Northwestern outfielder Trevor Stevens dove for a line drive, but the ball went under his glove and rolled to the warning track.

Designated hitter Brad Hutton was then hit by a pitch to give the Buckeyes runners on first and third with no outs. Catcher Greg Solomon grounded into a double play, but Streng scored on the play to make it 2-1 Northwestern.

Ohio State scored another run in the fourth as Solomon led off with a bunt, then advanced to second on an error before being driven in on a ground out following a sacrifice fly from David Corna.

After the rough first inning Wolosiansky settled down and sat Northwestern down quickly until the sixth inning. He faced two batters in the sixth and gave up a single to his first batter and then walked the second one, ending his day. He finished the game having gone 5.0 innings, giving up five earned runs on just three hits. He struck out five, but his four walks, two wild pitches, and one hit batter did him in.

“I was equally impressed with his ability to get us deep into the game, to settle in a little bit, as I was disappointed in how he started,” said Beals.

“You put your team down 3-0 right out of the gates, that's not quite what we're looking for from our senior captain. He did battle to stay in the ballgame, but he put us in a really bad situation to get us started.”

Northwestern continued their scoring in the seventh inning, eventually chasing reliever Theron Minium from the game in favor of Brett McKinney. Minium's outing went 1.1 innings with three hits and two earned runs, which don't include the two runners who scored that he inherited from Wolosiansky. He also threw two wild pitches and walked a batter.

Ohio State threatened in both the eighth and ninth innings, but just couldn't come through with the necessary bats.

First baseman Josh Dezse did add an RBI ground out in the ninth inning to cap the Buckeyes scoring on the afternoon.

“We got hits today, but we didn't get any offensive hits,” Beals explained.

“We got set-up hits. The game is about scoring runs, it isn't about getting hits. We're gonna scrap on offense to get hits, but a good offense score runs. You need to hit the timely hits. We could've given up three of those hits and get a timely hit and we score three more runs.”

Even without the lack of hitting the Buckeyes seemed almost doomed from the start with the way the pitching went. They walked five Wildcats, hit two more, threw four wild pitches and had one passed ball. It was not a recipe for a successful day no matter the bats.

“It's been one of our themes, if we throw strikes and play defense, we're going to be a tough team to beat because we're going to scrap offensively. Today we got hits, but we didn't get the big hit when we needed to. But the theme is throwing strikes, playing defense, and playing good solid fundamental baseball. And that's where we broke down. They scored seven runs, and five of those guys that scored runs we put on base either by the walk or the hit batsman.”

The rubber match of this series will be played Sunday afternoon at 2:05 and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

Box Score

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