Baseball
Michigan Series Recap
By John PorentasThe Buckeyes managed to salvage one game in the four-game series in Ann Arbor with league-leading Michigan but didn't exactly light things up in the process.
OSU hitters managed to put just six runs on the board the entire series, three of them coming in the lone win of the weekend. Buckeye pitching meanwhile was at times sharp but vulnerable to the big inning against the Wolverines.
Michigan now has won 20 Big Ten games this season. Ohio State holds the conference record for most wins in a season with 25 victories in 1994 and 1999. With eight games left to play, the Wolverines are likely to at least tie and probably break that record. Next year the Big Ten will leave its current four-game series format and go to three-game series making it virtually impossible for that record every to be broken.
OSU still remains very much alive for a berth in the Big Ten post-season tournament, but probably cannot afford to lose either of it's final two series of the season. The Buckeyes will host Illinois this weekend at Bill Davis Stadium then travel to Iowa to close out the season.
After last weekend OSU is tied for fourth in the Big Ten standings with Northwestern. The Buckeyes and Wildcats have identical 10-11 records in the conference to be one game under .500 in league play. The top-six teams qualify for the Big Ten tournament hosted by the Big Ten regular-season champion. The top-two teams in the final regular-season standings receive a bye in the first round of the tournament.
Game One - Michigan 4, Ohio State 1 - Timing determines a lot of what happens in life. It certainly determined the outcome of game one of the OSU vs. Michigan series.
The Buckeyes and Wolverines each posted seven hits in game one but when the final out was made the Wolverines had four runs on the board for their seven hits, the Buckeyes just one. The difference in the outcome was determined when the Wolverines were able to put four of their hits together and the Buckeyes couldn't.
The Buckeyes were able to plate one run in the first to take a 1-0 lead. It was the only inning in which they had more than one hit, two to be exact.
The Wolverines put two hits together in the fourth and were rewarded with a run. They put together three in the seventh and were rewarded with two more. In the third they managed just one hit but scored a run with the aid of an OSU error.
"I think the whole key was timing," said OSU Head Coach Bob Todd.
"We got our hits and didn't get people around. They were able to to get people in scoring position and get their hits when people were in scoring position.
Michigan Starter Zach Putnam went all the way in scattering OSU's seven hits.
"Putnam's a good pitcher. When you get opportunities to score against him then you better capitalize. We just didn't do that," said Todd.
OSU starter Jake Hale pitched well in his six-and-one-third innings of work but surrendered all seven Wolverine hits and all four Michigan runs. Reliever Alex Wimmers got the Buckeyes out of the seventh inning. Eric Best pitched one inning of shutout baseball.
"I thought Jake pitched well," said Todd. "He pitched well enough to win. He just had the one inning. Wimmers did exactly what we wanted him to do. We wanted him to pitch just that one inning so we can use him on Saturday and Sunday."
Game Two - Michigan 6, Ohio State 1- Like game one, Ohio State scored a run in the opening inning and then was shut out the rest of the way. Also as in game one, a late-inning rally broke open a tight game for the Wolverines.
OSU put a took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and held onto it through four innings behind strong pitching from OSU starter DeLucia who completed the third inning but did not return to the mound to start the fourth. DeLucia, the Big Ten pitcher of the year in 2006 sat out 2007 following Tommy John surgery.
"He never really got loose," explained OSU Head Coach Bob Todd of DeLucia's sudden exit from the game.
"We were going to take him out after the first inning. He's such a competitor and he was just begging me. He thought it would loosen up but then we got into the third inning and he was at 57 pitches. We had decided that at 60 or 65 we were going to cut him off. He was begging to stay in and I know he had a one-run lead but we were just not going to do it. I think 20 years from now he may respect that," said Todd.
Reliever Alex Wimmers retired the Wolverines in the fourth but had to wriggle out of trouble when two walks and a stolen base put runners at second and third with two down. A ground out got Wimmers out of that inning. He wasn't as lucky in the fifth and sixth.
The Wolverines scored two in the fifth playing small ball but then turned on the power in the sixth for four more, the big blow being a two-run homerun by shortstop Jason Christian. Christian is a native of Dublin, Ohio.
Michigan's Chris Fetter went all the way and gave up just four hits. The win was Michigan's 11th-straight regular-season victory over the Buckeyes.
Game Three - Ohio State 3, Michigan 2 - The Buckeyes did something they couldn't do in 2007, 2006 or 2005. They beat Michigan in a regular-season baseball game.
You have to go all the way back to the 2004 season to find the last time Ohio State came out on top of the Wolverines in a regular-season baseball game, but a strong pitching performance by redshirt freshman Dean Wolosiansky and a clutch RBI single by first baseman Justin Miller in OSU's last at bat allowed the Buckeyes to break the Michigan winning streak at 11-straight.
"We competed," said OSU Head Coach Bob Todd.
Just as they had in the first two games of the series the Buckeyes scored in the first inning, but unlike the single runs they posted in games one and two this time they managed two runs against Michigan Starter Travis Smith. Smith retired just one hitter before giving way to Tyler Burgoon who then managed to keep the Buckeyes off the scoreboard for five innings.
Wolosiansky nursed the 2-0 lead into the fifth inning when Michigan finally broke through against him with two runs to tie the game.
Burgoon was relieved by Michael Powers with one out in the sixth. Powers retired the side in the sixth but gave up the winning run in the top of the seventh. OSU second baseman Corey Kovanda led off the inning with a double down the left field line to give the Buckeyes a runner at second with none out. J. B. Shuck followed with a hard smash down the first base line that Wolverine first baseman Derek VanBuskirk knocked down to prevent a run-scoring double. The play resulted in Kovanda advancing to third and Shuck safe at first. OSU first baseman Justin Miller then followed with a single to left to drive in Kovanda with the winning run.
Wolosiansky hit the leadoff hitter to put the tying run aboard with none out in the bottom of the seventh. Wolosiansky got the next two hitters but then walked Kenny Fellows to put the tying run at second and the winning run at first.
"I'll give Dean credit, he kept us right there and held us in there," said Todd.
Todd called on left-handed reliever Eric Best to face Michigan's left-handed hitting shortstop Jason Christian. Best got Christian to hit a ground ball that the Buckeyes turned into a force out at second to end the ball game.
"Eric did the job," said Todd. "He's been struggling throwing strikes a little bit. It's psychological. He's got good stuff. We've just got to get him over the hump and get him to believe in himself and hopefully this will do it."
The Buckeyes left 11 runners on base but played error-free baseball. Michigan committed four errors in the loss.
"I was getting frustrated because we left way too many people on base, especially in scoring position," said Todd. "Against a good team you cannot do that. You only get so many opportunities and if you waste them you're in trouble."
The Buckeyes nearly did, but did just enough end the 11-game losing streak.
"All in all, this is the type of game that we really needed," said Todd.
The two teams will meet in the series finale at 1:00 PM on Sunday. Left hander J. B. Shuck will get the starting call for the Buckeyes.
Game Four - Michigan 15, Ohio State 1 - The Wolverines have earned the reputation of having the most power in their lineup in the Big Ten this season. They didn't need it to completely demolish the Buckeyes in the series finale.
The Wolverines put 15 runs on the board in the first seven innings without the aid of single homerun. They were extremely efficient at the plate, needing just 13 hits to put up those runs despite the lack of the long ball. Four of their hits were doubles, the rest singles. The Buckeyes committed just one error.
OSU starter J. B. Shuck had an outing that can only be described as bizarre. Shuck struck out 11 Wolverines in four and two-thirds innings of work, just over two per inning. He also allowed seven runs in the second inning, an inning in which he five of five of eight hits allowed and three of the walks he issued.
OSU hitters could manage just five hits off a trio of Michigan pitchers. OSU averted a shutout with a run in the bottom of the ninth.
2008 Baseball Standings
Standings (through games of May 4, 2008)
Big Ten Overall Team W L T Pct. W L T Pct. Michigan Purdue Illinois Ohio State Northwestern Penn State Michigan State
Indiana Iowa
Minnesota
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