Baseball
Buckeyes Pound Out Win Over Illinois to Keep Title Hopes Alive
By John PorentasThe Buckeyes managed to stay in the hunt for a Big Ten regular-season championship on Saturday despite a shortage of pitching.
As they have all season, OSU managed to pick up a win without the benefit of a dominant pitching performance by swinging their bats to the tune of 16 hits in a 10-7 win over Illinois. The win moved them back to within a half game of the second-place Illini and one and half of league-leading Minnesota.
Five Buckeyes had multi-hit games led by a four hit, three RBI day by third baseman and team captain Justin Miller. Designated hitter Ryan Dew and shortstop Tyler Engle each collected three hits while left fielder Zach Hurley and second baseman Cory Kovanda contributed two apiece. The five through nine hitters in OSU Head Coach Bob Todd's lineup contributed 12 of the 16 hit total.
OSU starter Dean Wolosiansky was not overpowering but was just effective enough to prevent Illinois from having a big inning. He also contributed a fielding play that may have been the difference in the game. The Illini loaded the bases with none out in the first inning but Wolosiansky was able to field a hard-hit ground ball and fire it to catcher Dan Burkhart for the force at the plate. Burkhart then relayed to first for the 1-2-3 double play to take Wolosiansky out of trouble and prevent the Illini from blowing the game open early.
Wolosiansky allowed four runs, all of them earned, in four and two thirds innings of work. Reliever Drew Rucinski allowed three more in three and a third innings but OSU closer Jake Hale came on to pitch the ninth and allow no base runners in retiring the Illini to preserve the OSU win.
The Illini are now 15-5 in league play while OSU is 14-6. The two teams meet again today at 2:05 in the series finale that should be another game decided by the bats and not by pitching. An OSU win would move them into a second-place tie with the Illini. Minnesota currently leads the Big Ten with a record of 15-4. Fourth-place Indiana has a league record of 13-6.
All the teams in the Big Ten have just four games remaining on the regular-season schedule. Minnesota will finish the season next weekend on the road against Penn State, Illini will be on the road against Purdue and Ohio State will be at home against Iowa. The Hawkeyes are currently in the Big Ten cellar with a league record of 3-16.
For OSU to have a realistic shot at a league championship they must first take the last game of the series with Illinois. If they do so, it will be a three-way race to the finish on the final weekend of regular-season play with the Gophers, Illini and Buckeyes all very much in the hunt. An Illinois win in game three of the three-game series with the Buckeyes would leave OSU still mathematically in contention but make chances for a Big Ten championships very slim.
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