The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More

Baseball
Ninth-Inning Heroics Cap Gritty Buckeye Win
By John Porentas

The first game of OSU's three-game series with Northwestern will go down as an OSU win that allowed the Buckeyes to remain in first place in the Big Ten standings. A win is a win when you look at that way. Statistically speaking, that's true. If you were in Bill Davis Stadium on Friday or more importantly, if you were on the field, you know that the 5-4 victory was a lot more than that even if does count for just one "W" in the standings.

OSU pitching ace Alex Wimmers didn't have his best stuff against Northwestern. Wildcat hitters were able to place some balls nicely between and in front of OSU fielders to come up with three runs on five hits in the first inning to put the Buckeyes in a hole, a hole they wouldn't crawl out of until the last inning.

Wimmers settled down to pitch six and two thirds more innings, giving up just three hits and one run the rest of the way in a performance that had OSU Head Coach Bob Todd raising his eyebrows after the game.

"People who have seen Alex pitch know that he did not have is good stuff tonight," said Todd.

"He was really struggling with his off-speed stuff. He found his curve ball a little in the middle innings but just did not throw strikes with his changeup."

For all Wimmers did not have, he did have the one thing that Todd always looks for in his starting pitching, a willingness to compete even when things weren't going his way.

"The one thing I'll tell you is he battled," said Todd. "He competed even thought he didn't have his good stuff."

"He really battled," added OSU catcher Dan Burkhart. "He knew that his stuff was off and that he had to bear down and battle as hard as he could and throw strikes."

Throw strikes he did, to the tune of 10 strikeouts in his time on the mound. What made the game, and win, special for Todd and his team is that Wimmers wasn't the only one gritting his teeth and battling. The entire team bore down to stay in the game and eventually pull out a tough win in the ninth inning.

OSU chipped away a the Northwestern lead with single runs in the second, fifth and seventh inning to trail the Wildcats 4-3 headed into the bottom of the ninth. They kept the Wildcats close with strong pitching from Wimmers and a solid relief effort from Drew Rucinski who gave up one hit in his one and one third innings on the mound. They also played error-free baseball to prevent the Wildcats from putting any cheap runs on the scoreboard.

"We've been doing that all year,:" said Todd of OSU's clean fielding behind their pitching.

With a raucous crowd of 1,758 exhorting them, The Buckeyes entered the ninth down a run and needing some heroics. They got them. Leadoff hitter Zach Hurley gave the Buckeyes just what they needed with a single to put the tying run aboard with none out. Corey Kovanda then executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to put him in scoring position at second with one down. Northwestern reliever Cole Livermore then hit OSU center fielder Mike Stephens with a pitch to put the go-ahead run on base. That left it up to catcher Dan Burkhart who singled to center to drive in the game-tying run and move Stephens to third. Third baseman Justin Miller then got just enough of the baseball to put it into play in the infield and allow Stephens to scamper home with the winning run.

"I was trying to get something up in the zone to get into the outfield but he fooled me with a slider. That kid is good," said Miller describing his game-winning at bat. "I just got enough of it to get it in the infield, but not too hard so they couldn't get two."

"We need to win games like that. I think they showed a great deal of character," said Todd.

"Zach Hurley set the stage in the ninth inning, he's the leadoff guy that gets on, and then we're able to execute. Kovanda does his job to get Zach in scoring position, which is huge.

"That was huge," said Miller of the win. "The crowd got behind us there in the ninth. You could just feel the crowd get into it and get behind us and kind of will us to get that win," Miller said.

It's the kind of win that counts as one, but will stick in the memory of everybody who was there as one of those wins that count for more than just a single "W".

"It's kind of an indescribable feeling," said Kovanda.

"As an athlete you kind of know as you play the game, to have a crowd like this tonight and have fireworks afterward and win a big game in the Big Ten, it's a great feeling, especially when it's a team effort like it was."

"If we had lost the game it would have been one we would have been thinking about the rest of the year."

As it turned out, it will surely be one they will remember. The win puts OSU at 30-9 overall and 10-3 in Big Ten play. Northwestern falls to 11-24 overall and 2-9 in the league.

Box Score and Play by Play

Return to the-Ozone Columns and Features

Return to the-OZone Front Page