April 25, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio -
No. 23 Ohio State jumped out to an early lead and was able to withstand numerous runs from Northwestern to hold off the Wildcats 11-7 Saturday afternoon in the second contest of a three-game series at Bill Davis Stadium.
For the second straight day, it was the Wildcats striking first in the top of the first inning against OSU starter Dean Wolosiansky. Trevor Stevens started things with a double and he scored two batters later on a two-out two-bagger to the wall in left-center by fellow freshman Paul Snider.
But the Buckeyes answered back in a big way in the bottom of the first. The hosts loaded the bases with one away against Eric Jokisch when Justin Miller lofted what looked as though it was going to be a routine sacrifice fly to center. However, Miller got the ball up high enough into the strong wind blowing straight out that it ended up carrying over the fence for a grand slam that put Ohio State ahead 4-1.
NU (11-26, 2-10 Big Ten) got right back in the game, though, taking advantage of a pair of walks to score twice in its half of the second. Kenneth Avila drew a free pass before Chris Kontos chased him all the way around with the Wildcats' third double of the contest. Another base on balls to Jake Wilson put two aboard before Hamilton Wise's sacrifice bunt advanced both runners into scoring position. Tommy Finn got Northwestern to within 4-3 with a sac fly to deep left.
The Buckeyes wasted little time in rebuilding their lead as Matt Streng started OSU's half of the second with his second home run in as many games and Ryan Dew added a sac fly in the third to make it 6-3.
Another leadoff walk came back to haunt Wolosiansky in the Wildcats' half of the fourth as Kontos started things off. The freshman third baseman was at third with two down when Cory Kovanda was unable to come up with Finn's grounder to second base, allowing the 'Cats to creep back to within two.
Ohio State (31-9, 11-3) was able to chase Jokisch from the game in the bottom of the fifth as Miller had a two-run double and Arp added an RBI single to put the Buckeyes ahead 9-4.
But once again, the Wildcats refused to go away as they got two runs in the sixth to close the deficit to three. Avila got the frame going with a double to left-center. A walk and an error loaded the bases with no one out before Wise and Finn each had run-scoring groundouts.
NU crept one run closer in the seventh as they got the leadoff man aboard for the sixth straight inning. Vercelli was hit by a pitch to open the inning and he advanced to third on a one-out single by Noble before scoring on a sac fly by Avila to get the 'Cats within 9-7.
Matt Havey, who relieved Jokisch in the fifth, retired the Buckeyes in order in the sixth before being lifted after OSU had runners at the corners with one out in the seventh. Ohio State would go on to get RBI singles from Michael Arp and Cory Rupert off Michael Jahns to push across a pair of important insurance runs.
Buckeye closer Jake Hale entered the game to start the eighth inning and worked two scoreless frames to seal the victory for Ohio State.
Stevens led Northwestern with two hits, while Finn drove in a pair of runs.
The teams conclude their three-game series at 12:05 p.m. Central time Sunday.