Baseball
Buckeyes Remain in Big Ten Regular-Season Title Hunt with Win over Illini
By John PorentasThe Buckeyes have gone from the brink of elimination to the brink of a championship.
Friday's heartbreaking last inning loss to Illinois put OSU's collective baseball back squarely against the wall as far as the Big Ten regular-season race goes. The loss put them two games behind the Illini and a game and half behind Minnesota. What made matters so bleak was that the Buckeyes spent ace Alex Wimmers in the loss. All season long OSU's second and third-day pitching has not been exactly dominant this year. It looked like the Buckeyes were going to fade away, but the Buckeyes sucked it up and didn't let that happen.
OSU rode hot bats to a 10-7 win in game two, then got a surprisingly strong pitching start from Eric Best in game three. Best kept the Illini at bay and the OSU lineup added enough solid hitting allow the Buckeyes to come back from Friday's loss to take the series with a 12-7 win in game three. That win has has thrust them back into the thick of the Big Ten regular-season championship race.
In one of his better outing of the season Best gave OSU five and two-thirds innings and left the game with OSU in charge by a 7-5 count. Reliever Jarred Strayer pitched one inning of shutout ball, and OSU closer Jake Hale came on with two out in the seventh and finished the game. Hale allowed a two-run homer in the eighth that cut OSU's lead to 12-7, but it was too little too late for the Illini. Hale put down the side 1-2-3 in the ninth to allow the Buckeyes to claim the win and the series.
With just one week left to play the Buckeyes are now 34-16 overall and 15-6 in the Big Ten, tied with Illinois for second in the league standings. The Illini have an identical 15-6 league mark. Minnesota is in first with a slim half game lead at 15-5 due to a rainout earlier this year. Indiana also harbors championship hopes with a league record of 14-6 after sweeping Northwestern this weekend.
The conference regular-season championship is not the only thing that will be at stake next weekend when Big Ten play resumes. The top two finishers in the regular season get first-round byes in the Big Ten postseason tournament. That six-team event will be held in Columbus beginning a week from Wednesday. As of now, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State, Indiana and Michigan State have clinched spots in the tournament. The sixth spot will go to Purdue, Michigan or Penn State. All have identical 8-13 league records.
The Buckeyes will host Iowa next weekend. The Hawkeyes are in dead last in the Big Ten with an overall record of 16-32 and a league mark of 4-16. The Illini travel to Purdue and Minnesota to Penn State to face two teams that each have something to play for, that sixth spot in the tournament.
OSU will conclude it's non-league schedule on Tuesday with a game against Eastern Michigan at 12:05 Tuesday. The Iowa series will be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a day earlier than the usual Friday, Saturday, Sunday Big Ten schedule. That's to allow teams who qualify for the Big Ten tournament time to prepare for that competition.
Return to the-OZone Front Page
(c) 2009 The O-Zone, O-Zone
Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.