Baseball
5-4 Win Over Iowa Keeps Buckeye Title Hopes Alive Headed to Last Day of League Play
By John PorentasIf you like a little drama with your baseball the Buckeyes (38-15, 17-6 Big Ten) are giving you a great ending to the regular season.
In game two against Iowa (16-24, 4-18 Big Ten) last night OSU battled back from behind then hung on for a one-run win over the Hawkeyes. In the ninth inning the Hawks put runners at first and third with none out against OSU closer Jake Hale. Iowa needed just one run to tie and two to go ahead. What they ended with was none and another loss in what has been a dismal season for them.
Hale was helped out of the 9th-inning jam by a spectacular diving catch of a foul popup by catcher Dan Burkhart for the first out of the inning. Hale then got a huge strikeout for the second out. A ground out to short ended the gut-wrenching finish to what had been kind of a gut-wrenching game for the Buckeyes. OSU hitters, who have carried the team through much of the season, simply didn't come through in the clutch and left 13 runners stranded. What the Buckeyes did get was a much better than average pitching performance from starter Dean Wolosianski.
"The thing I liked about Dean tonight is he only walked one batter. He gave us a chance after seven innings to win a ball game," said OSU Head Coach Bob Todd.
Wolosianski went seven inning, allowed six hits and three runs, all of them earned, but left the game with his team leading 5-3. The Hawkeyes led 2-0 with single runs in the first and fourth innings, but OSU rallied to tie the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Iowa immediately reclaimed the lead with a run in the fifth. OSU answered with their own run in the bottom of the inning. The Buckeyes finally took the lead with two runs in the seventh.
Wolosianski left the game at the end of the seventh and was replaced by setup man Drew Rucinski. The Hawkeyes rallied for a run against him and Todd called on OSU closer Jake Hale with two gone and the Buckeyes clinging to a one run lead. Hale ended the inning with no further damage to preserve and set up the dramatic finish in the ninth.
The win allowed OSU to stay within a half game of Minnesota for the league championship with one game left to play. The Gophers were 4-2 winners over Penn State to maintain their slim lead on the Buckeyes. Third-place Indiana, only a half game back of OSU, also won to stay within striking distance of OSU and Minnesota.
That sets up a huge last day of the season on Saturday. At stake is the Big Ten championship as well as a first-round bye for the two top finishers in the regular-season title chase. An OSU win coupled with a Minnesota loss would give OSU the title and a bye. An OSU loss coupled with an Indiana win would drop the Buckeyes into third and cost them a tournament bye. If both Minnesota and Ohio State lose Indiana wins the Hoosiers and Gophers would tie for the league championship.
What makes the day on Saturday even more intriguing is the possibility of rain throughout the midwest. If Minnesota is rained out and the Buckeyes win they would pull past the Gophers for the league crown. The same kind of weather-related scenario exists between OSU and Indiana in the chase for the second-place finisher's tournament bye.
"We're still not out of the woods," said Todd.
"If we don't play tomorrow because of the weather and Indiana does play and wins they would move ahead of us so we still have some work ahead of us."
Game Notes:
* Buckeye starter Jake Hale pitched the Buckeyes out of a tight situation in the ninth inning. In the post game interviews however Hale provided some comic relief.
Hale was helped out in the ninth inning by a diving catch by his catcher, Dan Burkhart. Hale was also sprinting toward the baseball as it blooped back toward earth in foul territory, but at the last minute gave way to Burkhart who made a spectacular play for the out. Hale never said thank you to his catcher for the big out.
"I was pretty mad that he stole it from me. I was going to make that dive but at the last second I saw him going for it so I tried to dive to the right and then get up to cover the plate just in case," deadpanned Hale drawing guffaws from reporters.
* Hale got the laugh in the locker room, but the best comic relief of the night came from OSU captain and third baseman Justin Miller. After Hale got the second out of the ninth inning Miller made a quick trip to the mound for what appeared to be the "let them put it into play we'll get to it" conference. Turns out it was anything but that.
"He said 'We're not going to make a play for you. Get him yourself," said Hale again drawing a laugh from reporters. Hale insisted Miller really said it, but he was obviously kidding and just trying to relax Hale. Shortstop Tyler Engle did in fact make a good play on a ground ball for a force out to get the last out of the game.
"Luckily, they made a play," Hale chuckled after the game.
* Hale's strikeout for the second out of the ninth inning was perhaps the biggest out of the game. It came on an 0-2 count when Hale threw an absolutely filthy slider that froze Iowa center fielder Kurtis Mullens and ended up a called third strike. What made the strikeout so unusual is that with an 0-2 count almost everybody in the ballpark expected a waste pitch from Hale.
"This whole year I haven't been a waste-pitch pitcher," Hale explained.
"I feel as a closer you don't really need that waste pitch. If you feel like you have good stuff you have to go at him. I was going right at him with that slider and luckily it worked out."
* Two pitching milestones were reached in the OSU win. Wolosiansky registered his 11th win of the season to lead both the team and the Big Ten in that category. Hale picked up his 14th save of the year to tie the OSU single-season record set by Matt Davis in 2003. His save was also his 25th of his career, just two shy of the OSU career mark.
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