CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ohio State's senior left fielder, Steve Caravati, held himself responsible for the Buckeyes' 4-3 loss Saturday night to Minnesota in the first of OSU's two chances to win the Big Ten baseball tournament championship. Sunday, he made sure the Buckeyes did not blow their second chance.
Caravati was 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, four RBIs and three runs, leading the Buckeyes to a 14-6 thumping over Minnesota (33-29) in the championship game at Illinois Field. The fifth-seeded Buckeyes are the lowest-seeded team to win the championship.
"We are not done yet," Caravati said. "We feel like this is just the start of the second half of our season."
Unlike Saturday night's loss, when the Buckeyes scored just three runs on 12 hits, OSU pounded out 17 hits in Sunday's win.
"We had opportunities (Saturday) night to score runs. We didn't swing the bats and didn't add on like we should have, and I think our hitters came out today and said that we were not going to allow that to happen again," coach Bob Todd said.
The victory gives OSU (39-18) its seventh Big Ten tournament championship and an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Sophomore left-hander Dan DeLucia (5-5) picked up the win in his second start of the tournament. He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts, two walks and a hit batsman.
"I didn't have my best stuff but I knew my team needed me to step up, especially being the most important game so far of our season," DeLucia said.
Like Saturday night, the Buckeyes got lead-off singles from freshman right fielder Matt Angle and senior center fielder Mike Rabin to start the game, resulting in an 2-0 first-inning lead for OSU.
The Buckeyes continued to pound Minnesota's starting senior right-hander Cole DeVries (3-6) in the second inning when Angle hit his first career triple, scoring junior shortstop Jedidiah Stephen to make it 3-0. Caravati capped the inning with a three-run home run over the left-center field wall, putting the Golden Gophers in a six-run deficit.
Spring Break
