Neither Mother Nature nor the Hoosiers could keep the Buckeyes down this weekend.
The series finale between Ohio State and Indiana was rained out yesterday in Bloomington, Ind. However, the results on the diamond were nice and dry for the Buckeyes, who took two of three games from the Hoosiers and increased their lead to two games in the Big Ten conference race.
The Buckeyes (23-10-1, 11-4 Big Ten) won a slugfest on Friday afternoon and then rallied, in game two on Saturday, behind clutch hitting from redshirt freshman Mike Rabin and sophomore second baseman Christian Snavely to pick up a 3-2 victory.
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh in game two, Rabin took the first pitch of his at-bat against Indiana starter Nick Vitielliss and knocked a double to center driving in Paul Farinacci and the game-tying run.
“I was first-pitch hitting,” Rabin said, “If I got my pitch I had to hit it. He gave me a fastball right down the heart of the plate.”
Rabin would come around to score on a single by Snavely to give the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead.
Brandon Steen relieved OSU starter Scott Lewis in the bottom of the inning to earn his fourth save and give the Buckeyes a little bit of breathing room from second place Indiana and Purdue.
“It was a must-win for us,” Rabin said, “We definitely wanted to win this series. We had to produce. We needed a hit so I had to do my job.”
Produce they did not in game one Saturday. OSU stranded 11 runners after outhitting Indiana 11-9. The Hoosiers (28-10, 9-6 Big Ten) rallied in the bottom of the seventh off closer Brandon Steen to pull off some late-inning heroics of their own. Four hits in the inning, including the game-winning single by IU left fielder Mark Calkins, capped the comeback and cut OSU’s conference lead to one game.
“It is very tough to lose a game like that,” coach Bob Todd said. “We wanted to sweep the series, and we just had to produce with runners in scoring position. That’s something we didn’t do today.
“It shows we have some heart and composure and came back and won the second one, and it was a tough one.”
Friday’s opener was a much higher-scoring affair. The Buckeyes sent 15 hitters to the plate in the third inning and scored 10 runs on 10 hits. OSU led 14-6 after the third, but IU quietly crept back into the game with runs in the final three innings to cut the lead to 14-11. Buckeye senior E.J. Laratta got the win, but did not have his best stuff and had to be relieved after seven innings.
In the end, Friday belonged to senior catcher Joe Wilkins, who was 4-of-6 on the afternoon with four RBIs and three runs. A triple shy of the cycle, Wikins delivered the big blow in the third with a three-run homer.
“I lowered my stance a bit to keep my lower body more stable,” Wilkins said. “I was seeing the ball well, and I hit it well.”
Wilkins finished the weekend 6-of-12 with a double, homer and five RBI. Rabin finished 6-of-9 with a double and four RBIs.
Coach Bob Todd was pleased with the outcome of the series but said the Buckeyes still have a lot to work on.
“Our hitters jumped out and got us a lead that really took the doubt out of the game (Friday) for much of the afternoon, but our pitching didn’t do the job,” he said. “There’s no reason for our team to allow an Indiana team to come back and be in a position where the potential tying run is at the plate.”
Todd also recognized the runners left on base by the scarlet and gray over the abbreviated series with the Hoosiers, but appreciated the spark his players showed in coming back to win game two of the doubleheader Saturday evening.
The two wins over the weekend gave OSU room to operate atop the conference standings, with another key series this weekend against Purdue in Columbus.
However, before Ohio State takes on the Boilermakers, they need to get ready to face Wooster on Wednesday evening at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes have lost their previous two Wednesday night games to Oakland and Dayton.
