The first night game in the history of Michigan’s Ray Fisher Stadium was played in a steady rain with a constant breeze and temperatures hovering in the low 40s. Compared to the final score, that qualified as good news for the Ohio State baseball team.
Michigan (22-12, 4-9 Big Ten) used an eight-run inning to roll to an 11-3 win Friday over the Buckeyes (18-14, 4-9 Big Ten) in a game that was televised nationally on ESPN.
“We just did not play sound enough defensively and did not hit the ball,” OSU coach Bob Todd said. “This is the second Friday in a row where we’ve been shut out or close to it, where we just did not get any production offensively.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when the Wolverines used some small ball to get on the board.
Sophomore center fielder Eric Rose opened the inning with a double off Buckeye sophomore starter Dan DeLucia. The next hitter, senior right fielder Matt Butler, laid down a bunt to move Rose up, but OSU sophomore third baseman Ronnie Bourquin air-mailed his throw to first. Rose scored easily on the error and Butler ended up on second base.
After another sacrifice bunt moved Butler to third, a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Kyle Bohm made it 2-0 Wolverines.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth. DeLucia walked the leadoff hitter, sophomore designated hitter Brad Roblin, and Rose beat out a bunt single to give Michigan runners at first and second with no outs. Butler laid down a bunt to move the runners along, and this time it was DeLucia who threw the ball away down the rightfield line. Both runners scored and Butler ended up on third base.
Junior second baseman Chris Getz scorched a line-drive single into left, scoring Butler and making the score 5-0 Michigan. DeLucia walked Bohm and his night was done; Todd signaled for sophomore lefty Jeffrey Carroll out of the bullpen.
Before Carroll had faced a batter, he threw a pickoff throw down the right field line, allowing Getz to score and moving Bohm along to third. With the infield drawn in, junior catcher Jeff Kunkel floated a double into shallow right field, making the score 7-0.
Carroll settled down and retired the next two hitters, but the Wolverines weren’t done. Sophomore shortstop Leif Mahler lined a single to right-center to make it 8-0. Roblin, batting for the second time in the inning, doubled down the right field line to score Mahler.
Rose then picked up his second hit of the frame, scoring Roblin and making it 10-0. The single by Rose chased Carroll, and brought freshman right-hander Rory Meister into the game. He retired the first hitter he faced to end the nightmarish fifth.
The final tally for the half inning: eight runs, six hits, two errors, and three Buckeye pitchers.
Those errors opened the floodgates and left Todd looking for answers.
“You’ve got to be able to play good defense,” he said. “It’s not like we don’t practice that a lot; we stress that very much in practice every day. We just didn’t get it done in a game when we were called upon to do it.”
The Buckeyes got on the board in the top of the sixth. Freshman catcher Eric Fryer ripped a home run over the 330 sign on the left field wall. The solo shot cut the deficit to 10-1, but Michigan got that run back in the bottom half of the frame
OSU mounted a small rally in the eighth, scoring two runs thanks in part to two Michigan errors, but it was too little too late.
“We’ve got to forget about tonight and get ready to play tomorrow,” Todd said. “We’ve got to learn from some of the mistakes we made tonight and get better and be ready to play good baseball.”
Michigan’s senior right-hander Jim Brauer went 7.1 innings, allowed three runs (one earned) and struck out 10 Buckeyes to improve his season record to 5-1. Todd was both impressed and frustrated.
“(Brauer) did a good job,” Todd said. “He made some pitches, he hit spots and did a good job of keeping our hitters off-balance. We just have been in a slump lately. I’m not going to take anything away from him, but we haven’t been swinging the bats either.”
The final three games of the series were cancelled because of a snowstorm. The games will not be rescheduled.
This article also appeared on the Ozone.net.
