It was a strange night to be a pitcher at Bill Davis Stadium Wednesday. The night featured relievers making their first career starts, starters pitching in relief for the first time in two years and twelve different pitchers taking the mound for the two teams. However, when the dust settled the Ohio State baseball team (28-14, 12-8 Big Ten) had itself a 5-2 victory over Eastern Michigan (25-18, 12-6 Mid-American Conference) on Buck-a-Brat night.
Trey Fausnaugh made the first start of his collegiate career in his 68th appearance as a Buckeye. Fausnaugh, a junior from Circleville, Ohio, came into Wednesday’s game with an 8.20 ERA and no decisions in 18.2 innings of relief this season. Opponents had tagged Fausnaugh for 38 hits and a .422 batting average, but on this strange day it was Fausnaugh who got the best of opposing hitters.
Fausnaugh pitched four innings in an abbreviated start. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out three to pick up his first victory of the season.
“He’s been a starter his entire life and we’ve tried to use him out of the bullpen,” coach Bob Todd said. “We thought from a psychological standpoint we would say, ‘Trey this is your game’ and give him the opportunity to mentally and physically prepare to start the first inning.”
The Eagles scored a run off Fausnaugh in the top of the second on consecutive two-out doubles to take an early lead.
Eagles starter, junior Matt Dillard, held the Buckeye offense down for three innings before outfielder Michael Arp delivered a two-RBI single to center field. For Arp, a freshman, they were the first two RBI of his college career.
“It was a good feeling to be down and have the hit that helps us get back in the ballgame,” Arp said.
The Buckeyes picked up two more huge runs in the bottom of the seventh on senior shortstop Jedidiah Stephen’s two-run blast over the left field wall. Stephen’s seven home runs this season are not only a team and career high, but they are good for second in the Big Ten behind Michigan’s Mike Schmidt, who has eight.
“Coach told us they had a double-header rained out yesterday so they were going to be throwing a new pitcher probably every other inning,” Stephen said. “He told us we needed to go up there and get after it; we can’t afford to take pitches that we need to hit.”
In the top of the eighth, Todd called his ace – junior co-captain Dan DeLucia – out of the pen. It was only the fifth relief appearance of DeLucia’s career and his first since April 7, 2004 against Oakland. DeLucia finished the eighth and turned the ball over to sophomore Dan Barker in the ninth for the save.
“We had some young freshmen on the mound at the end and sometimes you aren’t sure what you’re gonna get out of freshmen,” Todd said. “DeLucia was gonna throw a bullpen session today anyways, so we decided if we needed him for one or two outs we would just count that as his bullpen.”
Junior third baseman Ronnie Bourquin extended his hit streak to 12 games with a single in the fourth.
The Buckeyes travel to Lansing, Mich. this weekend for a Cinco de Mayo weekend series with Michigan State. The Spartans are 21-21 on the season and tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a 9-11 conference record.
The Buckeyes will send DeLucia to the mound tonight for the first of four games with the Spartans at Oldsmobile Park, home of the Lansing Lugnuts-the Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
This will be the fifth Big Ten series of the season for the Buckeyes – the last on the road – and the fifth time they have used DeLucia in the series opener.
Two Buckeyes – Bourquin and freshman J.B. Shuck – were among the 64 players named to the Dick Howser Trophy watch list last week. The award is presented to the top player in college baseball each season by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
