May 26, 2005

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - All-in-all it turned out to be a pretty good afternoon for Ohio State leftfielder Steve Caravati. The Buckeye captain scored the eventual game-winning run and made a diving catch to end the game in OSU's 6-5 win over Purdue here on Thursday (May 26) in the second round of the 2005 Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament at Illinois Field on the campus of the University of Illinois.

The fifth seeded Buckeyes improve their season record to 20 games above .500 at 37-17 and will play in the winner's bracket on Friday (May 27) night at 7:05 p.m. central time for the right to play in the Big Ten tournament title game. Second seeded Purdue falls to 25-29 after the heartbreaking loss in its tournament opener and will now move into the consolation bracket in this double-elimination tournament and will play Michigan - who earlier on the day defeated Iowa 8-6 - at 12:05 p.m. central time on Friday.
 
Purdue would get on the board first in the bottom of the second when Andy Dahl knocked in Spencer Ingaldson to put the Boilers up 1-0. After Eric Osborn was hit in the head by a Mike Madsen pitch, Dahl moved up into scoring position and was driven in on a single by Dane Wolfe to give Doug Schreiber's squad a 2-0 lead early on.

With two on and one out in the top of the third, Buckeye centerfielder Mike Rabin belted a shot off Purdue ace Scott Byrnes over the wall in left-center for his fourth career homerun to give Ohio State a 3-2 lead early in the second round contest. With only one out still, Steve Caravati doubled to leftfield, just getting in under the tag of Boilermaker second baseman Eric Osborn. Byrnes then issued a free-pass to Ronnie Bourquin to put two runners on before getting Jason Zoeller to hit into a 6-3 double play to end the inning.

The score would remain 3-2 until the top of the eighth inning. A dropped third strike by Purdue catcher Spencer Ingaldson allowed Wes Schirtzinger to reach first and Zoeller to advance to third after the sophomore stole second base earlier in the at bat. Jedidiah Stephen then stepped up and smacked a double into the gap in left-center to score both runners and put OSU up 5-2. With no one out and Stephen on second base, the Boilermakers made the call to the pen for Trae Dauby. A junior, Dauby got Paul Farinacci to chase a pitch for strike three, Eric Fryer to ground out to third base and Matt Angle to ground to second to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Purdue was threatening with runners on second and third. Eric Wolfe singled up the middle to score both Mitch Hilligoss and Mike Coles to make it a 5-4 game with nobody down and the tying run on first. After a sacrifice-bunt by John Hunter advanced Eric Wolfe to second, Ingaldson hit a grounder that went off the glove of Buckeye shortstop Jedidiah Stephen and allowed Wolfe to come all the way around form second to knot the score up at 5-5.

In the top of the ninth with one out, Ohio State started a rally when Steve Caravati beat the throw of Hilligoss from shortstop for an infield single. After the senior stole second base, Ronnie Bourquin hit a high-chopper toward Hilligoss, who jumped up to knock the ball down and prevent Caravati from scoring from second.

Chris Toneguzzi and his 1.60 ERA stepped onto the mound and struck out Jason Zoeller looking for the second out of inning. However, Toneguzzi wasn't able to get Schirtzinger as the OSU designated hitter ripped a grounder down the leftfield line to score Caravati and give the Scarlet and Grey a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Andy Dahl led off the bottom of the ninth with single to second base to represent the tying run. The senior soon found himself at third after a sacrifice bunt and a ground out, with the Big Ten's top hitter in Hilligoss and his .404 average stepping to the plate. With the count 1-2, Hilligoss hit the ball toward the left-centerfield gap. Ohio State leftfielder Caravati came sprinting in and made a diving catch to end the game and rob Hilligoss from a game-tying RBI single.

Madsen was the only pitcher used by Ohio State and recorded the complete game victory, allowing only nine hits and four earned runs while striking out two and walking none.

Ohio State will now play the winner of Thursday's final second-round game between Illinois and Minnesota while Purdue falls down into the consolation bracket and will take on Michigan on Friday afternoon.