OHIO STATE 6-9 | ILLINOIS 8-1
Buckeyes bounce back after sloppy loss, split with Illini
Monday, April 10, 2006
Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG> KYLE ROBERTSON | DISPATCH Ohio State’s Jason Zoeller heads toward home plate and gets there before Illinois catcher Lars Davis can tag him in the sixth inning of the first game.
Ohio State players come and go, but one thing has remained constant during almost two decades of championship baseball under coach Bob Todd.
Generation after generation has come to understand that one stinker of a ballgame can happen. Two straight bad ones are not tolerated.
After an 8-6 loss in nine innings to Illinois in the first game of a double-header yesterday, Todd politely declined to get into specifics about what he told the players.
The Buckeyes wiped out a 6-1 deficit to force extra innings, but three errors, nine stranded base runners, starting pitcher Jake Hale hitting three batters and two runs given up by closer Rory Meister were too much to overcome.
"I think our team made an assessment between games," Todd said. "We knew we weren’t ready the first three innings of the first game."
Asked what was said, Todd smiled coyly.
"We talked a little bit," he said.
Ohio State gathered itself and again looked like a contender for the Big Ten championship by routing the Fighting Illini 9-1 before 2,589 in Bill Davis Stadium.
Freshman left-hander J.B. Shuck pitched a seven-hitter with five strikeouts and sophomore catcher Eric Fryer of Reynoldsburg completed a three-run fifth inning with a two-run double. Jonathan Zizzo had a run-scoring single.
"Maybe we got a little anxious about hitting and getting a sweep," Fryer said of the first game. "(In the second game) we felt they were waiting for us to make the move. We really wanted to come out and get on top."
Until the offense broke through, it was up to Shuck to hold Illinois (15-12, 3-5). He did that, giving up just three hits the first five innings.
Shuck (5-0) has shown signs of being a special player. Last week, he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of a 15-1 victory at Iowa that gave Ohio State its third win in the four-game series.
Yesterday, Shuck again got the Buckeyes (19-7, 6-2) their third win in a series. He walked one and struck out five.
"I knew the guys were going to be pumped up (after losing the first game)," Shuck said. "I just tried to throw strikes. I knew they’d get me some runs."
Todd thought Shuck did more than that.
"J.B. kept us right there," he said. "He didn’t give them a chance to get any momentum. I thought he pitched very well for a freshman."
Center fielder Matt Angle’s defense was extraordinary, too. The sophomore from Whitehall made a diving catch on a blooper in left center in the third inning and threw out Trevor Huisinga at the plate in the fifth.
Angle, who had five hits and scored four runs in the double-header, was proud of a uniform full of dirt and grass stains.
"There’s no way (the dirt is coming out)," he said. "They’ll probably charge me double. I pride myself in playing good defense."
Ohio State wrapped up the victory by scoring six runs on six hits in the seventh inning. Fryer beat out an infield single with the bases loaded to bring home the first run. Ronnie Bourquin followed with a two-run single.
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