Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
Baseball Drops Conference Opener to Ohio State, 8-5
3/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 30, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio - After waiting nearly 24 hours to finish Game 1 of a four-game series, Ohio State defeated Northwestern by a score of 8-5. It is the conference opener for both teams in 2002.
When play resumed after Friday's suspended baseball game in Columbus, Ohio, NU struck first when shortstop Jon Mikrut (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) doubled off the right centerfield wall scoring Todd Morgan (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) in the top of the third inning. Morgan reached on a single to center and advanced to second on an Ohio State error.
The Buckeyes answered in the bottom of the third when shortstop Brett Garrard hit a solo home run over the right centerfield wall off Wildcat starter Gabe Ribas (Brunswick, Maine/ Brunswick).
Ohio State went right back to work in the fourth as centerfielder Nick Swisher led off with a double to left field and came around to score on a Christian Snavely home run over the leftfield wall.
NU answered in the top of the fifth when Mikrut hit an opposite field double to the right centerfield gap, bringing home pinch-hitter Eric Roeder (Onsted, Mich./Onsted) and Morgan. Both Roeder and Morgan walked in there at bat. After Mikrut advanced to third on a balk by the OSU pitcher, leadoff hitter Steve Haake (Belleville, Ill./Gibault) hit a sacrifice fly to center, giving NU a 4-3 lead.
OSU tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth when Garrard hit his second home run of the game, taking a Ribas fastball over the centerfield wall.
The Buckeyes stayed hot, scoring four runs on three hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Buckeye offense chased Ribas from the game after he gave up his fourth home run of the game, a two-run shot to Nick Swisher. Sophomore Dan Pohlman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) relieved Ribas not recording an out while facing three hitters. With the bases loaded, freshman Evan Blesoff (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) came in and recorded two fly ball outs to end the inning.
In the top half of the eighth, rightfielder Brandon Ackley (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) led off with his third home run, taking a 1-1 fastball over the right field wall, making the score 8-5 Ohio State.
In the ninth, NU went quietly falling to 6-10 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten. Games 2 and 3 of the four game series begin at 4:15 pm EST.
Ribas falls to 2-2 on the season, striking out nine and walking just one in six and one-third innings.
