Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Ohio State
Baseball Falls at No. 24 Ohio State, 8-5
4/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 12, 2006
Central Michigan University nearly rallied from an early 8-0 hole at No. 24 Ohio State before falling, 8-5, on Wednesday night in nonconference baseball action.
The Chippewas (18-15) trailed 8-0 after five innings, but would bring the potential lead run to the plate with one out in the ninth before OSU reliever Rory Meister retired the final two CMU hitters. Two walks and a Troy Moratti double loaded the bases in the ninth, but Noah Lankford lined out to second and Tyler Stovall struck out swinging to end the rally.
Sophomore Dan Barker held CMU hitless for the first five innings to improve to 4-0 on the season. Only four Chippewas reached base against him, three via errors and a fourth, Ben Humphrey, on a walk in the fourth inning.
Ohio State (20-7) led 8-0 before the Chippewas touched Buckeye reliever Trey Fausnaugh for four runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Moratti singled home J.T. Jones in the sixth to dent the scoreboard for CMU, and Lankford led off the seventh with his fourth homer of the season. Jones and Moratti would add run-scoring singles with two outs in the seventh to cut the deficit in half, 8-4.
Bryan Resnick singled home Lankford with two outs in the eighth to pull CMU within three, 8-5, but that would be as close as the Chippewas would get.
Ohio State hit for the cycle in building a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Jedidiah Stephen's long three-run home run to left was the biggest blow of the frame.
Stephen led off the third with a solo shot to left to stretch the OSU lead to 5-0. The Buckeyes made it 7-0 in the fourth as Jonathan Zizzo scored on a wild pitch and Matt Angle scored on Eric Fryer's groundout.
CMU starter Andy Wingert took the loss in his first start of the season. He allowed five runs on eight hits in four innings in falling to 2-1 on the year.
CMU returns to Mid-American Conference action this weekend, hosting Akron for a three-game series. First pitch of the opener is set for 3 p.m. on Friday. All three games of the weekend series can be heard on WMMI 830 AM.
