April 27, 2008

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern jumped out to an eight-run lead after two innings and then held off Ohio State late in earning a 14-8 victory and a series split Sunday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park. The Wildcats took advantage of six errors by the Buckeyes in the contest.

NU (16-19, 10-10) remains in a fifth place tie with Penn State, while Ohio State (22-18, 10-9) maintains its half-game lead over the Wildcats and the Nittany Lions for fourth place.

A copy of the contest likely won't be headed en route to Cooperstown any time soon as the two teams combined for nine errors and 19 walks in the contest.

The Buckeyes were forced to scratch scheduled starter J.B. Shuck after he suffered a leg injury during Saturday's action. Northwestern jumped all over Andrew Armstrong, who got the start in Shuck's stead, touching him for five runs in the first inning and three more in the second.

In the first, Chris Lashmet had an RBI single, a second run scored when Nate Roberts reached on catcher's interference, Max Mann drew a bases-loaded walk, Chad Noble had a sacrifice fly and Roberts scored on a wild pitch.

A trio of Buckeye errors in the second led to three unearned runs. Mann drove in two with single to right in the frame.

NU starter David Jensen shut down Ohio State through the first three frames before the Buckeyes began to chip away. OSU scored once in the fourth before Northwestern answered it in the bottom half when Lashmet doubled and then scored on yet another miscue.

Ohio State got within 9-4 with three runs in the fifth, as Jonathan Purcell came on in relief of Jensen after the first three batters reached. The lead was trimmed to four in the sixth as Matt Havey came in to replace Purcell. Havey battled through all sorts of command issues but got an inning-ending double play to keep the Buckeyes from getting any closer.

Things got even tighter in the seventh as OSU scored twice more thanks in part to three walks to close within 9-7. However, the Wildcats tacked on three big insurance runs in their half of the frame after there was nobody on with two outs. NU eventually loaded the bases for Mike Kalina who singled back up the middle to score a pair. When the throw to third base went into the Northwestern dugout, a third run came home on the play to make it 12-7.

Jake Owens would chip in with a two-run double in the eighth to extend the lead to 14-7. The hit was No. 240 in Owens' career, allowing him to move past Mark Loretta (1990-93) into sole possession of second place on Northwestern's career list.

Ohio State scratched across one run final in the ninth.

Purcell was credited with his first career victory after tossing one inning of relief. Havey worked the final four innings to earn his fourth save of the season. Lashmet, Tommy Finn, Jake Goebbert led Northwestern with two hits apiece, while Lashmet also scored four runs and Mann drove in three.

The Wildcats return to action at 3 p.m. Wednesday when it hosts UW-Milwaukee at Rocky Miller Park.