COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gwen Stefani, former lead singer of the rock group No Doubt, was not in Bill Davis Stadium Wednesday night, but there were two no-doubt home runs for Team Scarlet that sparked its series-clinching, 7-4, victory over Team Gray in the deciding game of the annual Scarlet and Gray World Series.
Matt Streng, a junior infielder from Upper Arlington hit a two-out blast deep into right field in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull Scarlet back into the lead at 6-4 after the Gray had taken a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning. Then in the sixth inning Ryan Dew, a junior outfielder from Croton, Ohio, sent a laser of a shot into right field to extend the lead to 7-4.
“It was a big moment in the game and I went to the plate looking for a good pitch to hit,” Streng said. “I think it was a 2-1 count and I knew he [Gray pitcher Drew Rucinski] had to throw me something because he didn’t want to get behind 3-1. And he threw me something I could hit.”
Senior Jake Hale pitched the final two innings in relief of winner Andrew Armstrong and allowed just one hit to get the save. The sophomore Armstrong went 5.0 innings and gave up four hits and three earned runs while striking out two and walking two.
Drew Rucinski went 4.2 innings for the Gray and took the loss.
“Three days in a row we saw pitchers making some quality pitches and hitters doing some good things at the plate,” Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. “We had some fun this fall and now the guys just have to stay at it, work on their individual skills and get in the weight room.”
It looked for a while as if the Gray team might pull it out, even after trailing 2-1 off back-to-back RBI doubles by Scarlet catcher Dan Burkhart and Streng in the first inning.
Gray tied the game at 2-all in the fourth on an unearned run – both starters, Armstrong and Rucinski, were solid through four innings – and then took a 4-2 lead in the fifth with its own two-out rally. Junior second baseman Cory Kovanda drew a two-out walk and switch-hitting utility player Ben Toussant, a teammate of Streng’s at Upper Arlington H.S., crushed a double to the left field wall to score Kovanda. Juco transfer Michael Stephens, hot the entire series with six hits in eight at-bats, including three doubles, stroked a single up the middle to score Toussant.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Rucinski looked as if he would get out of the inning unscathed, but Dew hit a sharp single and scored on a Tyler Engle double to make the score 4-3. After Burkhart drew a base on balls, Streng came to the plate. There’s no telling what he might have been thinking but there is no denying that it was something positive because he delivered in the clutch. And there is no doubt about that!
Game Notes and Good Stuff:
- Scarlet coach Eric Parker is now 4-1 in fall World Series action and his Scarlet team has won three consecutive World Series.
- Michael Stephens led all hitters in the three-game series with a .750 average and three extra-base hits. He was 2-for-3 with two RBI in the finale.
- Ben Toussant (.429), David Corna (.375) and Brad Hallberg (.375) also had productive series at the plate.
- Scarlet was led at the plate by Joe Ciamacco (.600), T.J. McManus (.571), Matt Streng (.556) and Ryan Dew (.545).
- The series featured four individuals with four-RBI games: Justin Miller and Brad Hallberg for the Gray and Matt Streng and T.J. McManus for the Scarlet.
- Five home runs were hit this series: by Cory Rupert (for the Scarlet in Game 1), T.J. McManus (Scarlet in Game 2), Brad Hallberg (Gray in Game 2) and Matt Streng and Ryan Dew for the Scarlet in Game 3.
- In Game 3, Scarlet’s 2-3-4 hitters – Dew, Tyler Engle and Dan Burkhart – each scored two runs and had an RBI.
- This concludes the Buckeyes’ fall practice. The team will open the season in St. Petersburg, Fla., at the Big East – Big Ten Baseball Challenge Feb. 20-22. The Buckeyes open with a game against Notre Dame in Dunedin, Fla., and will also play UConn and Cincinnati on the weekend.
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