LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The second game of a two-game set between Ohio State and Louisville was won by the Cardinals, 12-7, Wednesday afternoon at Jim Patterson Field. Starting two hours later than scheduled due to rain, the Cardinals put four runs on the board in the first and another three in the second on the way to their 34th win of the season against 13 defeats. No. 27 Ohio State falls to 34-13 with the loss.
Give these Buckeyes some credit for fighting back after trailing by that initial 7-0 score and later by an 11-4 count. The team had 11 hits and all seven runs were the result of five Buckeye home runs.
Matt Streng and Zach Hurley put the Buckeyes back into the game after the 7-0 deficit. Streng hit a one-out home run – his eighth of the year – to right in the third inning, and then, after Streng hustled for a one-out double in the fifth, Hurley sent an 0-2 pitch out of the park in right, bringing the Buckeyes to within 7-3. Later in the inning Michael Stephens hit the first of his two home runs on the day to make the score 7-4.
Louisville added two more runs to the scoreboard in each of the fifth and sixth innings, but Ohio State countered with two in the seventh: Streng singled and Justin Miller drove him home with a two-run home run, his seventh of the season.
Stephens then went yard in the eighth, a solo shot for his team-high 10th home run of the season. Stephens finished with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored. Streng also had three hits with three runs scored and an RBI. Hurley had two hits and two RBI.
Winning pitcher Tony Zych improved to 4-2 while Ohio State starter Ross Oltorik falls to 1-1.
Game Notes and Random Thoughts from the Press Box:
- Dan Burkhart started at catcher after missing the last two games with a left leg injury suffered in the Game 2 win against Michigan over the weekend.
- Burkhart threw out his Big Ten-best 16th runner trying steal.
- Both team’s right fielders – Michael Arp and UL’s Nate Holland – gunned down runners at the plate for outfield assists. It was Arp’s fourth outfield assist of the season to lead the team.
- A courageous, objective call by the UL official game scorer Garret Wall: in the sixth inning Andrew Clark sent a line drive into centerfield that was misplayed and Clark ended up at third. Wall correctly called the play a single and two-base error when a triple was all Clark needed to hit for the cycle. Some places would have given a triple.
- Something to do during a two-hour rain delay: eat. Why not? Here one can get hot dogs for $1 and nice sized cups of Cardinal Classic ice cream for $1. Spent $3 and got full.
- Huge – HUGE – chunks of peanut butter in the chocolate and peanut butter Cardinal Classic ice cream.
- Planners and builders and creative types did do a terrific job with Jim Patterson Stadium, as was written about, and perhaps even gushed about, in this space yesterday, but there is one minor issue: the trains that slowly roll by in center and right field make an awful screeching sound because of the curve to the tracks. The trains and the tracks are a nice slice of Americana, but a 15-minute train loudly screeching by can get one’s ears ringing. Still Patterson Stadium is a nice place to watch baseball.
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