Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan Rally Falls Short in Series Finale
4/11/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ray Fisher Stadium)
Score:Â Ohio State 6, Michigan 3
Records:Â U-M (18-16, 6-6 Big Ten), OSU (22-7, 7-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Tuesday, April 13 -- vs. Eastern Michigan (Fisher Stadium), 3 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Ohio State scored in each of the first five innings to build a 12-2 lead and held on to defeat the University of Michigan 13-10 in Big Ten Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon (April 11) at Ray Fisher Stadium.
The Buckeyes (22-7, 7-1 Big Ten) touched Michigan senior RHP Luke Bonner (Taylor, Mich./Dearborn Divine Child HS) for eight runs in three innings. Bonner, who went two innings Friday before rain suspended the series opener, had a strange outing as he dropped to 3-4 on the season. Bonner recorded seven of his nine outs by strikeouts to run his team-leading total to 44, but he allowed two-run homers to Jason Trott in the first and to Trent McIlvain in the second. Jason Driscoll's three-run triple in the third pushed the lead to 7-0.
McIlvain and Trott each had three hits to pace the OSU offense, with McIlvain collecting his homer and two doubles from the ninth slot in the lineup.
OSU freshman starter E.J. Laratta sailed into the fifth inning seeking the win and he retired the first two batters before Michigan erupted for six runs after two outs. Michigan's six-run fifth-inning rally featured a two-run triple by senior CF Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS), a run-scoring single by junior LF Rob Bobeda (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt HS) and a long three-run homer by sophomore catcher David Parrish (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) which capped the rally.
Bobeda was 3-for-5 on the day with his third homer of the season and a double, while Bush added a solo homer, his fourth of the season. Co-captain Bobby Scales (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS) ended the hit-streak suspense early in the game with a run-scoring single in the third inning. Scales has hit in 18 straight games for the Wolverines.
The OSU bullpen tandem of lefty Kevin Goodrum, who improved to 3-0 with the win, and RHP Cory Cox (third save) closed the door on the Wolverines.
Michigan will face a first-place Big Ten team for the third straight weekend when the Wolverines play four games at Minnesota (April 16-18). The Gophers swept Iowa to pull into a tie with Ohio State at 7-1 in conference action.
Michigan hosts Eastern Michigan on Tuesday (April 13, 3 p.m.) and Oakland University on Wednesday (April 14, 3 p.m.) in non-conference action.
NOTES
• The 13-10 loss Sunday denied Wolverine coach Geoff Zahn his 100th career win at U-M. Saturday's 7-4 Michigan win was Zahn's 99th win as head coach of the Wolverines.
• Bobby Scales leads the team with his .364 batting average and his current hitting streak is 18 games. He started out the season with a 12-game streak and has hits in 31 of the 34 games played this season.
• Co-captains Bobby Scales and Mike Cervenak (New Boston, Mich./Dearborn Divine Child HS) are the only Wolverines to start all 34 games.
• Career hit list update: Cervenak had two hits Sunday and Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) had one. Cervenak is third with 247 hits and Alcaraz is fifth with 236.
