March 7, 1998
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Ohio State baseball team lost 9-8 to 22nd-ranked UNLV tonight at the Coors Desert Classic at Cashman Field (Home of the Las Vegas Stars, AAA Pacific Coast League). The Buckeyes played without the services of All-Americans Dan Seimetz (Sr., Massillon) and Matt Middleton (Jr., Conover, Ohio) who were both injured this weekend. Seimetz tore the lateral capsule in his left knee Thursday against Oral Roberts and Middleton sprained his right wrist yesterday against Lewis-Clark State.
The Rebels jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Chris Gillette doubled to left center field and scored when Ryan Ludwick singled to left field. UNLV added two more runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Chris Adolph walked and advanced to third on Bobby Pierce's single to left field. Pierce took second on a passed ball and Adolph came home when Mike Kremblas (Sr., Carroll, Ohio) fired the ball into center field. Pierce scored UNLV's third run of the night when Eliott Sarabia singled to left field. After two innings of sputtering offense, the Buckeye bats came alive in the top of the third as OSU pulled to within one run.
Tom Durant (Jr., Columbus, Ohio) singled to right to lead of the inning and then slid into second for his first stolen base of the year. Lou Santangelo (Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) moved Durant over to third with a deep fly ball to center field and Mike Lockwood (So., Powell, Ohio) brought him home, singling to center. Lockwood then scored when Jason Trott (Jr., Dublin, Ohio) reached on an error by Pierce, making the score 3-2. OSU took the lead in the top of the fifth when Lockwood cracked his fifth home run of the season, a two-run, 390-foot shot to right field.
Durant doubled to lead off the inning and trotted home when Lockwood's blast gave the Buckeyes a 4-3 lead. The Buckeyes added another run in the sixth, taking a 5-3 lead. Chad Ehrnsberger (Fr., Kalida, Ohio) led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a passed ball. He scored when Jason Turner (So., Versailles, Ohio) singled to center field.
The Ohio State lead did not last long as the Rebels got back on top in the bottom half of the inning. Fullenkamp hit Sean Campbell, giving UNLV a leadoff runner. Jesse Pryor then cleared the bags when he went deep to left field for his second home run of the year. Fullenkamp gave way to Daron Jay (Jr., Arcanum, Ohio) who proceeded to load the bases.
Chris Gillette then fouled out to first base but Henry Jones tagged and scored when Kremblas failed to hold on to Trott's throw at home plate that would have ended the inning. Jay then walked Kevin Eberwein to load the bases again and Ludwick singled to right, bringing in two more runs, giving UNLV an 8-5 lead. The Rebels added a final run in the eighth when Sarabia was hit by Cory Cox (Fr., Chillicothe, Ohio), was sacrificed to second by Gillette, moved to third on a balk and scored on an Eberwein single.
In the top of the ninth, OSU scored three runs on the strength of a one out rally, which eventually wasn't enough. Santangelo singled to left field and came home when Lockwood hit his second home run of the day, crushing a Jimmy Smith pitch to right center field. Mark Carek (Sr., Bowling Green, Ohio) followed with a solo shot to left, bringing the Bucks to within one. The Buckeyes had the tying run on third and the winning run on first as Ehrnsberger struck out and Turner's long ball was caught at the warning track to end the game. OSU will play in the tournament championship game against host UNLV tomorrow night at 5 p.m.
