Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)

FINAL: Ohio State 7 (19-7), Ohio 4 (14-12) -- 10 Innings -- Columbus, Ohio. (Bill Davis Stadium)

OHIO STARTERS: Manny De Jesus (CF), Ty Black (2B), Mitch Longo (RF), Jake Madsen (1B), Cody Gaertner (DH), Tyler Wells (LF), John Adryan (3B), Kyle Dean (C), Garrett Black (SS), Connor Sitz (P)

OHIO STATE STARTERS: Troy Montgomery (CF), Connor Sabanosh (DH), Pat Porter (RF), Troy Kuhn (3B), Ronnie Dawson (LF), Ryan Leffel (1B), Aaron Gretz (C), Craig Nennig (SS), L Grant Davis (2B), Jacob Niggemeyer (P)

THE BASICS
In a battle of in-state rivals, the Ohio baseball team (14-12) dropped a heartbreaker in 10 innings to Ohio State, 7-4, on Tuesday (March 31) at Bill Davis Stadium in Columubs, as redshirt sophomore L. Grant Davis ended the contest with a two-out, three-run walk-off home run.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Junior right-hander Connor Sitz (Westerville, Ohio) received the start for the Bobcats and put together a 1-2-3 first inning before being relieved by redshirt senior lefty Evan Geist (Roswell, Ga.) in the second inning.
- Ohio's bullpen was used heavily in this midweek contest, pitching 8.2 innings, allowing seven runs -- five of which were earned -- while permitting seven hits, eight walks and striking out eight Buckeyes. Senior left-hander Spencer Sapp (Jasper, Ind.), sophomore righty Chrisitian Botter (Toronto, Canada), sophomore right-hander Tom Colletti (Wheaton, Ill.), freshman righty Logan Jacik (Omaha, Neb.) and sophomore right-hander Corey Wells (Lexington, Ky.) all kept the Buckeyes off of the scoreboard.
- Senior Logan Cozart (New Philadelphia, Ohio) suffered his first pitching defeat of the season, falling to 2-1 on the year after allowing four earned runs on four hits and two walks in three innings of relief. He struck out two.
- Sophomore Ronnie Dawson and senior Aaron Gretz led the Buckeyes at the plate with two hits apiece. Dawson scored three runs and drew two walks while Davis also drove in a run.
- Senior Pat Porter coaxed three walks for Ohio State and drove in a run.
- Senior right-hander Trace Dempsey picked up the pitching victory for the Buckeyes, improving to 4-1 on the year. He struck out one over two perfect frames of relief.
- Junior John Adryan (Delran, N.J.) went 2-for-4, scoring one run with one RBI.
- Sophomore Mitch Longo (Mayfield, Ohio) was 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.
- Ohio struck first in the top of the second as a no-out single to left field off the bat of Adryan scored senior Jake Madsen (Cincinnati, Ohio) who led off the inning with a single. The run was set up on a sacrifice bunt by senior Tyler Wells (Lexington, Ky) that moved Madsen to third and redshirt junior Cody Gaertner (Pittsburgh, Pa) to second.
- The Buckeyes countered in the bottom of the second when a ground out to shortstop by redshirt junior Ryan Leffel scoredDawson, who reached third via a hit and a two-base throwing error by Geist.
- Ohio State added two runs in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded walk toPorter scored junior Craig Nennig and a fielder's choice off the bat of junior Troy Kuhn brought home sophomore Troy Montgomery, giving the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead.
- Ohio scored a run in the top of the fifth as Longo walked with the bases loaded, scoring Adryan and cutting Ohio State's advantage to one run.
- The Bobcats took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth as a groundout by Gaertner brought home Longo to tie the game and an error by Nennig off of a liner by Wells brought home Madsen to put the Bobcats ahead.
- Ohio State tied the game up in the next half inning with a one-out single byGretz driving in Dawson, who led off the frame by drawing a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Leffel.
- Both squads went down in order in the ninth, and Ohio did so again in the top of the 10th.
- Dawson got the home half of the 10th started with a leadoff single through the right side, then stole second. Leffel drew a walk to put two men on, and both he and Dawson moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Gretz. Cozart got Nenning to ground out to third for the second out, Davis provided the Buckeyes with the win courtesy of his walk-off blast.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Longo extended his hitting streak to five games.
- Adryan recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
- With one single, Gaertner extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
- Madsen continued his seven-game hitting streak and has reached base in 11 straight contests.

QUOTABLE
Third-Year Head Coach Rob Smith:
- "Our guys competed. I'm proud of the effort they gave. That's a regional-caliber team that we just played, and it's what we've been doing all year. We took Georgia Tech to 12 innings, we beat Kentucky, and we were in a position with our best guy on the mound in the eighth inning to win this ballgame. And, you've got to give Ohio State credit. They fought and scratched their way back to tie it and did what they had to do late to win the game. I'm just proud of our guys' effort."

UP NEXT
Ohio hits the road for a weekend conference series against Buffalo beginning on Saturday (April 4) at 4 p.m. ET and concluding on with a doubleheader on Sunday (April 5) beginning at 12 p.m. ET. The games will be played at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, Pa.

#BobcatNation