May 19, 2004

Box Score

Columbus, Ohio - Clutch two-out hitting and a stellar pitching led the way for Cleveland State Wednesday, as the Vikings ousted Ohio State, 7-2, at Bill Davis Stadium. CSU plated all seven of its runs with two outs, rapping out 12 hits on the night to improve to 15-28 on the season.

The Buckeyes got on the board first, as Drew Anderson led off with a triple to center and came home on a groundout to second by Jacob Howell.

The lead was short-lived, however. Freshman Jim Waller tied the game up with authority in the second, hitting a towering shot to left field for his second four-bagger of the season.

The Vikings went ahead for good in the third. Senior Doug Besozzi singled to left and moved to third on a flare to right by junior Dominic Erney. With two down, sophomore Gary Ball hit a near carbon copy of Waller's homer, grooving a high drive over the wall in left for his first career long ball and a 4-1 CSU advantage.

Cleveland State added to the lead in the fourth after sophomore Steve Chinn drew a two out walk, stole second and scored on a soft liner to left by junior Mike Ochwat.

The Vikings continued to tally single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Erney sent a chopper down the leftfield line with one down in the seventh. Ball then moved him to third with a single to right and junior Ben Smith brought him home with a seeing-eye single through the left side. Chinn tallied the final CSU run in the eighth, doubling to center and coming home on a two-out single by Besozzi for a 7-2 lead.

The Buckeyes threatened in the seventh, plating an unearned run. OSU put runners on first and second with one out before redshirt freshman Brandon Hewitt induced a 6-4-3 double-play to retire the side.

Viking starter Matt Kaltenbach settled down after the first frame to toss one of his most dominant performances of the year, yielding only four hits while striking out eight in 6.0 innings.

"When your offense gives you an early lead like this, it makes it a lot easier to pitch," Kaltenbach said. "I felt like I was throwing harder than I have all year, and I could just go ahead and attack each hitter."

Erney went 3-for-4 on the night for the Vikings, while Ball, Besozzi and Smith posted a pair of hits apiece.

Hewitt allowed two hits and an unearned run in 2.0 innings of relief, while sophomore Gian Testa pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the win. Dan DeLucia took the loss for OSU, allowing four runs on five hits in 3.0 innings.

"Pitching and timely hitting got us this win tonight," head coach Jay Murphy commented. "We always seem to play to our potential against teams like this. You look at how we did against Notre Dame and Michigan earlier in the year and this game was no different. We always know that we have a chance to win any game we play."

Cleveland State wraps up the regular season with a four-game series against Butler beginning Friday (May 21) in Indianapolis.