March 29, 2003
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - After morning rain saturated the field at Bob Wren Stadium, Ohio University (13-7, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) survived a late-game surgeby the Miami University (8-12-1, 1-1 MAC) baseball team to preserve its 12-10 seven-inning win.
Ohio struck first with a solo home run by Dan Lunsford in the first inning. The RedHawks, however, retaliated with a score of their own in the top half of the second inning. Sophomore Tyler Tabler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) opened the frame with a single up the middle and moved over to third base on a double by freshman Will Reynolds (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg). A sacrifice fly with one out brought Tabler plateward to tie the game at 1-1.
The RedHawks put a good inning together in the third frame with three runs, all coming courtesy of a three-run homer by senior Michael Carlin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon). With men on second and first, Carlin took a first-pitch fastball from Ohio's Marc Cornell deep over the right-center field wall for his sixth roundtripper of the season. Ohio got three hits in the bottom half of the frame, but only managed to score one run as freshman hurler Matt Long (Granville, Ohio/Granville) pitched himself out of second and third jam with only one out.
A huge momentum swing took place in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Bobcats ripped three home runs in the frame to take a 7-4 lead. Lunsford started the slugging with a two-run home run to left field, his second dinger of the game. Both Adam Fox and Ben Crabtree followed suit with solo shots to right field to complete the five-run inning for the Bobcats.
Miami returned the favor in the fifth inning with a three-run rally of its own. Carlin doubled home his fourth RBI of the contests to cut the OU lead to 7-5, and then headed home on Reynolds double to left-center field. Also scoring on Reynolds' hit was Tabler, evening the score at 7-7.
OU regained the lead, 10-7, with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off Miami reliever, junior Michael Gardner (Louisville, Ky./Louisville). After the first OU batter reached on a base on balls, he came around to score on Tony Gandee's single to center field. Phil Sabatini upped the lead to three runs with a two-run home run, his first home run of the season. Sophomore righthander Jim Knytych (LaGrange Park, Ill./Lyons Township) relieved Gardner and allowed two hits and two more runs before recording the third out with a strike out. However, the damage had already been done as the Bobcats netted their second straight five-run inning to take a 12-7 lead into the final two innings.
In one final effort, Tabler led off the seventh inning with his third hit of the game, a double to left-center field. Bringing Tabler across the plate with his first career home run deep over the right-center field fence was Reynolds, cutting the OU lead to 12-9. Another run crossed the plate after sophomore John Slone (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) singled to left field, but OU righty Rob Harmon recorded two final outs for his second save of the season.
The RedHawks and OU play the second game of the doubleheader at approximately 4 p.m.
