Dan Burkhart and Ryan Dew combine for seven RBI; Rucinski gets win
No. 30 Ohio State improved to 4-0 with an 11-6 win over North Florida Friday at Harmon Stadium on the campus of UNF. Dan Burkhart had four hits and four RBI and Ryan Dew had three RBI to lead the offensive charge.
Six errors by North Florida and a host of other oddities turned the game into a strange affair.
Ohio State scored its first, first-inning runs of the season by tallying two runs off two hits, two errors, a wild pitch and a past ball. Burkhart had a two-RBI single to drive home Ohio State’s runs.
UNF tied it in its half of the first as Michael Smith hit his first collegiate home run – a two-run shot – out of the park in left field.
No runs were scored in the second, but at the end of two the crowd of 874 fans on hand had seen three errors, a wild pitch, a passed ball, a pop-out double play to the catcher, and a runner caught stealing.
And by the end of the third inning things had gotten even weirder. Ohio State scored four unearned runs in their half of the third on two, two-run home runs to right center field by Burkhart and Dew. The plays were aided by a called third strike passed ball that put Michael Stephens on first base, a line drive to short that was ruled an intentional drop, thus negating a sure double play with Stephens off first, and a catcher’s interference. Burkhart and Dew took advantage of the miscues by bashing their first home runs of the season.
UNF put two men on its half of the third, but Michael Stephens made a diving catch in center and Michael Arp nailed a runner at the plate for the team’s first outfield assist of the season to keep the score 6-2 at the end of three.
UNF starter Phil Rorabaugh ran into trouble in the fifth by way of a hit batsmen and a double. Reliever Tucker Pryor allowed two runs after taking over for Rorabaugh, on a single by Cory Rupert and a sacrifice fly by Dew.
North Florida closed the gap to 8-4 in the fifth on another two-run home run, this one by Brian Wilson. Two batters later, Drew Rucinski relieved starter Andrew Armstrong, who went 4.1 innings and allowed eight hits, four runs and three walks in a no decision. After giving up a walk to load the bases with one out, Rucinski got Ryan Puskar to line to first for a double play to end the inning.
Ohio State extended the lead to 9-4 in the sixth, scoring a run on a wild pitch, and the team added two more unearned runs in the seventh, compliments of a three-error UNF inning that allowed the Buckeyes to have six outs.
In addition to the errors, North North Florida, a team that led Mississippi State late and only lost to Michigan by one, hit three batters, threw two wild pitches, had a catcher’s interference and a player caught stealing, gave up six unearned runs, hit into three double plays, only walked two batters, hit four home runs and outhit Ohio State, 13-11.
Rucinski got the win to improve to 2-0 this season. Jake Hale pitched a scoreless ninth inning, getting two strikeouts in the process.
The two teams will go at it again Saturday night at 7 p.m. Although some rain is in the forecast for Saturday, Ohio State is scheduled to play George Mason at 3 p.m. at UNF’s Harmon Stadium followed by a second game against North Florida. Sophomores Alex Wimmers and Dean Wolosiansky are the scheduled starters in the two games, respectively.
Game Notes & Recap
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