Thursday, May 05, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The University of North Florida baseball team played a pair of seven inning games against Big Ten opponent Ohio State on Wednesday afternoon at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The two teams split the series with the Ospreys (24-19) taking game one, 7-2, and the Buckeyes (20-19) edging UNF, 3-2, in game two.

On the mound in game one, Marshal Rosenberger picked up his third victory of the season. The sophomore tossed 6.0 innings, scattering four hits. He allowed a pair of runs. He walked five batters while tying a career high with five strikeouts. Rosenberger ended the first three innings with a strikeout and retired nine consecutive batters at one point. He gave way in the final inning of the game to Casey Medlen, who allowed no runs on one hit, while striking out one.

Offensively in game one, the Ospreys recorded seven runs on seven hits. Kyle Dahl had the only extra base hit of the game, recording a two-RBI double in the first inning. The senior added a sacrifice fly to lead the team with three RBI in the first game. Michael Smith led the Ospreys in game one with three hits, scoring a team best two runs in the game.

North Florida took the lead in the top of the first inning of game one. Shane Kennedy started off the game by getting hit by a pitch. He moved to second as Michael Wesner drew a four-pitch walk. Smith laid down a bunt single down the third base line to load the bases for the Ospreys. Bacon singled to third base to score the first run of the game. Hernandez hit a deep fly ball to center field to score Wesner on the sacrifice fly. With runners on second and third and two outs, Dahl cleared the bases with a two-RBI double to left center field. A ground out ended the inning, but saw North Florida out front, 4-0.

Ohio State cut the UNF lead in half with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Buckeyes led off the inning with a walk. OSU's Matt Streng hit a two-run home run to cut the Osprey lead to just 4-2. With two outs, the Buckeyes put a pair of runners in scoring position. Back-to-back walks combined with a wild pitch left the hosts with runners on second and third. The Ospreys escaped without any more damage as Rosenberger struck out the final batter of the inning to end the threat.

The Ospreys added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. Smith led off the inning with a single to left center field. With one out, Bacon walked to give UNF a pair of base runners. Evan Stermer followed with an RBI single to right center field. Dahl scored Hernandez with a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Ospreys in front 6-2.

UNF added an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning. T.J. Gavlik led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kennedy. With two outs, Smith delivered an RBI single up the middle to score Gavlik and put the Ospreys in front 7-2.

The pitching staff was able to keep the Buckeyes off of the scoreboard and thwart any comeback attempt to preserve the 7-2 victory in game one.

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