Baseball
Buckeyes Fall Into Losers Bracket on Opening Day of Big Ten Tournament
By John PorentasIllinois sent Ohio State to the losers bracket of the Big Ten tournament behind the pitching of right handed pitcher Kevin Manson who allowed just four hits in the Illini's 3-2 win in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The Buckeyes were able to plate two runs in the second inning on two hits and an error but Manson stymied them the rest of the way allowing just two hits over the last seven innings. Manson retired 22 of the last 24 hitters he faced. He did not issue a walk in gaining the complete-game win.
"This was definitely my best outing of the year," said Manson.
"Basically I just mixed it up a lot with the curve ball and the fast ball. I stayed away from the changeup a little bit. I hit my spots real well."
The key for Manson was staying ahead in the count, something he did extremely well against the Buckeyes, and throwing strikes with both his fastball and breaking ball.
"I thought Manson did a good job of throwing off-speed breaking balls for strikes. I don't think our hitters did a very good job of adjusting," said OSU Head Coach Bob Todd.
"He didn't walk anybody and when he had to throw an off-speed pitch for strike he did it."
The game was tied at two apiece until the smallest man in the Illinois lineup, 5-8, 165 pound second baseman Joe Bonadonna went deep over the left-field wall to put the Illini up 3-2. Bonadonna's blast was his first homerun of the year and came off OSU right hander Dean Wolosiansky. Wolosiansky came on in relief of starter Dan DeLucia who went four innings but did not return to the mound for the fifth inning when he reached his predetermined pitch-count of just over 65 pitches.
"We're always on Joe about keeping the ball on the ground because he can really run," said Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb. "He's hit some balls to the warning track and I kept telling him all year 'Joe, you're not going to hit a homerun, so he made me eat my words.'"
OSU must now come out of the losers bracket if they are to win the double-elimination tournament, a task that will challenge the depth of their pitching staff.
"You get into the losers bracket and have to play multiple games per day at times," said Hartleb commenting on the importance of staying in the winner's bracket.
"The tough thing about this tournament is that if you get in the loser's bracket right away somebody goes home before the top two seeds play. You never want to be embarrassed like that."
Wolosiansky is one of OSU's regular starters but went three innings in relief of DeLucia. That will put the OSU pitching in a bind, but Todd thinks his staff can handle the challenge.
"Dean will be a guy that if we didn't pitch him too much and if we keep working our way through this tournament, he's got the kind of arm that could come back and help us again either Saturday in relief or Sunday in the finals," said Todd.
Ohio State will play the loser of the Penn State vs. Indiana game to be played today. That elimination game is scheduled for 12:05 PM.
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