A valiant effort
Buckeyes eliminate Cavaliers
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 5, 2005

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Brian O’Connor said he would have it no other way.

With Virginia’s baseball season hanging in the balance, the second-year coach wanted Jeff Kamrath on the mound.

O’Connor got his wish. Well, part of it at least.

Ohio State freshman Eric Fryer delivered a game winning single up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the Buckeyes to a 2-1 win in an elimination game in the NCAA Tournament’s Corvallis Regional.

The loss knocked Virginia (41-20) out of the four-team, double-elimination regional and spoiled a solid starting pitching performance from Kamrath, a fifth-year senior.

Ohio State (40-19), which lost to regional host Oregon State 4-3 on Friday, earned the win as its starting pitcher - Dan DeLucia - pitched a complete game and limited the Cavaliers to four hits.

“It was a great ballgame. It was as big of a pitcher’s duel as you will see,” O’Connor said. “If you are going to go down, you are going to go with [Kamrath].”

With the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the ninth, OSU, the fourth-seed in the regional, got their leadoff man on base when Jason Zoeller hit a ground ball that was bobbled by UVa third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

The hard-hit ball ricocheted off Zimmerman’s body toward second base and despite an athletic play to scoop the ball and fire to first, Charlie Greer, the first-base umpire, ruled Zoeller safe on a bang-bang play.

O’Connor came out to argue the play to no avail.

“Those guys have a very tough job to do and these are the best umpires in the country,” said O’Connor, while dancing around the play. “It is what it is. There are close calls and they have to make a decision. We just have to move on.”

After a sacrifice bunt moved Zoeller to second, Kamrath got Jedidiah Stephen to pop up to second baseman Kyle Werman.

With two outs, Ohio State’s Paul Farinacci slapped a single to left on a 0-1 pitch from Kamrath. Thanks to a quick relay throw from left fielder Brandon Guyer, Zoeller was held at third.

Kamrath promptly got the next batter, Fryer, behind in the count 0-2 with a pair of sliders.

After the count moved to 2-2, UVa catcher Scott Headd signaled to Kamrath for another slider.

“It was my best pitch all year so we were going to throw it again,” Kamrath said.

Fryer said one of his coaches told him to shorten up his swing and “keep his shoulder in.”

Kamrath delivered the pitch. Fryer leaned toward the plate. The freshman’s swing got enough of the ball to knock it up the middle of the infield past shortstop Mike Campagna and into centerfield.

“They were playing in the hole, the shortstop was,” Fryer said, “and I was just able to squeeze it up the middle.”

Kamrath said the pitch was left up too far in the strike zone.

“He probably had to be looking for it and I just hung it a little bit,” Kamrath said. “He just hit a good shot up the middle. I have to tip my hat to him.”

Ohio State scored its first run in the fifth with two outs, when Matt Angle singled in Wes Schirtzinger.

Virginia answered with its only run of the game in the top of the sixth.

Kyle Werman, who opened the inning with a double to deep left, crossed the plate on Tim Henry’s single to center.

Virginia appeared primed to take the lead later in the inning as Matt Street, who reached on a fielder’s choice, made his way to third on a stolen base and wild pitch.

Zimmerman could not push the go-ahead run in, as he hit a hard grounder to first that forced Street into a run down between home and third.

Virginia did not get a hit in the final three innings and put only one more runner in scoring position the rest of the game, which helped set the stage for Ohio State’s walk-off single in the ninth off Kamrath, who was in the game despite having been hit in the stomach with a hard line drive at the end of the eighth.

“Jeff Kamrath has been our man all year long,” said Werman, another fifth-year senior on UVa’s team. “If you look at the big games we won on Sunday’s this season, he was our guy on the mound. We knew he was going to give us an opportunity to win and really we let him down offensively.

“It hurts … but that is the game right there.”

News & notes. The top five hitters in Virginia’s batting order finished the contest 2 for 20 (1 RBI) against DeLucia. … With the win, Ohio State advances to play the winner of Saturday night’s late game between Oregon State and St. John’s, who beat UVa on Friday (5-3). … Werman tied a school record for games played in a career, 221, on Saturday. He tied the previous mark set by Ryan Gilleland (1995-98). …

Kamrath, who struck out six batters, was credited with a complete game performance, his first of the season. Only one of the two runs that crossed for Ohio State were earned, which left Kamrath’s ERA at 2.12 for the season and the team’s final ERA at 2.74. …

The Cavaliers finish the season with a three-game losing streak, the first for the program since they were swept by North Carolina during the first three days of April.