Saturday's Sweeps and Splits

Ohio State swept their doubleheader from Minnesota, 8-1 and 13-1. Jake Hale returned to the starting rotation in the opener and pitched a seven inning complete game. The righthander, who has spent most of the season as the Buckeyes closer*, gave the Gophers only six hits and two walks. Hale fanned six en route to his second win of the year.

Eric Fryer had three hits, including a pair of doubles, drove in two and scored twice. Justin Miller also had a three hit game. The Bucks firstbaseman added a RBI and scored a run. Matt Nohelty's three hits led the Gophers offense.

Fryer and Miller both had three hits a piece in the nightcap. They were joined in the three hit club by freshmen Cory Kovanda and Brian DeLucia. Fryer led the group with a four RBI game. Jason Zoeller, who was moved to the cleanup spot, homered and drove in three. Kovanda and Matt Angle each touched home plate three times.

J.B. Shuck (4-2) tossed six innings of three hit baseball. The OSU sophomore did yield five walks, but held Minnesota to only a single run. Tijl Vanderweghe's two hits were half of Minnesota's output in the second game.

#26 Michigan and Penn State split their twinbill. Zach Putnam led the Wolverines to an 11-5 win in game one. Putnam (7-3) allowed eight hits, two walks and three runs over his six innings of work. The sophomore righthander struck out eight Nittany Lions.

Adam Abraham led the Michigan offense by belting a three run homer. Jason Christian also went yard and had two hits, two RBI and scored four times. Nate Recknagel also drove in two runs. Brian Ernst had three hits, scored twice and drove in run.

The Nittany Lions posted a come-from-behind win in the finale. Penn State won 5-4. Michigan jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to see PSU tie it with a four run sixth inning. Scott Gaffney's homer put PSU on the board and Rick Marlin's three run jack tied it at 4-4. Matt Cavagnaro scored the winning run in the ninth on Gaffney's RBI single. Gaffney had three hits, two RBI and scored a run. Marlin had a pair of hits, drove in three and also scored once.

Drew O'Neil picked up the win. O'Neil (3-1) pitched three innings of relief giving up a lone hit while striking out three. Nate Reckangel had two hits and two RBI in the loss.

Purdue took the first game from Iowa, 11-6. Iowa prevailed in the nightcap by a score of 6-5. The Boilers' Dan Black homered twice, scored twice and drove in three. RF Carlos Pupo also homered, scored three times and drove in two. Ryne White stayed redhot. Purdue's 1B was 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and two RBI. Iowa countered with Jason White's homer and Travis Sweet's 2 for 2 game. Kevin Hoef also had a pair of hits and a RBI.

Andrew Groves got the win in relief. Josh Lindblom posted his first save tossing the last two frames for Purdue.

A balanced Iowa offense and three Purdue errors led the Hawkeyes to a game two triumph. 2B Justin Toole had two hits, scored once and drove in one to pace the Iowa bats. Nick Erdman improved to 6-2 twirling 5.1 innings. Erdman allowed six hits and a walk, but only one earned run. Mike Schurz had a bit of a struggle, but held on to post his eighth save.

For Purdue, Ryne White's hit parade continued marching on. White went yard amongst his two hits. He also had two RBI and scored once.

Illinois swept Indiana. The Illini won game one, 3-0. Game two saw Illinois win, 5-2. Mike Stankiewicz was the story in the first affair. Stankiewicz tossed a seven inning complete game shutout. The righty allowed six hits and a walk to improve to 4-4. Lars Davis went 2 for 2, Mike Rohde and Kyle Hudson each drove in a run. IU's Tyler Tufts went all six frames, but took the loss.

Illinois pitching continued to dominate in game two. Scott Shaw gave up five hits and no walks over six innings to earn the win. Jake Toohey came in to pitch the seventh and recorded his sixth save. Joe Bonadonna went 3 for 3 for the Illini. Ryan Snowden, Daniel Webb, Ryan Hastings and Shawn Roof each had a RBI. Evan Crawford's three hit game was the highlight for the Hoosiers.

Michigan State stayed in the battle for the post-season by sweeping two from Northwestern. MSU won by scores of 7-4 and 6-4. In the opener, MSU's Sean Walker had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. Kyle Day also had a pair of hits. Steve Gerstenberger and Evan Friedland both had two RBI. NU fought back with two hit games from Aaron Newman, Jake Owens and Jake Goebbert. Caleb Fields had two RBI.

Jon Kibler won the first game improving to 5-5. Tony Clausen posted his first save.

Spartans' SS Brandon Doherty was 3 for 3 with a run scored and a RBI to pace the MSU offense in the second game. MSU OF Chris Roberts drove in two and scored once. Nolan Moody (1-0) pitched a perfect sixth inning and got the win. Mike Monterey pitched the following inning and earned save number eight.

* Editor's Note: OSU's Jake Hale has apparently not made a start in 2007. He has been the closer since the season began. I was called out by Jeff Wuerth, the SID at Ohio State, and stand corrected. My apologies to any offended parties.