Michigan Holds Off Ohio State Rally, Takes Road Series

Sunday, May 4

Columbus, Ohio

1:05 PM

Michigan

25-19, 12-10

Ohio State

29-15, 15-9

Michigan

Ohio State

Michigan Holds Off Ohio State Rally, Takes Road Series

5/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Senior CF Gino Lollio (Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner HS) reached base five times and drove in three runs and fifth-year senior 1B Mike Sokol (Sterling Heights, Mich./DeLaSalle HS) belted a three-run homer in the ninth inning to lead the University of Michigan baseball team to a 9-4 Big Ten road win over Ohio State on Sunday afternoon (May 4).

Sokol's three-run homer in the ninth iced U-M's victory.

The win for the Wolverines (25-19, 12-10 Big Ten) was the third in a row over the Buckeyes (29-15, 15-9 Big Ten), marking the first-ever series loss for the Buckeyes at home since moving into Bill Davis Stadium in 1997. Michigan has won 12 of its last 16 games.

Sophomore LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) worked the first 7.2 innings to record his second win of the week, collecting victories over 16th-ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday (April 29) and OSU. Taylor leads the team in wins and is 6-1 on the season.

Michigan held a 5-0 lead before the Buckeyes reached Taylor for five consecutive hits after two outs in the eighth inning, but redshirt freshman Ali Husain (Ann Arbor, Mich./Ypsilanti HS) retired the lone batter he faced with the tying runner on third to end the threat.

The Wolverines put the game away in the top of the ninth as sophomore shortstop Nick Rudden (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) opened the inning with his third hit and second double of the game. Senior 2B Jordan Cantalamessa (Castle Rock, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) singled home Rudden and Sokol ended an 0-for-8 slump in the series with a long homer to left-center to ice the game.

The Wolverines grabbed the lead for the fourth straight game of the series by scoring three times on just one hit in the second inning. After fanning two in the first inning OSU starter LHP Chris Hanners walked Cantalamessa on four consecutive pitches to lead off the inning and Sokol lofted a fly to right-center that was misplayed for an error by RF Christian Snavely, putting runners on second and third with no outs.

Sophomore LF Chris Burhans (Alpharetta, Ga./The Marist School) drew a walk to load the bases, and with one out sophomore RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic HS) drew a walk to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. The bases-loaded walk was Butler's second game-winning RBI of the weekend. Lollio lined a single, the only hit of the inning and first Michigan hit of the game, to score Sokol and Burhans for the 3-0 lead.

The Wolverines added a run after two outs in the fourth inning as Lollio drew a walk, Rudden bounced a single to left and senior 3B Brock Koman (Pueblo, Colo./South HS) plated Lollio with a sharp single to left-center.

Lollio launched a long homer to left to chase Hanners (4-2) with two outs in the sixth to make the score 5-0.

The Wolverines head to Western Michigan for a non-conference game Tuesday (May 6, 4 p.m.) at historic Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Mich.

N O T E S

In other Big Ten action Sunday, Penn State defeated Indiana 7-3, first-place Minnesota blanked Purdue 10-0, and Northwestern topped Iowa 7-6. Michigan State at Illinois was rained out.

Big Ten Standings (after Sunday's games)

 1. Minnesota 19-3 .864 2. Ohio State 15-9 .625 3. Northwestern 13-9 .591 4. MICHIGAN 12-10 .545 5. Indiana 12-12 .500 Penn State 12-12 .500 7. Illinois 9-14 .391 8. Michigan State 8-13 .381 9. Purdue 8-15 .348 10. Iowa 6-17 .261

Senior CF Gino Lollio, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the game Sunday, reached first leading off each game of the OSU series with two singles, a walk and the HBP. He was 3-for-3 Sunday and reached base five consecutive times.

Senior RHP Tim Leveque's appearance Sunday moved his team-leading appearance total to 20 games. He has pitched in seven consecutive games, eight of nine overall and in eight straight in games the bullpen has been used. Leveque's last eight appearances have been vs. Penn State (three times), Notre Dame and Ohio State (four times). The last game Leveque did not appear was Bobby Garza's complete game win vs. Penn State (April 26).

Michigan's hitting leaders after 44 games include (80 plate appearances minimum): senior 3B Brock Koman at .388 (66-for-170), sophomore SS Nick Rudden (.385, 40-for-104), junior C Jake Fox (.359, 56-for-156), senior OF Gino Lollio (.349, 59-for-169) and senior 1B Mike Sokol (.349, 52-for-154).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423