Feb. 7, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Ohio State erupted for 10 runs on 13 hits, including four runs in the bottom of the first to erase an early Viking lead, as Cleveland State opened its 2009 season with a 10-2 loss to the Buckeyes in five innings in a first round game of the Hotel Encantu de Las Cruces Invitational at New Mexico State University.
"I am disappointed because our play today is not typical of the kind of team that we are," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We were not very sharp in any facet of the game and it showed. We need to take the next couple of hours to regroup and get back to doing the things that we do so that we can be successful in our next four tournament games."
The Vikings jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Lia Gordon's two-out single to left scored Jessica Burt from third base. Burt had reached on an error, was sacrificed to second by Andrea Nagy and went to third when Christa Coppus struck out on a pitch in the dirt and OSU was forced to throw down to first.
The lead didn't last long as Karissa Medrano doubled to score Dee Dee Hillman with no outs in the bottom of the first. Courtney Pruner and Alicia Herron followed with RBI doubles with Herron scoring the fourth run on a wild pitch.
The Vikings would close to within 4-2 in the second when Jessica Burt singled up the middle to score Katelyn Ciminelli, who had reached base on an error.
Ohio State pushed the lead out to 6-2 in the third when Sam Marder and Herron each hit solo home runs.
The Vikings rallied in the top of the fourth as Ciminelli and Amanda Houchin each singled to lead off the inning. With two outs, Burt singled to short to load the bases, but Nagy popped up to end the inning.
OSU added three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to invoke the eight-run advantage rule.
Amanda Macenko went the distance for CSU, allowing 10 runs (7 earned) on 13 hits to drop to 0-1 on the year. OSU's Kim Reeder threw all five innings to get the win, striking out seven while allowing a pair of unearned runs on five hits.
Burt was the offensive leader for the Vikings, going two for three from her leadoff position, scoring a run and driving in another.
The Vikings resume tournament play on Saturday with a pair of games, facing Colorado State at 9:00 a.m. MST (11 a.m. in Cleveland) before taking on host New Mexico State at 4:30 p.m. MST (6:30 p.m. in Cleveland). The NMSU game will be video-streamed live as a pay-per-view event off the NMSU website at NMStatesports.com (or follow the link from the schedule on the front page of CSUVikings.com).
