The Seattle University baseball team could not maintain its offensive output from the previous day, losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 7-2, Sunday afternoon at Bill Davis Stadium.
Ohio State (30-22) struck first, as Ryan Cypret, Brad Hallberg, and Mike Carroll notched consecutive singles in the bottom of the first inning, with Cypret scoring on Carroll's single. Brad Hutton walked to load the bases, and Patrick Porter's sacrifice fly to left field brought home Hallberg. David Corna walked, and Kirby Pellant was hit by a pitch, forcing in Carroll and ending Garrett Anderson's (Kennewick, Wash.) day after only 2/3 of an inning on the mound.
With one out in the fifth inning, Hallberg tripled down the right field line, and he would come in to score on a single through the left side of the infield by Hutton. That was the first run given up by Redhawk reliever Bryan Dalton (Vancouver, Wash.), who replaced Anderson in the first inning and set down eight consecutive Buckeye batters before the triple.
Seattle U finally broke through in the top of the sixth inning, starting with singles by Trent Oleszczuk (Beaverton, Ore.) and Brian Olson (Black Diamond, Wash.) with one out. Jace Sloan (Puyallup, Wash.) laced a double into the left-center field gap, scoring both Oleszczuk and Olson to cut the Buckeye lead in half. However, Ohio State starting pitcher John Kuchno struck out the next two batters to avoid any further damage.
The Buckeyes responded in the bottom of the sixth inning, starting with Pellant reaching on an Oleszczuk throwing error and followed by Greg Solomon being hit by a pitch. Tim Wetzel laid down a bunt single to load the bases, and Cypret earned a run batted in by being hit by a pitch, forcing in Pellant with Ohio State's fifth run of the game. Kyle Doyle (Covington, Wash.) came on in relief of Dalton and walked Hallberg to force in Solomon, but he picked up three straight outs to end the inning.
Ohio State added one more run in the seventh inning as Corna led off with a double, advanced to third on a bunt single by Pellant, and scored on a single by Solomon. Eric Yardley (Richland, Wash.) relieved Doyle, induced a double play to end the seventh inning, and then retired the Buckeyes in order in the eighth inning.
Kuchno earned the victory for the Buckeyes, allowing five hits, one walk, and two runs in seven innings while striking out seven Redhawk batters. The top of the Ohio State order did the most damage in the game, as the first three batters (Wetzel, Cypret, Hallberg) combined to go 6-for-12 with two walks, three runs scored, and two runs batted in.
Oleszczuk was the only Seattle U batter to pick up more than one hit, going 2-for-2 with two walks and one run scored. One day after collecting a season-high 17 hits, the Redhawks were held to five hits as the Buckeyes won the weekend series.
Seattle University (22-24) will head to Eugene, Ore., next weekend to face the nationally-ranked Oregon Ducks in a three-game series, starting Friday, May 18, at 6 p.m. at PK Park.