June 1, 2002

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Two solo home runs provided Ohio State starting pitcher Scott Lewis with all the lead he needed, as Ohio State (38-19-1) eliminated South Alabama (42-19) from the NCAA Championship with a 6-4 victory in the South Bend Regional. Ohio State will face Notre Dame at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, needing to defeat the Irish twice for the regional tournament title.

Lewis ended up with a complete game victory, striking out 10 and scattering 10 hits. Both teams scored four runs in the first two innings, before both pitchers settled down. Bert Heath came in for relief of Caleb Crosby for South Alabama in the second inning and allowed just two hits – but both were very costly. OSU’s Terry Pettorini drilled a home run in the bottom of the fourth and teammate Nick Swisher added another solo shot in the eighth inning. Those were the only two hits Heath allowed in the game, as he recorded the longest outing of his career (6.2) in the loss.

Ryan Mulhern keyed the Jaguar offense with a two run homer in the first inning, while Kevin Sytko went three for four with an RBI.