Amanda Vargas is hitting .462 on the season and smashed her second home run on Saturday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Fourth-ranked Michigan belted out four home runs, upping its two-game series total to eight, to put up several big innings en route to a 13-1, five-inning rout against rival Ohio State on Saturday at Buckeye Field.
Kelsey Susalla went 2-for-4 with a pair of extra-bases, tallying an RBI double in the third and a leadoff solo shot in the fourth. Sierra Lawrence and Sierra Romero each knocked out three-run home runs, while Amanda Vargas recorded her first collegiate grand slam. The Wolverines also drew a season-high 12 walks in the contest.
Haylie Wagner (11-2) was stingy from the Wolverine circle, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out two through four shutout innings. Tera Blanco entered in the fifth and gave up an unearned run off two hits, a walk and a passed ball but closed out the game with a two flyouts and a thrown out Buckeye base runner at home.
The Wolverines put runners on base immediately in the first inning, drawing a leadoff walk and hit-by-pitch in the first two at-bats. Romero made the Buckeyes pay for the miscues, bombing the 1-2 pitch high and deep over the wall in left center field -- her 13th home run of the season.
After leaving two runners on in the second, Michigan plated five runs apiece in the third and fourth to push the game into run-rule territory. With two runners aboard and no outs in the former frame, Susalla drove a liner down the right-field line, tipping it off the extended glove of the Buckeye first baseman. Aidan Falk walked to reload the bases, and Vargas sent them all home with her deep ball to center field. It marks her second career home run.
The grand slam forced an OSU pitching change and after walking the bases loaded, the Buckeyes got out of the inning without additional damage. But the Wolverines did not remain quiet for long. Susalla led off the fourth with a full-count solo shot to centerfield and five batters later, with two aboard on a Falk single and a walk, Lawrence lined a shot off the scoreboard in centerfield. A Blanco RBI looper to shallow center plated Michigan's final run two batters later.
