Baseball Stops Ashland in Final At-Bat – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/21/1998 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 20th-ranked (Collegiate Baseball) Ohio State baseball team used its last at-bat to keep in-state rival Ashland from stealing a victory Tuesday night at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes defeated the Eagles 6-5, to keep an eight game winning streak intact, moving to 26-10 (11-5/1st Big Ten) on the year. Mike Lockwood (So., Powell, Ohio) put the Buckeyes on the board in the first inning after leading off with a walk and scoring. True freshman Trent McIlvain (Louisville, Ohio) stepped to the plate and singled to center field to move Lockwood over to third base and Dan Seimetz (Sr., Massillon, Ohio) sent a deep fly ball to the warning track in center field to sacrifice him home. The Eagles took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning as Ashland recorded four consecutive hits before recording an out. Jason Russell singled to left field followed by Brent Martineau who rapped a hit to right. Chad Lavender sliced a hit to center field to score Russell and Clayton Fitch doubled off the wall in left center field to bring in the two more runs. Fitch advanced to third when Dan Sponseller flew out to right, but was picked off when OSU starter Cory Cox (So., Chillicothe, Ohio) sold a move. Mike Kremblas (Sr., Carroll, Ohio) led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and scored when Marcello Garofalo (So., Worthington, Ohio) doubled off the wall in left center field. Ashland pushed its lead to 4-2 in the top of the fifth when pitcher Jason Boland singled to right field and came home when relief pitcher Phil Vogelmeier (Sr., Newark, Ohio) loaded the bases and walked Chad Lavender. Lockwood brought the Bucks within one in the bottom half of the inning, singling to center, stealing second and scoring when McIlvain singled to right. The Buckeyes took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth when Jason Trott (Jr., Dublin, Ohio) led off with a single to center, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored when Dan Zabloudil (So., Newark, Ohio) singled to right. Mike Stafford (Sr., Canton, Mich.) came in to close the door for the Buckeyes in the top of the ninth but Matthew Roseberry took him deep over the left field wall to knot the score at five-all. With two outs in OSU’s final at-bat, Trott singled in Jason Driscoll (So., Middlefield, Ohio) who had reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on a walk for the winning run. Catcher Tom Durant (Jr., Columbus, Ohio) will be out at least five days after a split right thumb from a foul tip required five stitches.
