Baseball Tops Northwestern in Big Ten Opener, 10-4 – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/2/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 1999
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State Buckeyes won for the eighth time in its last 10 games Fri. night, defeating the Northwestern Wildcats, 10-4, before 1,486 at Bill Davis Stadium. In winning its Big Ten opener, OSUs record improves to 15-6 (1-0 Big Ten) while Northwestern drops to 7-10 (0-1).
For the second consecutive game, the Buckeyes got on the board immediately, this time scoring twice on Tom Durants (Sr., Columbus, Ohio) first home run of the season. The blast was a high, towering drive that went down the left field line, clearing the wall with plenty of room to spare. The homer gave OSU a 2-0 lead.
Northwestern cut the lead in half in its half of the third inning. Tim DaRosa led off with a walk then advanced to second on a wild pitch. J.P. Williamson followed with a sharp grounder up the first base line that glanced off of first baseman Jason Trotts (Sr., Dublin, Ohio) glove and down the right field line, allowing DaRosa to score.
Ohio State bounced back in its half of the third, though. Mike Lockwood (Jr., Powell, Ohio) was hit by a pitch to start the inning. After being sacrificed to second, Chad Ehrnsberger (So., Toledo, Ohio) ripped a shot up the middle and into centerfield for a base hit, scoring Lockwood to make the score 3-1, Buckeyes.
The Wildcats again cut into the Buckeye lead with a run in the fourth. With two outs, Pat Thompson hit his second home run of the season, a drive that just made it over the wall in left-centerfield.
The Buckeyes mounted a two-out rally in their half of the fifth inning to build the lead back to two runs. Ehrnsberger walked, stole second, then came around to score when Jason Turners (Jr., Versailles, Ohio) grounder was thrown wildly to first by Wildcat thirdbaseman Pat Robinson.
But Northwestern continued to hang in the game by scoring a run in the top of the sixth to make the score 4-3. J.J. Standring led off with a double down the third base line and scored one out later when Robinson knocked him in with a single. In the bottom of the sixth, however, OSU busted it open. Matt Middleton (Sr., Conover, Ohio) walked to lead off the inning. Designated hitter John Mayor (So., Chesterfield, Mo.) then reached base when his sacrifice bunt attempt was misplayed by Northwestern starting pitcher Gabe Ribas. The next hitter, Trent McIlvain, also tried to bunt and also reached base after a miscommunication in between Ribas and third baseman Robinson led to no one fielding the ball. Suddenly, the bases were loaded and nobody was out and Lockwood was at the plate. The Buckeye centerfielder got ahead in the count and ripped a pitch into the gap in right-centerfield, clearing the bases to make the score 7-3. Two outs later, Turner singled to drive in Lockwood to make it 8-3.
Ohio State wasnt finished yet. In the seventh, they added two more runs to make it 10-3. Middleton, Mayor and McIlvain strung together three consecutive singles to begin the inning, the last of which scored Middleton. A hit batsman reloaded the bases, and Durants sacrifice fly to right field scored Mayor.
The hitting heroes on the night for Ohio State were Lockwood and Durant, who both drove in three runs. After going 3-4 Wednesday against Ohio Wesleyan, Lockwood came back today to go 2-3 while reaching base four times and scoring three runs. This marks the eighth consecutive game in which Lockwood has scored a run.
Justin Fry (Sr., Munhall, Pa.) pitched eight innings, giving up three earned runs while striking out eight to up his record to 4-1. Ribas took the loss. His record falls to 1-3.
Northwestern and Ohio State continue their four-game set tomorrow with a doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m.
