Baseball Completes Sweep of Northwestern With 9-4 Win – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 4, 1999
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State Buckeyes completed a four-game sweep of the Northwestern Wildcats Sun. afternoon, defeating them by a final score of 9-4. OSU has now won 11 games in a row. Its record runs to 18-6 (4-0 Big Ten) while Northwestern drops to 7-13 (0-4).
For the first time in the series, Northwestern got on the board first. With one out in the top of the second inning, J.J. Standring and Wesley Robinson strung together back-to-back hits. Tim DaRosa then came up and bunted down the third base line. The bunt was fielded by Buckeye third baseman Matt Middleton (Sr., Conover, Ohio), who threw wildly past first, allowing Standring and Robinson to score to give the Wildcats and early 2-0 lead.
OSU came back in its half of the fourth inning, scoring four times to take the lead. Jason Trott (Sr., Dublin, Ohio) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Chad Ehrnsberger (So., Kalida, Ohio) followed that up with a frozen rope down the left field line that short hopped the wall for a double, moving Trott to third. Jason Turner (Jr., Versailles, Ohio) brought Trott in by grounding out to second, bringing Jason Driscoll (Jr., Middlefield, Ohio) to the plate. He promptly drove a ball into right field for a base hit, scoring Ehrnsberger to tie the game. Driscoll advanced to second on a wild pitch, and one out later John Mayor (So., Chesterfield, Mo.) walked. The next batter, Buckeye shortstop Trent McIlvain (So., Louisville, Ohio), got ahead of the count 3-1, sat on a fastball and ripped it into centerfield for a single, scoring Driscoll to give Ohio State the lead. The two-out fireworks continued when Mike Lockwood (Jr., Powell, Ohio) knocked in Mayor with a single of his own, making it 4-2.
The Wildcats bounced back to tie it up in the top of the fifth. With one out and a runner second, Jeremy Kurela took advantage of a stiff breeze blowing out to right field by parking a home run over the wall in left-centerfield to make the score 4-4. It would be a short-lived tie, however, as Ohio State sent nine men to the plate, scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth. Trott and Ehrnsberger both hit doubles to start the inning, the second of which scored Trott to give the Buckeyes a 5-4 lead. After Turner walked, Wildcats starting pitcher Zach Schara was pulled from the game. Northwesterns reliever, Dan Padgett, was greeted by a single to right by Driscoll, which brought home Ehrnsberger, making it 6-4. One out later, Mayor singled to deep short, loading the bases for McIlvain, who hit a fly ball to right field deep enough to score Turner from third, upping the OSU lead to 7-4.
Ohio State added to its lead in the sixth, scoring twice. For the second time on the day, Trott was hit by a pitch. That brought up Ehrnsberger, who picked up his fourth hit of the afternoon, a rocket into left-centerfield that scored Trott to make the score 8-4. One out later, Driscoll collected his third hit and RBI of the afternoon, singling through a draw in infield to drive home Ehrnsberger.
E.J. Laratta (Fr., Englewood, Colo.) pitched five innings, allowing four runs, two earned, while striking out two. His record is now 4-1. Kevin Goodrum (So., Mentor, Ohio) picked up the save, pitching four shutout innings of relief.
The Buckeyes four-game sweep is their first in the Big Ten since a sweep of Purdue, April 17-19, 1998.
OSU returns to the diamond Wed., April 7, to play Ashland at 6:35 p.m.
