McIlvain’s Home Run Lifts the Buckeyes Past the No. 25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 5-4 – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 25, 2000
MILLINGTON, Tenn. – In a contest that was labeled as the marquee game of the 2000 Service Academies Classic, a pair of preseason All-American pitchers headlined the duel but junior shortstop Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio) stole the show. With the game tied at four in the bottom of the sixth inning, McIlvain jumped on a 0-1 fastball to give OSU (1-1 overall) their first win of the year over No. 25 Notre Dame (1-1 overall).
“He threw me a belt high fastball,” McIlvain said. “It was a good win over a very good team. We can definitely build something positive off this win.”
The highly anticipated pitching matchup pitted preseason All-Americans E.J. Laratta (So., Englewood, Colo.) for the Buckeyes and Aaron Heilman for the Fighting Irish. Despite giving up four runs in the fifth inning, Laratta held on to earn his first win of the year.
The Fighting Irish jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Matt Nussbaum reached base on an error by Laratta, who dropped the ball on a throw by Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.) while attempting to cover first base. Matt Bok followed with a single to advance Nussbaum. Jeff Perconte then singled to leftfield to score Nussbaum and advance Bok to third base. Paul O’Toole then scored Bok with a sacrifice fly to leftfield. Steve Stanley immediately followed with a single to centerfield to score Perconte.
In the top of the fifth inning, Notre Dame added another run when Bok scored on another single by O’Toole to increase their lead to 4-0.
But the Ohio State bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio) singled to centerfield. He advanced to second on a throwing error by Heilman after fielding a comebacker to the mound off the bat of Chris Alvord (Jr., Mentor, Ohio). Mike Check (Jr., Bay Village, Ohio) singled home McIlvain to score OSU’s first run. John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) immediately ripped a clutch double down the leftfield line to score Alvord and Check. Two batters later, Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) lined a single to rightfield to score Mayor and tie the game. One inning later, McIlvain’s theatrics would win the game.
In his first appearance of the year, Larrata earned the win throwing a complete game, gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits.
Head coach Bob Todd is now 3-0 lifetime against the Fighting Irish.
The Buckeyes will play Memphis tomorrow at 4 p.m.
