Baseball Puts On an Offensive Display Beating Fairfield, 13-6 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/11/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2000
Box Score
Fort Mill, S.C. – The Ohio State baseball team (8-2 overall) put together one of its best offensive displays of the season collecting 17 hits, including seven extra-base hits and 13 runs as the Buckeyes defeated the Fairfield Stags, 13-6. Every starter recorded at least one hit and six different players drove in at least one run for the Buckeyes.
“This was a good team effort,” head coach Bob Todd said. “Brandon (Steen) had one bad inning but kept us in the game. The offense was balanced and it showed in the final score.”
The Buckeyes took and early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) led off with a double off the left-centerfield wall. He then moved to third base on a single by Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.), who then stole second base to move into scoring position. Doug Dendinger (So., Greenwich, Ohio) immediately took the first pitch offered by Fairfield starting pitcher Steve Colcord into centerfield for a two-run single.
The Stags immediately answered in the top of the third inning. The first four batters reached base and scored to give Fairfield a 4-2 lead. Jeff Hanson had a RBI single, Eddie McCrann hit a sacrifice fly and Tom Lopusznick hit a two-run double. This would prove to be Fairfield’s only lead of the afternoon.
OSU fought back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Joe Wilkins (So., Grove City, Ohio) led off with a single to leftfield. He moved to second on a walk by Dendinger. Jason Driscoll (Sr., Middlefield, Ohio) singled on a bunt but a throwing error by Fairfield third baseman Hanson allowed Wilkins and Dendinger to score which gave OSU a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Turner took a the first pitched offered by Colcord and drove it over the rightfield wall for his third home run of the season to give OSU a 6-4 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the OSU exploded for six runs on six hits to take a commanding 12-4 lead. Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio) led off with a triple off the left-centerfield wall. He immediately scored on a single by Check. John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) then reached base on a fielding error by Fairfield shortstop Eddie McCrann. Chad Ehrnsberger (Jr., Kalida, Ohio) cleared the bases with a double off the right-centerfield wall. Two batters later, Swisher drove home Ehrnsberger with a single down the rightfield line. Dendinger then stepped to the plate and drilled a double to centerfield to clear the bases and give OSU its fifth and sixth runs of the inning.
In six of his seven innings of work, OSU starting pitcher Brandon Steen (So., Hendersonville, Tenn.) was untouchable. Steen gave up his only runs and hits of the afternoon in third inning. He totaled 114 pitches, gave up four hits, four runs, struck out seven and walked just two. He improves to 3-0 on the year. Greg Prenger (Fr., Harpster, Ohio) pitched effectively in his season debut going two innings and giving up two meaningless runs in the top of the ninth inning. The Stags fall to 0-6 on the season. Colcord (0-2) was the losing pitcher.
“I felt really good out there today,” Steen said. “But I tip my cap to the guys who came through after my bad third inning. Everyone in our lineup has the ability to make a difference and today they did.”
