Baseball Bounces Back With an 11-4 Win Over Central Michigan – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 18, 2000%^$%^$
%^$%^$Box Score%^$%^$%^$%^$
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Ohio State baseball team (10-4 overall) hammered 14 hits and Kevin Goodrum (Jr., Mentor, Ohio) struck out eight en route to an 11-4 win over Central Michigan (7-5 overall) at the Aggie Continental Airlines Classic. OSU improved to 1-1 in tournament play.%^$
%^$Ohio State went on the attack in the bottom of the first inning. Mike Check (Jr., Bay Village, Ohio) led off with a walk and then scored on a double by John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.). Chad Ehrnsberger (Jr., Kalida, Ohio) immediately followed with a single to rightfield to score Mayor and give OSU an early 2-0 lead. The hit by Mayor increased his hitting streak to 13-consecutive games.%^$
%^$In the top of the second inning, the teams sat through a 47-minute rain delay. After the delay, OSU added another run in the bottom of the second. Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio) led off with a single to leftfield. He immediately moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Check and later moved to third when Ehrnsberger hit into a fielder’s choice to CMU shortstop Jason Helps. With two outs, Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) drove in McIlvain to increase the OSU lead, 3-0.%^$
%^$CMU added its first run of the game in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Mike Gates singled to centerfield to score Scott Pieratt and cut OSU’s lead to 3-1.%^$
%^$In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Buckeyes added four runs on four hits. Check led off with a double to left-centerfield. Mayor then beat a bunt down the first base line and an alert Check scored from second base with nobody covering home plate. After a walk by Turner, Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.) drilled a ball down the rightfield line to score Mayor. Joe Wilkins (So., Grove City, Ohio) immediately followed with an RBI single to bring Turner home. Jason Driscoll (Sr., Middlefield, Ohio) drove in Swisher for the final run of the inning on a fielder’s choice to Helps.%^$
%^$The Chippewas cut the OSU lead to 7-2 in the top of the fifth inning. Mike Galloway doubled to score Matt Crowley. In the bottom half of the inning, the OSU bats came alive once again. Check led off with a walk and then proceeded to steal second base. Two batters later he scored on a double to the rightfield alley by Ehrnsberger. Ehrnsberger then moved to third on a ground out by Turner and then scored on a wild pitch by CMU reliever Nick Latra. Swisher and Wilkins worked back-to-back walks and then scored on a double by Marcello Garofalo (Sr., Worthington, Ohio) to give OSU a commanding 11-2 lead.%^$
%^$CMU added two runs in the top of the sixth but the game was then called due to the tournament’s time limit. Goodrum improved to 2-1 on the year by tossing his second complete game of the year. The lefty threw 121 pitches, struck out eight, gave up 11 hits and four runs. CMU’s Adam Bolthouse (1-2) was the loser.%^$
%^$Tomorrow, the Buckeyes return to the field for a pair of games. Ohio State will play Oregon State at 2 p.m. and Texas A&M at 9 p.m.%^$
%^$Notes
%^$- With the win, head coach Bob Todd improved to 499-241-1 in his 13 years as the Ohio State mentor.
%^$- Brandon Steen will start tomorrow’s game against Oregon State and Nate Smith will start the Texas A&M contest.
