Baseball Head Coach Bob Todd Wins His 500th Game at Ohio State as the Buckeyes Defeat Oregon State, 8-3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2000
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – When Bob Todd arrived at Ohio State 13 years ago, his goal was to re-establish the Buckeyes as one of the premier baseball programs in college baseball. In a tenure already filled with six Big Ten Championships, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and one NCAA Regional Championship, the legendary mentor of the OSU baseball team achieved yet another career milestone – his 500th win at Ohio State. Sparked by a three-run double by Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio), the Buckeyes (11-4) defeated the Oregon Beavers (11-9), 8-3 at the Aggie Continental Airlines, Classic. The win improves OSU to 2-1 and puts them in a tie for first place with three games remaining in the tournament.
“All this really says is that I’ve been fortunate enough to coach at one place for a long period of time,” Todd said. “500 wins is a reflection of the effort, talent and hard work of my assistant coaches and every player that has played here during my tenure. One person can not do this alone.”
Things were not looking good for Ohio State in the early going. The Beavers took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the second inning. Zach Gordon and Eric Stark each had bases loaded, one-run singles to give Oregon State its first lead of the ball game. In the bottom of the third inning, Oregon State’s Joe Gerber belted a 1-2 offering from Ohio State starting pitcher Brandon Steen (So., Hendersonville, Tenn.) over the rightfield wall for his second home run of the year.
But Steen settled down and got into a good rhythm as he tossed scoreless baseball in the final four innings.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Buckeyes put on their collective rally caps. John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) led off with a bloop single to rightfield to increase his hitting streak to 15-consecutive games. He immediately scored when Chad Ehrnsberger (Jr., Kalida, Ohio) drilled the ball off the right-centerfield wall for a RBI double. Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) followed with a single to put runners on the corner. Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.) followed by grounding the ball to Oregon State third baseman Tim Dryden but a hustling Ehrnsberger beat the throw to homeplate to cut the Oregon State lead, 3-2. With runners now on first and second, pinch-hitter Marcello Garofalo (Sr., Worthington, Ohio) loaded the bases with a sharp single past a diving Dryden. Two batters later, McIlvain line a shot down the leftfield line off Oregon State reliever James Atwood to clear the bases and give OSU a commanding 7-3 lead. In the top of the seventh, OSU added a pair of insurance runs. Swisher drove in Mayor for his second RBI of the afternoon with a single and Joe Palazzo (So., Tucson, Ariz.) brought home Ehrnsberger on a grounder to Oregon State second baseman Stephen Copeland.
Steen tossed his first career complete game by throwing seven innings, 117 pitches, giving up three runs, three hits and striking out four. Oregon State reliever Craig Hays (1-2) was the loser.
“These are the games that we need to find ways to win,” Todd said. “Brandon (Steen) settled down and gave us a good opportunity. We had some guys that stepped up when we needed them to and we were able to win the ballgame.”
Tonight, the Buckeyes return to the field at 9 p.m. for a game against Texas A&M, the host school. Tomorrow, OSU plays Central Michigan at 11 a.m. and Texas A&M at 9 p.m.
