Turner Drives In Four Runs to Help Lead Baseball Over St. John’s, 8-3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 5, 2000
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Ohio State baseball team (6-2 overall) did not waste any time disposing of the St. John’s Red Storm (2-3 overall) with eight runs in the first four innings to win 8-3. The Buckeyes finished their weekend at the 2000 Kennel Club Classic with a 3-1 record.
The Buckeyes started the game swinging their bats. Lead off hitter Mike Check (Jr., Bay Village, Ohio) hit the first pitch offered by St. John’s pitcher John Niebling into leftfield for a single. He then proceeded to steal second base and three batters later, scored on a two-out RBI single to rightfield by Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio). John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) immediately followed with a single to leftfield. The inning appeared to be over when Doug Dendinger (So., Greenwich, Ohio) sent a short pop-fly to shallow left but the ball was misplayed and dropped by SJU leftfielder Eric Potts to clear the bases and give OSU an early 3-0 lead.
With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, the Buckeyes added five more runs. Chris Alvord (Jr., Mentor, Ohio) walked and then scored on a triple by Check. Rob Boling (Fr., Hamilton, Ohio) then grounded a ball that hit the second base umpire and was awarded first base. Chad Ehrnsberger (Jr., Kalida, Ohio) followed with a walk to load the bases for Turner. After falling behind in the count, 0-2, Turner went opposite field and lined a pitch down the leftfield line for a base clearing double. Mayor then singled to score Turner and increased the OSU lead to 8-0.
The Red Storm added their first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jason Kane walked and later scored on a single by Chris Niksa. One batter later, he advanced to third base on a single by Matt Galante. Niksa then scored on a single by Chad Cambra and one batter later, Pete Graham hit a double to leftfield to score Galante and cut the OSU lead to 8-3.
OSU starting pitcher Brandon Steen (Hendersonville, Tenn.) improved to 2-0 on the year. He totaled 107 pitches, gave up six hits, three runs and struck out six in seven innings of work. Jason Bullens (Fr., Dayton, Ohio) and Kevin Wynk (Fr., Coldwater, Ohio) each tossed a shutout inning of relief to help ensure the win. Niebling (0-2) took the loss.
Next weekend, Ohio State travels to Rock Hill, S.C. for the Winthrop Classic. On Friday, the Buckeyes open the tournament against Marshall at 11 a.m.
