Illinois Eliminates Ohio State From the Big Ten Baseball Tournament – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/20/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2000
Box Score
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Ohio State baseball team (37-23) closed the 2000 Big Ten Baseball Tournament with a 4-0 loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini (39-21) at Siebert Field. The loss ends the season for the Buckeyes after a 2-2 showing at the tourney.
“This team showed a lot of character this past week,” head coach Bob Todd said. “We played hard and went out fighting. We felt we could get to their pitcher early. But after the fifth inning, he found a groove and made good pitches. Our errors gave them momentum and we could never catch up.
“We definitely went through some growing pains this year. But the experiences gained this year will help us next year.”
The Fighting Illini took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Chris Basak drove in Jeff Gertz on a grounder to the OSU shortstop Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio).
Illinois added another run in the top of the fourth inning. Jeff Gertz knocked in Luke Simmons with a one-run single to increase the UI lead to 2-0.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Fighting Illini added two more runs to its lead. Craig Marquie and Simmons both singled to knock in a pair of runs to increase the UI lead to 4-0.
OSU starting pitcher Brandon Steen (So., Hendersonville, Tenn.) took the loss. He went five innings, gave up eight hits, four runs, three earned runs and recorded one strikeout. His season record finishes at 6-5. UI Ryan Kvasnicka improved his record to 2-2.
Tomorrow, the Fighting Illini will play in the tournament championship game against Penn State at 2 p.m.
