Turner Homers, Drives in Four to Lead Baseball over YSU, 6-3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 3, 2000
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State baseball team (30-18 overall, 10-10 in the Big Ten) used a four-run first inning to propel themselves to a 6-3 win over the Youngstown State Penguins (14-25 overall, 6-12 in the Mid-Continent) in front of 1,163 at Bill Davis Stadium. Starting pitcher Kyle Brown (Fr., Washington Court House, Ohio) improved to 4-0 on the season with the win.
“We were able to work a lot of different players today, which should help us this weekend at Penn State” OSU head coach Bob Todd said. “Offensively, we still haven’t hit the ball like we’re capable of doing, but our pitchers made some good pitches tonight.”
The Buckeyes sent 10 men to the plate in the first inning, scoring four times to grab a commanding early lead. Jason Driscoll (Sr., Middlefield, Ohio) coaxed a walk to lead off the inning and moved to second when Mike Check (Bay Village, Ohio) was plunked with a pitch. After YSU starter Andrew Clough uncorked a wild pitch, he then fanned Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.). But Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) followed with a single to center, scoring Driscoll and Check to give OSU a 2-0 lead. The Buckeyes then received back-to-back breaks as YSU committed back-to-back errors, allowing John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) and Joe Wilkins (So., Grove City, Ohio) to reach base. Clough then walked Doug Dendinger (So., Greenwich, Ohio) to force home Turner and after striking out Lance Rolston (Fr., Athens, Ohio), Clough walked Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio), forcing Mayor home to give OSU a 4-0 lead. OSU tacked on to the lead in the second inning. With one out, Swisher ripped a single into left field. He trotted home when Turner drilled a 1-2 pitch over the wall in right-center field, as the Buckeyes pushed their lead to 6-0.
The Penguins pushed one run across in the third inning off Brown. With two outs, Steve Mefferd doubled to right field. He then moved to third on an infield single by Greg Ensley and scored on a single to right by Kellen Dixon.
In the top of fifth inning, YSU added another run on a bases loaded walk by Clint Ford off OSU relief pitcher Kevin Wynk (Fr., Coldwater, Ohio).
In the top of the sixth inning, YSU’s Todd Santore hit a solo home run off Wynk to cut the OSU lead to 6-3.
To earn the win, Brown went a scheduled four innings, tossed 52 pitches, yielded five hits, one run and struck out a pair. Cory Cox (Jr., Chillicothe, Ohio) hurled a scoreless ninth to pick up his seventh save. YSU’s Clough (2-4) took the loss. He went three innings, threw 70 pitches and gave us six runs.
This weekend, Ohio State will travel to University Park, Pa., for a four-game series against Big Ten leader Penn State. On Saturday, the two teams will play game one at 3 p.m.
