Baseball Ends Penn State’s 11-Game Winning Streak With an 8-5, Game One Win – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 6, 2000
Box Score
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Led by a gutsy effort from starting pitcher E.J. Laratta (So., Englewood, Colo.) and a seven run offensive outburst in the first two innings, the Ohio State baseball team (31-18 overall, 11-10 in the Big Ten) defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions (35-10 overall, 15-5 in the Big Ten), 8-5. Laratta threw 141 pitches, gave up five runs and recorded five strikeouts in his sixth complete game of the year. The OSU ace improves to 6-4 in the game one victory. The Buckeyes end PSU’s 11-game winning streak and knock the Nittany Lions out of first place in the conference.
“The key to today’s win was our defense,” head coach Bob Todd said. “To have zero errors on a tough field like this is huge. It was nice to see our bats come around early in the ballgame and once E.J. settled down after the third inning, he started to throw more quality strikes and did the job.”
The Buckeyes took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Jason Driscoll (Sr., Middlefield, Ohio) led off the ballgame with a double down the right field line. Mike Check (Jr., Bay Village, Ohio) immediately followed and sent Driscoll to third base on a sacrifice bunt. OSU then scored the first run of the game when Chad Ehrnsberger (Jr., Kalida, Ohio) drilled a single to center field to score Driscoll.
In the top of the second inning, OSU exploded for six runs. Nick Swisher (Fr., Parkersburg, W.Va.) led off and reached base on a fielding error by PSU second baseman Eric Spadt. Doug Dendinger (So., Greenwich, Ohio) immediately followed with a double down the left field line to put both runners in scoring position. Trent McIlvain (Jr., Louisville, Ohio) then cleared the bases with a single that hopped past PSU shortstop John Richmond’s glove into left field. The OSU outburst continued with Chris Alvord (Jr., Mentor, Ohio) sending a double to the opposite field to again put both runners in scoring position for the Buckeyes. Driscoll than gave OSU its fourth consecutive hit of the inning with a single to the right field alley to score McIlvain. Alvord then gave OSU its fourth run of the inning when he scored on a groundout by Check. The inning continued with Jason Turner (Sr., Versailles, Ohio) reaching base on a throwing error by PSU first baseman Joe Puliafico. Turner later scored on a double by John Mayor (Jr., Chesterfield, Mo.) to give OSU a 7-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, PSU’s Chris Wright and Puliafico each drove in runs to cut the OSU lead to 7-2.
The Nittany Lions cut into the OSU lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the third inning. Shawn Fagan hit a two-run home run off Laratta and Chris Netwall drove in a run on a single.
In the top of the seventh inning, Swisher led off with a triple down the right field line. Two batters later, he scored on a sacrifice fly by McIlvain to increase the OSU lead to 8-5.
PSU starting pitcher Dan Goebeler went six innings, gave up 12 hits, eight runs, five earned runs and struck out one batter. His record drops to 6-2.
“Our offense came out aggressive and gave me a lot of run support early,” Laratta said. “That really made my job a lot easier. This win was a total team effort. Our defense got me out of a few jams and we made the plays we needed to down the stretch.”
Tomorrow, the two teams will continue the four-game series with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
