Baseball Opens its Spring Break Trip With a Win over Harvard – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 16, 2001
Box Score
BRADENTON, Fla. – Two of the top hurlers in the country squared off and the battle lived up to its pregame billing. Ohio State’s starting pitcher E.J. Laratta (Jr., Englewood, Colo.) and Harvard’s Ben Crockett combined to yield just five runs and zero walks but the OSU ace proved to be just a little better as the Buckeyes (7-4 overall) defeated the Crimson (0-1 overall), 4-1 at Wynn Field. Laratta was superb going 7.2 innings, throwing 96 pitches, giving up just one run and striking out four batters. The OSU ace improved his season record to 3-1 and handed the Crimson a season-opening loss. Nick Swisher (So., Parkersburg, W.Va.) paced the OSU offense by going 2-for-4 with a home run, double and two runs batted in.
“It wasn’t our best game but we’ll take the win,” head coach Bob Todd said. “We got the hits when we needed them and E.J. (Laratta) was effective. It’s good to start this stretch of games with a win.”
The Buckeyes took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Doug Dendinger (Jr., Greenwich, Ohio) led off with a single through the right-side of the infield. He quickly moved to second base courtesy of a single by Lance Rolston (So., Athens, Ohio) to left field. A fly out by Doug Deeds (Fr., Bexley, Ohio) allowed Dendinger to move to third base. Harvard then gave OSU a gift when Crawford was called with a balk that plated Dendinger and gave the Buckeyes the first lead of the morning.
The Crimson tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. Mark Mager drove in Brian Lentz with a single to right field to tie the game at one.
OSU broke the tie with the first pitch in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Swisher launched the first offering from Crockett over the right field wall to give OSU a 3-2 lead. The blast was his sixth of the season.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, OSU added another run to its lead. Off a 2-2 offering from Crockett, Deeds hammered a ball over the left field fence for his third home run of the season.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Buckeyes added an insurance run on a two out, RBI double by Swisher to score Mike Check (Sr., Bay Village, Ohio).
Stopper Cory Cox (Sr., Chillicothe, Ohio) entered the game in the top of the eighth inning and recorded the final four outs to earn his third save.
Crocket (0-1) went 7.2 innings, gave up four runs (all earned) and recorded a strikeout.
Tomorrow, the Buckeyes continue their Spring Break trip in Florida and return to Wynn Field for a game against Vermont at 7:30 p.m.
