Goodrum and Swisher Lead Baseball to a 5-0 Win Over the Northwestern Wildcats – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2001
Box Score
SARASOTA, Fla. – The game may not count in the Big Ten standings, but the Ohio State baseball team (9-4-1 overall) and the Northwestern Wildcats (8-8 overall) played an intense and entertaining contest that featured spectacular plays defensively and a dual between two of the top pitchers in the conference. OSU starting pitcher Kevin Goodrum (Sr., Mentor, Ohio) looked to be in midseason form as he earned his second victory of the season (2-0). The lefty went seven shutout innings, threw 103 pitches, gave up six hits and recorded seven strikeouts. OSU edged the Wildcats, 5-0, at Ed Smith Stadium, the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds.
The Buckeyes took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning thanks to a home run by Nick Swisher (So., Parkersburg, W.Va.). Off a 3-2 offering from Northwestern starting pitcher Zach Schara, Swisher hammered the ball over the right field wall for his seventh home run of the season in just 14 games.
“He threw me a curveball and luckily I put the barrel on it,” Swisher said. “We played really well as a team tonight. The defense made some great plays and Kevin (Goodrum) got the job done.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, OSU added a pair of runs to its lead. Trent McIlvain (Sr., Louisville, Ohio) led off with a single and moved to second base when left fielder Brandon Ackley mishandled the ball on the play and allowed it to roll behind him in left field. Mike Check (Sr., Bay Village, Ohio) followed and reached base on a bunt single. Northwestern then gave OSU an easy run on a wild pitch by Schara that allowed McIlvain to score and advanced Check to second base. A groundout by Christian Snavely (Fr, Defiance, Ohio) pushed Check to third base and a sacrifice fly by Doug Dendinger (Jr., Greenwich, Ohio) plated the run and gave OSU a 3-0 lead. The Buckeyes added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Doug Deeds (Fr., Bexley, Ohio) and John Mayor (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) started the inning with a pair of singles. A sacrifice bunt by Joe Wilkins (Jr., Grove City, Ohio) put both runners in scoring position. McIlvain followed and grounded a ball to NU second baseman Eric Roeder who then proceeded to make an errant throw past first baseman Matt Thompson. The error allowed both runners to score and increased the OSU lead to 5-0.
Schara took the loss. He went eight innings, gave up five runs (four earned) and recorded six strikeouts.
Tomorrow the Buckeyes continue their Spring Break trip with a game against Fairleigh Dickinson 9 a.m. at Wynn Field.
