Baseball Leaves Florida With a 13-Game Winning Streak – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 25, 2001
Box Score
BRADENTON, Fla. – Entering today’s game, the only thing standing between the Ohio State baseball team’s (16-4 overall) quest for a perfect Spring Break was the Harvard Crimson (2-8 overall) and ace pitcher Ben Crockett. The game began as a struggle as the first four innings featured a total of four ties and lead changes until the top of the fifth. All-American candidate Nick Swisher (So., Parkersburg, W.Va.) stepped to the plate and blasted a three-run home run to break a 3-3 tie and the Buckeyes never looked back. Stopper Cory Cox (Sr., Chillicothe, Ohio) slammed the door with a perfect ninth inning as the Buckeyes defeated the Crimson, 7-5, at Wynn Field on the campus of Manatee Community College. Ohio State finishes its Spring Break Trip with a 10-0 mark and now carry an impressive 13-game winning-streak.
“We have many team goals this season and one of them was to win every game on Spring Break,” Cox said. “It was a long week in Florida but we came to play every day and got the wins. In every situation this week someone different came through in clutch situations. We are still going to improve a lot this season but the important part of the season starts next weekend and we are right where we need to be.”
The Buckeyes quickly went to work in the top of the first inning. With one out, Mike Check (Sr., Bay Village, Ohio) lined a double to left-center field and then advanced to third base on a groundout by Swisher. Christian Snavely (Fr., Defiance, Ohio) followed and gave OSU a 1-0 lead by driving in Check with a double to the right field alley. The Crimson answered in the bottom half of the stanza when lead off hitter Joe Llanes hit a solo home run off OSU starting pitcher Kevin Goodrum (Sr., Mentor, Ohio) to tie the game at one. In the top of the second inning, OSU retook the lead. Lance Rolston (So., Athens, Ohio) led off with a single to center field and advanced to third base on a single by John Mayor (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.). Rolston then scored when Trent McIlvain (Sr., Louisville, Ohio) grounded into a double play.
In the top of the third inning, the Buckeyes added another run. With one out, Check lined a single to left field and proceeded to steal second base. Swisher followed with a single to right field, advancing Check on the play. Snavely then drove in OSU’s third run of the game on a slow groundout to first base. In the bottom half of the inning, Nick Carter tied the game with a two-run home run off of Goodrum.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Buckeyes broke the tie courtesy of the bomb by Swisher. With one out, Mike Harris (Sr., Hillsborough, N.C.) reached base on an infield single and then moved to second when Check coaxed a walk off of Crockett. Swisher stepped to the plate and drilled a 1-0 offering of a sign behind the right field wall to give OSU a 6-3 lead. Swisher leads the Big Ten Conference with nine home runs.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Buckeyes added another run when Mayor, who reached base on a single, scored on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Doug Dendinger (Jr., Greenwich, Ohio). In the bottom half of the inning, Harvard cut the OSU lead to 7-5 off a two-run home run by Trey Hendricks.
Goodrum did not factor into the decision. He went 3.1 innings, threw 70 pitches, gave up six hits, yielded three runs (all earned), walked a pair and recorded four strikeouts. Reliever Kyle Brown (So., Washington Court House, Ohio) picked up his second win of the season (2-0). He went. 2.2 innings, gave up one hit and a pair of runs. Brandon Steen (Jr., Hendersonville, Tenn.) pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth to set up Cox. The OSU fireman proceeded to pick up his fifth save of the season by pitching a hitless ninth inning. Harvard’s Crockett took the loss (0-2). In his second loss to Ohio State in 10 days, he went six innings, gave up 10 hits, seven runs (all earned), walked three and recorded four strikeouts.
On Wednesday, Ohio State returns home to Bill Davis Stadium and plays host to Birmingham Southern at 6:35 p.m.
