Baseball Drills Detroit, 11-1, in Home Opener – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 9, 2001
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A frigid game time temperature of 37 degrees could not cool down the Ohio State baseball team’s (4-4 overall) attack as the Buckeyes defeated Detroit, 11-1, in the home opener at Bill Davis Stadium. OSU starting pitcher E.J. Laratta (Jr., Englewood, Colo.) was impressive in his third start of the season. The OSU ace (2-1) threw five shutout innings, gave up just four hits and recorded four strikeouts.
The Buckeyes took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Mike Harris (Sr., Hillsborough, N.C.) led off with a walk and proceeded to steal second base. A sacrifice bunt by Mike Check (Sr., Bay Village, Ohio) moved Harris to third base and Nick Swisher (So., Parkersburg, W.Va.) followed with another walk. Detroit starting pitcher David Wampler then gave OSU an early gift when he balked home to give OSU its first run of the afternoon. Doug Dendinger (Jr., Greenwich, Ohio) followed and lofted a ball to left field that was dropped by Detroit’s Matt Corbett to score Swisher. The OSU offense continued to churn when Lance Rolston (So., Athens, Ohio) walked and Doug Deeds (Fr., Bexley, Ohio) drilled a double down the right field line to score Dendinger. Two batters later, Joe Wilkins (Jr., Grove City, Ohio) spanked another double to score Deeds and give OSU a 5-0 lead.
OSU added more runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning. With one out, Wilkins lined a single to left field and moved to third on a double by Trent McIlvain (Sr., Louisville, Ohio). The duo then scored on a double to left field by Harris to increase the OSU lead to 7-0. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Deeds led off with a double and later scored on a ground ball hit by Wilkins.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Christian Snavely (Fr., Defiance, Ohio) gave OSU a 9-0 lead with a RBI single to center field.
OSU added a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Detroit’s Wampler took the loss. He went seven innings, gave up 10 hits, nine runs (six earned), walked six and recorded three strikeouts.
Tomorrow, the two teams play a doubleheader at 1 p.m.
