Baseball Capitalizes on Harvard Pitching in 9-0 Victory – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 26, 2002
Box Score
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Ohio State finally got to Harvard starter Chenny Sheffield in the sixth inning and then took advantage of Crimson relief pitching on its way to a 9-0 victory at the Homestead Challenge Monday night. The Buckeyes had beaten Lafeyette 8-4 earlier in the day.
With runs at a premium, Ohio State used a balk by Sheffield to score its first run in the sixth inning. Christian Snavely (So., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) led off the inning with a base hit to left-center field and was then moved over to third by Doug Deeds (So., Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) who singled to right field. Snavely extended his hit streak to 13 games.
The balk scored Snavely from third and put Deeds on second. Nick Swisher (Jr., Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) flew out to left field and then Doug Dendinger (Sr., Greenwich, Ohio/South Central) deposited the first pitch he saw off the right field fence for the first home run of the season put the Buckeyes in command 3-0. Harvard pulled Sheffield in favor of Rob Wheeler, who pitched 2 2/3 innings allowing a fourth run to score in the eighth inning.
Terry Pettorini (So, Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) walked and was then scored from first on a double to right-center field by Lance Rolston (Jr., Athens, Ohio/Alexander) giving the Buckeyes a 4-0 lead.
Ohio State added another five runs in the ninth inning. Snavely drew a lead-off walk off T.J. Sevier, the third pitcher of the night for Harvard. Sevier threw a wild pitch and then balked sending Snavely to third. A base hit by Deeds scored Snavely. Deeds moved to second on a second balk by Sevier and then scored on a base hit up the middle by Swisher. Sevier then struck out Dendinger, but that Crimson opted for another pitching change, bringing Ryan Tsujikawa in to get the final two outs of the inning.
But Tsujikawa struggled like the rest of the Harvard pitching staff. He gave up back-to-back base hits by Larason and Mike Rabin (Fr., West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East). Rabin’s scored Larason and then the fourth balk by Crimson pitchers scored Rabin. Brett Garrard (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) knocked in Larason.
Dendinger finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI and Deeds was 2-for-4 with one RBI to lead the Buckeyes’ offense.
Nate Smith (Jr., Bryan, Ohio/Bryan) picked up the win for the Buckeyes, his first win this season. He pitched seven innings, giving up both of Harvard’s hits. All six of his strikeouts were in the first three innings of the game. Chris Hanners (Fr., Groveport, Ohio/Desales) pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Smith and Hanners sat Harvard batters down in order in six innings total, including the final three innings of the game.
Sheffield got the loss for Harvard and fell to 0-2 on the year as Harvard slipped to 1-8. The Crimson had beaten Northwestern earlier in the day for its first victory of the season. Ohio State will play host to Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams.
Ohio State closes out their appearance in the Homestead Challenge on Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. game vs. Florida International.
