Ohio State Announces 2003 Baseball Schedule – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 7, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State head baseball coach Bob Todd announced the 2003 schedule Thursday, a schedule that begins with the Buckeyes playing five of their first six games against teams that advanced to the 2002 NCAA Tournament. The 56-game slate also features the team’s first-ever game at Jacobs Field.
The Scarlet and Gray will open the season at the Tournament of Champions Cardinal Classic at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, Feb. 28-March 2. Ohio State will play Lamar, which played at the Austin (Texas) Regional; Oklahoma, which played at the Wichita (Kan.) Regional; and Southwest Missouri State, which played at the Lincoln (Neb.) Regional.
The next weekend, the Buckeyes will return to the South, this time for the Mardi Gras Ball in Lafayette, La. There, Ohio State will play host Louisiana-Lafayette, which played at the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional; Wichita State, which hosted the Wichita Regional; and McNeese State.
“Every year, we try to play a national schedule,” Todd said. “It helps us prepare for what lies ahead and that is our rough conference schedule.”
The following weekend, the Buckeyes open up the home portion of the schedule with a pair of nine-inning doubleheaders against Eastern Michigan and Detroit, March 14-15. Then it is back on the road for the annual Spring Break trip, which will feature six or seven games in Bradenton, Fla. Ohio State will stay in Bradenton to open the Big Ten season with a four-game series against Northwestern. The series, which was originally scheduled to be played in Evanston, Ill., was moved to Florida since both teams will be there finishing spring trips.
The Buckeyes will play another road conference series, at Penn State, April 4-6, before returning to Bill Davis Stadium for 11 straight home games, including a pair of conference meetings against Iowa (April 11-13) and Indiana (April 18-20). That homestand begins April 9 against Oakland in the first of six home Wednesday night games. Ohio State will also play Wooster (April 16), Shawnee State (April 23), Bowling Green (April 30), Cincinnati (May 7) and Cleveland State (May 14) in home midweek games. That Cleveland State game will be the second meeting between the two schools in 2003. The teams will meet for the first time in Cleveland in Ohio State’s first-ever appearance at Jacobs Field, a 2:05 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 6.
“As many people know, Cleveland State coach Jay Murphy was a graduate assistant here for me for a couple of years and was very loyal. I always told him I would do whatever I could to help build his program,” Todd, who has always tried to do things to help promote baseball throughout Ohio, said. “Playing a game at Jacobs Field is going to be a great experience for our players as well.”
Other conference games for the Buckeyes, include a series at Purdue, April 25-27, and two home series against Michigan (May 2-4) and Michigan State (May 9-11) before ending the regular season at Minnesota, which beat Ohio State by just percentage points to win the 2002 Big Ten regular season championship. The Big Ten Tournament, which Ohio State won last year in Minneapolis, will again be played at the home of the regular season champion, May 21-24.
NCAA Regional play is May 30-June 1 and the Super Regional weekend is June 6-8 at sites to be determined in late May. The College World Series will be played June 13-21 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
Last year, Ohio State advanced the NCAA regional final at the South Bend Regional against Notre Dame, but lost to the Irish, which wound up advancing to the College World Series.
The Buckeyes return four position starters (Drew Anderson, Brett Garrard, Mike Rabin and Christian Snavely) from last year’s team and three of four pitchers from the starting rotation (Scott Lewis, Josh Newman and Nate Smith). Lewis, the 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and Smith were First Team All-Big Ten selections, while Newman and Snavely garnered Second Team All-Big Ten honors. The team also welcomes 10 new faces to the roster, including eight true freshmen. Ohio State will also regain the services of outfielder Steve Caravati and Greg Prenger, who both missed last season after off-season surgeries. Caravati was a Big Ten Tournament selection, while Prenger was named Third Team All-Big Ten in 2001.
“Even though we will be young, this team should be very competitive,” Todd said. “We should be very strong on the mound with the pitchers that we have returning. We need to do well in the non-conference portion of the schedule, which means we will have to play well on the road.”
Of the 56 games in the regular season, the Buckeyes will play 30 games outside of Columbus, leaving 26 games to be played at Bill Davis Stadium. Ohio State will play at home only four times before April 9, but will then take to the road just twice until the final Big Ten series of the season, May 16-18 at Minnesota.
Complete 2003 Schedule
