Ohio State Announces 2004 Baseball Schedule – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 10, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State head baseball coach Bob Todd announced the 2004 schedule Friday, a schedule which has the Buckeyes playing seven teams that played in NCAA regionals in 2003, including the season opener against Texas.
The Scarlet and Gray opens against the Longhorns, winners of the 2002 national championship, Feb. 13, at the Minute Maid College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The event features a six-team field – Ohio State, Houston and Rice, the 2003 national champion, in one bracket and Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas State in the other bracket. Each bracket plays the three teams in the other bracket, meaning Ohio State also will play Kansas State (Feb. 14) and Texas Tech (Feb. 15) without meeting Rice and Houston, which played one another in super regional play in 2003. Ohio State, Rice, Houston and Texas all played in super regionals. The three games at the home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros will mark the second straight year for the Buckeyes to have played in a major league stadium, having beaten Cleveland State last May at Jacobs Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians.
“We have an ambitious schedule,” Todd, who in his previous 16 seasons at Ohio State has guided the Buckeyes to 10 appearances in the NCAA tournament. “Playing Texas is a tremendous challenge and a great way to open the season. The quality of that tournament field is such that any of those teams could be in Omaha. It is a College World Series-caliber tournament.”
The next weekend, Ohio State will meet Richmond, Coastal Carolina and Kent State at Baseball at the Beach at Coastal Federal Field in Myrtle Beach, S.C., home of the single-A Braves’ Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Both Richmond and Coastal Carolina played in regionals a year ago. Richmond reached the final of the NCAA Palo Alto Regional against Stanford, while Coastal Carolina, played in the NCAA Lincoln Regional, along with Southwest Missouri State, which advanced to meet Ohio State in the Columbus Super Regional for the right to go to the College World Series. The Buckeyes last played Kent State at the 2002 NCAA South Bend Regional.
The traveling continues for Ohio State as it then goes to Jacksonville, Fla., March 5-7, for the Kennel Club Classic, where the team will play North Florida, Connecticut and Western Michigan. Then it is off to Mobile, Ala., March 12-14, for the Coca-Cola Classic, hosted by South Alabama. There, the Buckeyes will play McNeese State, which played at the regional at Rice last year, and host, South Alabama, which advanced to the final of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional against Florida State. Ohio State last played the Jaguars, eliminating them from regional play when they were the top seed at Notre Dame in 2002. Ohio State will conclude the event by squaring off against Winthrop.
The long road trip concludes with the annual spring break trip, this year to Boca Raton, Fla., where the Buckeyes will play a four-game schedule that has yet to be determined. Guaranteed though, is a game against Florida Atlantic, which played in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional last season.
“We felt like the team could rise to the challenge of this type of schedule,” Todd said. “We play seven teams that played in the NCAA tournament last season. The way we played in the postseason the last two years and having the number of veterans returning, should make for an interesting season for our fans.”
Ohio State will have a weekend off before opening up at home March 31, with the first of eight straight home Wednesday night games. That night’s opponent is Eastern Michigan. Oakland (April 7), Dayton (April 14), Wright State (April 21), Bowling Green (April 28), Detroit (May 5), Akron (May 12) and Cleveland State (May 19) also will visit Bill Davis Stadium for midweek games. Ohio State was 8-0 last season in home midweek games and outscored opponents 56-2, holding opponents scoreless for 49 consecutive innings.
The Buckeyes open the Big Ten regular season at home against Illinois April 2-4. Though Ohio State and Illinois have not met in conference play since 2001, they did meet last year in Bradenton, Fla. during spring break. The Illini won two of the three games. The Buckeyes then play at Purdue (April 9-11) and Michigan State (April 16-18). Ohio State swept four games from the Boilermakers last year in West Lafayette and claimed all four games against the Spartans in Columbus.
Michigan visits the Buckeyes April 23-25, coming to Columbus for the second straight year. Winning three of four games last season, the Wolverines became the first team to win a conference series against Ohio State in the seven-year history of Bill Davis Stadium.
Ohio State then goes to Indiana (April 30-May 2) before the Buckeyes close out the home portion of the Big Ten schedule with series against Penn State (May 7-9) and Northwestern (May 14-16). The Buckeyes conclude the conference schedule at Minnesota (May 21-23), which has claimed the last two Big Ten regular season championships. The Golden Golphers, which played in the NCAA Long Beach Regional, beat Ohio State three-of-four times the last week of the 2003 regular season before dropping the final two games of the conference tournament, giving the Buckeyes their sixth overall and second straight Big Ten Tournament title.
From there, the Buckeyes swept through the regional at Auburn, beating Clemson, a 2002 College World Series participant and No. 2 seed, once before taking two games from host and national No. 4 seed Auburn. That set up a home date against Southwest Missouri State in the second super regional in Columbus since the format was created in 1999. The Buckeyes came within two wins of the College World Series last year after falling in the regional final at Notre Dame in 2002.
The Buckeyes return seven position starters (Derek Kinnear, Paul Farinacci, Drew Anderson, Brett Garrard, Jedidiah Stephen, Cody Caughenbaugh and Mike Rabin) and the designated hitter (Steve Caravati) from last year’s team. Three of the four returning weekend starters also are back (Scott Lewis, Josh Newman and Chris Hanners). Lewis, a 2003 First Team All-American and the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, missed the final two weeks of the season after tearing a ligament in his pitching elbow. His return is not certain, though his rehabilitation is ahead of schedule. Mike Madsen, who started mostly midweek games last season and pitched in Lewis’ absence, also is back. The team, which returns 14 lettermen, welcomes 12 new faces to the roster, including 11 true freshmen.
Of the 56 games in the regular season, the Buckeyes will play 32 games outside of Columbus, leaving 24 games to be played at Bill Davis Stadium. Ohio State opens the season with 16 straight games away from home and will not play at home until March 31.
2004 Ohio State Baseball Schedule
| February | ||||
| 13 | Fri. | vs. Texas-1 | Houston, Texas | 4 p.m. |
| 14 | Sat. | vs. Kansas State-1 | Houston, Texas | Noon |
| 15 | Sun. | vs. Texas Tech-1 | Houston, Texas | 11 a.m. |
| 27 | Fri. | vs. Richmond-2 | Myrtle Beach, S.C. | Noon |
| 28 | Sat. | at Coastal Carolina-2 | Myrtle Beach, S.C. | 3:30 p.m. |
| 29 | Sun. | vs. Kent State-2 | Myrtle Beach, S.C. | Noon |
| March | ||||
| 5 | Fri. | at North Florida-3 | Jacksonville, Fla. | 7 p.m. |
| 6 | Sat. | vs. Connecticut-3 | Jacksonville, Fla. | 3:30 p.m. |
| 7 | Sun. | vs. Western Michigan-3 | Jacksonville, Fla. | 11 a.m. |
| 12 | Fri. | vs. McNeese State-4 | Mobile, Ala. | 3:30 p.m. |
| 13 | Sat. | at South Alabama-4 | Mobile, Ala. | 3:30 p.m. |
| 14 | Sun. | vs. Winthrop-4 | Mobile, Ala. | Noon |
| 20-24 | Sat.-Wed. | Spring Break Trip-5 | Boca Raton, Fla. | TBA |
| 31 | Wed. | Eastern Michigan | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| April | ||||
| 2 | Fri. | Illinois * | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 3 | Sat. | Illinois * (DH) | Columbus, Ohio | 4:05 p.m. |
| 4 | Sun. | Illinois * | Columbus, Ohio | 1:05 p.m. |
| 7 | Wed. | Oakland | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 9 | Fri. | at Purdue * | West Lafayette, Ind. | 4:05 p.m. |
| 10 | Sat. | at Purdue * (DH) | West Lafayette, Ind. | 2:05 p.m. |
| 11 | Sun. | at Purdue * | West Lafayette, Ind. | 2:05 p.m. |
| 14 | Wed. | Dayton | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 16 | Fri. | at Michigan State * | East Lansing, Mich. | 3:05 p.m. |
| 17 | Sat. | at Michigan State * (DH) | East Lansing, Mich. | 1:05 p.m. |
| 18 | Sun. | at Michigan State * | East Lansing, Mich. | 1:05 p.m. |
| 21 | Wed. | Wright State | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 23 | Fri. | Michigan * | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 24 | Sat. | Michigan * (DH) | Columbus, Ohio | 4:05 p.m. |
| 25 | Sun. | Michigan * | Columbus, Ohio | 1:05 p.m. |
| 28 | Wed. | Bowling Green | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 30 | Fri. | at Indiana * | Bloomington, Ind. | 4:05 p.m. |
| May | ||||
| 1 | Sat. | at Indiana * (DH) | Bloomington, Ind. | 2:05 p.m. |
| 2 | Sun. | at Indiana * | Bloomington, Ind. | 2:05 p.m. |
| 5 | Wed. | Detroit | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 7 | Fri. | Penn State * | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 8 | Sat. | Penn State * (DH) | Columbus, Ohio | 4:05 p.m. |
| 9 | Sun. | Penn State * | Columbus, Ohio | 1:05 p.m. |
| 12 | Wed. | Akron | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 14 | Fri. | Northwestern * | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 15 | Sat. | Northwestern * (DH) | Columbus, Ohio | 4:05 p.m. |
| 16 | Sun. | Northwestern * | Columbus, Ohio | 1:05 p.m. |
| 19 | Wed. | Cleveland State | Columbus, Ohio | 6:35 p.m. |
| 21 | Fri. | at Minnesota * | Minneapolis, Minn. | 7:35 p.m. |
| 22 | Sat. | at Minnesota * (DH) | Minneapolis, Minn. | 5:05 p.m. |
| 23 | Sun. | at Minnesota * | Minneapolis, Minn. | 2:05 p.m. |
| 26-30 | Wed.-Sat. | Big Ten Tournament | Site of reg. season champ. | |
| June | ||||
| 4-6 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Regional | Site TBD | |
| 11-14 | Fri.-Mon. | NCAA Super Regional | Site TBD | |
| 18-28 | Fri-Mon. | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Schedule as of 10/9/03
All times EDT/EST subject to change.
All home games played at Bill Davis Stadium (Eighth season; capacity 4,450)
1-Minute Maid Park College Classic, Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
2-Baseball at the Beach, Coastal Federal Field, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
3-Kennel Club Classic, Jacksonville, Fla.
4-19th Annual Coca Cola Classic, Mobile, Ala.
5-Spring Break Trip, Boca Raton, Fla.
