Baseball Opens Home Season at Bill Davis Stadium – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – After playing its six games of the season on the road, No. 31 Ohio State stays at home this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders Friday and Saturday against Detroit and Eastern Michigan at Bill Davis Stadium.
The Buckeyes, which evened their season record to 3-3 after going 2-1 at the Mardi Gras Ball Baseball Classic last weekend in Lafayette, La., will play a split doubleheader with Detroit followed by Eastern Michigan beginning at 1 p.m. On Saturday, Ohio State will play host the two teams again, but in reverse order. OSU and Eastern Michigan will throw out the first pitch at 1 p.m. and will be followed by a contest with Detroit.
Detroit and Eastern Michigan are off to identical 2-6 starts to the 2003 campaign. Detroit comes in fresh off an eight-game trip to Homestead, Fla., where it opened its season, while the Eagles from Eastern Michigan have not played since Feb. 22.
ABOUT THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State is 3-3 on the year after getting wins against Louisiana-Lafayette and Wichita State sandwiched around a loss to McNeese State. The Buckeyes defeated the Ragin’ Cajuns 7-3, lost to McNeese State 5-3 and then upset No. 24 Wichita State 3-2.
Shortstop Brett Garrard leads the team with a .318 batting average. He is 7-of-22 with a pair of triples and two RBI. He has 11 total bases and a slugging percentage of .500. Derek Kinnear is batting .300 with six hits in 20 at bats and has three RBI. As a team, the Buckeyes are hitting .248 through the first six games. Last weekend in Louisiana, Ohio State hit .269, led by Kinnear’s 5-of-11 performance (.455). He was joined by Mike Rabin and Drew Anderson with five hits. The Buckeyes hit home runs a week ago. Anderson, Paul Farinacci and Christian Snavely went deep for the Buckeyes.
Starting pitching continues to be a strength for Ohio State. Only Scott Lewis (2-0), Josh Newman (0-1) and Nate Smith (1-1) have started games so far. The trio has a collective ERA of 2.75 and has allowed only earned 12 runs in six games. Lewis owns a 1.29 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 14.0 innings, while Smith has a 3.29 ERA with six strikeouts in 13.2 innings of work. Newman is sitting with a 3.75 ERA with five strikeouts in 12.0 innings. Buckeye relievers, on the other hand, have given up 20 earned runs in 12.1 innings and have a 33.06 ERA.
AGAINST DETROIT
Ohio State and Detroit have met 10 times on the diamond and the Buckeyes own a 7-3 advantage in the series. OSU won two of the three games a year ago after sweeping three games from the Titans in 2001.
LAST YEAR VS. DETROIT
The two teams met in a three-game series last March here in Columbus, with Ohio State taking two of the three games. Detroit took the first game of a Saturday doubleheader by a score of 6-4 and then the Buckeyes rebounded to win 10-0 in the nightcap. OSU won the Sunday single game 7-2. Scott Lewis and E.J. Larrata got the wins for Ohio State. In the series, Brett Garrard was 5-for-9 with a double, triple and home run for 11 total bases and a slugging percentage of 1.222. The 10-0 shutout victory was the 700th win in Bob Todd’s career.
ABOUT THE TITANS
Detroit is 2-6 on the year after opening the season March 1-8 at the Homestead Challenge in Homestead, Fla. The Titans took a pair of games against Mount St. Mary’s, but lost to Purdue, Pittsburgh (twice), Sacred Heart (twice) and Seton Hall.
Tim Andrzejak leads the team with a .409 batting average. He is 9-of-22 with a double and one RBI. Three other batters – Todd Kalmbach (.333), Tim Poley (.321) and Roger Wechter (.310) are the lone hiters perched above .300 on a team that is hitting .236 as a unit.
On the mound, Tim Poley has pitched 7.2 innings and owns an ERA of 1.17. Keith Astrauckas has a 2.57 and a 1-1 record in 14.0 innings while Michael Girimonte has a 3.48 ERA with a 0-1 record in 10.1 innings of work. Astrauckas has a team-leading nine strikeouts. The pitching staff has a collective 5.91 ERA with 39 strikeouts in eight games.
AGAINST EASTERN MICHIGAN
This will be the fifth-ever meeting between Ohio State and Eastern Michigan. The Buckeyes have a 3-1 edge in the series, which began in 1992. The last meeting went the way of the Eagles as they took a 10-7 victory on May 2, 2001. Ohio State won 13-10 in 1992, 4-1 in 1997 and 9-1 in 2000.
ABOUT THE EAGLES
Eastern Michigan is also 2-6 on the year, but unlike Detroit, which last played March 8, the Eagles haven’t been able to play since Feb. 22. After dropping three games to Florida International, EMU took two of three at Florida Atlantic. In their most recent outings, Feb. 21-22, the Eagles fell to Kansas, which was then ranked No. 21, 6-2 and 3-1.
As a team, Eastern Michigan is batting .249. Leading the pack is Derrick Peterson, who is 10-for-23 with four doubles and two RBI. His slugging percentage of .609 leads the squad. Preseason NCBWA All-America honrees Brian Bixler and Ryan Goleski are batting .367 and .286, respectively. That tandem is also listed among the Top 100 Prospects by Baseball America.
The pitching staff has a combined 5.27 ERA and is led by Dale Hayes, who is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 17.0 innings. Dave Pieron is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 18.2 innings and Anthony Tomey is 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA in 16.1 innings. The three of those pitchers have pitched a minimum of 15.0 innings. Pieron has a team-best 16 strikeouts.
IN HOME OPENERS
Since Bob Todd took over as the head coach at Ohio State in 1988, the Buckeyes are 12-4 in home openers. Detroit handed OSU a 6-4 defeat last season which was the first loss in a home opener since the 1998 season when Ohio Wesleyan handed the Buckeyes a 10-7 loss. Ohio State has beaten Ohio Wesleyan (1999), Shawnee State (2000) and Detroit (2001) in the last five home openers. Since Bill Davis Stadium opened in 1997, OSU is 4-2 in home openers.
AT BILL DAVIS STADIUM
The Buckeyes were 15-10 last year at Bill Davis Stadium and that included a 10-6 mark in Big Ten play. Over the years, the stadium has been extremely kind to Ohio State. Now in their seventh year in the Stadium, the Buckeyes are 116-36, a win percentage of .763. That includes a 63-28 mark against conference foes. Ohio State is 53-8 against non-conference opponents at Bill Davis Stadium.
LOOKING FOR FOURTH STARTER
This weekend marks the first weekend of the season that the Buckeyes will need four starting pitchers. Scott Lewis, Josh Newman and Nate Smith will throw this weekend in that order, but the game four starter has yet to be determined.
Senior right-handed pitcher Greg Prenger could be a logical choice. He was a Third Team All-Big Ten selection in 2001 after proving to be consistent, but missed last year after surgery on his right shoulder. He has a career record of 9-5 in 30 appearances, 19 of which came in a starting capacity. His career ERA is 3.73 in 135.0 innings. He has 83 career strikeouts.
Another choice could prove to be Trent Luyster, a sophomore lefty, who made just one start last year as a freshman. While he made seven appearances, what has the coaches excited is the way he pitched in the fall practice. In the Scarlet and Gray World Series, he appeared for 1.0 inning in a 5-1 win by his team (Gray) and gave up just one hit with a strikeout against the three batters he faced.
Senior captain Kyle Brown could also factor into the four-man starting rotation at some point. He has eight career starts in 38 appearances. He is 8-3 overall with a 5.04 ERA in 84.0 career innings. Matt Davis and Chris Hanners have three starts to their credit as well.
SNAVELY NAMED TOP 100 PROSPECT
Baseball America named Christian Snavely to their Top 100 College Prospects list entering the 2003 season. Snavely, who last year played second base, was ranked 64th by the baseball magazine. The junior from Defiance, Ohio, can play a plethora of positions and has already seen time at first and third in addition to left field this season. Snavely batted .360 last season and owns a career batting average of .330 with 127 hits, 19 doubles, seven triples and 19 home runs, not to mention 87 RBI. This season he has just three hits in 20 at bats for a .150 average.
OSU UPSETS NO. 24 WICHITA ST.
Christian Snavely coaxed a bases loaded walk off Wichita State reliever Mike Dennison in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Ohio State a 3-2 victory over the No. 24 Shockers Sunday afternoon in the finale of the Mardi Gras Ball Baseball Classic.
Mike Rabin led off the ninth inning with a base hit to left-centerfield and then was bunt over by Derek Kinnear. After a fly out by Wes Schirtzinger to left field, Dennison intentionally walked Drew Anderson. An error on Wichita State third baseman Cody Clark loaded the bases and then Snavely drew a walk to score the winning run.
It was a strange conclusion for a game in which both teams benefited from a pair of solo home runs for the entire offensive run production prior to the winning run.
Anderson and Snavely both homered for the Buckeyes, while Drew Moffitt and Logan Sorenson went long for Wichita State. The home run by Anderson was the first of his career as a left-handed batter and was the first run allowed by Wichita State starter Mike Pelfrey, who had not allowed a run in his first 18 innings of the season.
Nate Smith went the distance for Ohio State, striking out only four batters in 9.0 innings. He allowed the two runs on five hits.
McNEESE ST. BEATS BUCKEYES 5-3
McNeese State scored three times in the bottom of the eighth inning to claim a seesaw battle with Ohio State by a final score of 5-3 last Saturday.
The Buckeyes took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth when Steve Caravati scored on a passed ball after singling to lead off the inning. He stole second and had advanced to third on a wild pitch.
But as quickly as Ohio State claimed the lead, the Cowboys tied the game and added another two runs to take a 5-3 lead and put the pressure on the Buckeyes to even the score in its final at bat. Ohio State failed to plate a run despite a two-out infield single by Derek Kinnear. The game ended on a fly out by Drew Anderson.
Kinnear was the offensive star for the Buckeyes. His three hits in four at bats led the Buckeye attack as he was the only OSU player with multiple hits.
Mike Madsen was saddled with the loss for Ohio State. He allowed three runs in 0.2 innings with one strikeout and a walk. He came on in the eighth inning in relief of starter Josh Newman, who pitched 7.0 innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on six hits.
OSU WINS 7-3 AT UL-LAFAYETTE
Scott Lewis pitched another gem and Ohio State banged out 13 hits in helping the Buckeyes to a 7-3 victory over host Louisiana-Lafayette last Friday in the opening game of the Mardi Gras Baseball Classic in Lafayette, La.
Lewis struck out eight and walked two in 7.0 innings, while allowing just one run on three hits against the Ragin’ Cajuns. It was his second win of the season and his 10th win of his Buckeye career.
Ohio State, which scored only nine runs in the opening three games of the season, came out swinging. Despite leaving two runners stranded in the first inning, the Buckeyes got it going in the second frame. A single to shallow centerfield by Wes Schritzinger scored both Terry Pettorini and Brett Garrard to give the Buckeyes an early 2-0 lead. Pettorini was hit by a pitch and then moved to third on a Garrard single to shallow right field. The Buckeyes left the bases full in the inning.
Garrard’s triple off the base of the wall in left-centerfield to lead off the fourth inning led to another run. Garrard scored on a base hit by catcher Derek Kinnear, giving the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead. Another Ohio State run plated in the fifth to extend the OSU lead to 4-0. Lewis departed after the seventh with a 4-1 lead.
Garrard was 3-for-4 with and RBI and scored twice while Drew Anderson finished the game 3-for-5 and scored one time. Mike Rabin and Caravati each finished with a pair of hits each.
BUCKEYES DROP TWO IN TEXAS
Ohio State opened the season with a 5-3 win over Lamar, but dropped its next two games, losing 5-1 to Oklahoma and 18-3 to Southwest Missouri State at the Tournament of Champions Cardinal Classic Feb. 28-March 1 in Beaumont, Texas.
On Friday, Scott Lewis struck out 11 batters and Ohio State banged out 10 hits in 5-3 opening night win over Lamar. The sophomore, who was 8-2 with 91 strikeouts last season in earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, struck out three in the first inning, and added a pair of strikeouts in the fourth and seventh innings.
Oklahoma capitalized on solid hitting, an Ohio State error and a pair of balks in getting past the Buckeyes 5-1 Saturday. A home run by Jay Yaconetti in the fifth gave the Sooners a 5-0 lead. Ohio State finally got on the board in the sixth inning after designated hitter Paul Farinacci doubled to left-centerfield to lead off the inning. Jedidiah Stephen hit a shot through the right side to move Farinacci to third. He scored on a fielder’s choice by Brett Garrard.
On Sunday, Southwest Missouri State scored three times in the third inning and then added solo runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and scored twice in the eighth and 10 times in the ninth en route to an 18-3 win over Ohio State.
Jedidiah Stephen’s single in the bottom of the fourth inning scored Terry Pettorini and Wes Schirtzinger to pull the Buckeyes within 3-2, that was as close as it got as OSU starting pitcher Nate Smith lasted only 4.2 innings. The Bears touched up Buckeye relievers for 15 runs in the final five innings, including a 10-run ninth inning.
IN SEASON OPENERS
With the 5-3 victory at Lamar, he Buckeyes improved to 9-7 in season openers under Bob Todd, who took over the program prior to the 1988 season. The victory in the season opener was the second consecutive opening day win for the Buckeyes, who defeated UAB 2-0 last season in Starkville, Miss. In 120 years of Ohio State baseball, the Buckeyes are 74-44-2 (.625) in season openers.
2003 OUTLOOK:
PITCHING TO BE STRENGTH
The mound will be the strength of the Buckeyes in 2003 as they return a pair of eight-game winners and another who did not lose a game until his final outing of the year. Preseason All-America pick Scott Lewis, who earned the distinction as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was a first-team all-league selection last season, led the team in ERA (2.84) and in strikeouts (91). He was 8-2 on the year, winning his last eight decisions.
Also back are right-handed pitcher Nate Smith, a First Team All-Big Ten selection, and left-handed pitcher Josh Newman, who earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors. Smith went 6-1 with a 3.12 ERA as the Buckeyes’ fourth starter and Newman finished 8-4 with a 4.47 ERA in a team-high 94.2 innings.
AT THE PLATE
At the plate and in the field, junior Christian Snavely is the top returnee. With a batting average of .360, the second team all-conference selection is at the top among returning players and had 81 hits in 2002, the most of the team. He had a team-high five triples and added 13 doubles and 10 home runs. He is expected to move from second base and his athleticism will allow him to play in the outfield or in the infield at first or third.
Sophomore Drew Anderson and junior Brett Garrard anchored the left side of the infield, but Anderson, who had 37 RBI and made the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, will move to second base in place of Snavely.
Joining sophomore Mike Rabin in the outfield will be sophomore Steve Caravati. Caravati, a Big Ten All-Tournament selection in 2001 who batted .346 for the year, but missed the 2002 season because of an elbow injury, will take over in centerfield. Rabin, who batted .391 for the year, was a clutch performer at the plate in Big Ten games, when he had a .373 batting average.
THE CAPTAINS
Senior pitchers Kyle Brown, Greg Prenger and Nate Smith, as well as junior infielder/outfielder Christian Snavely will share captain duties for the 2003 Buckeyes. All captains were selected by a vote of the team at the conclusion of fall practice in October.
LEWIS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Left-handed pitcher Scott Lewis received preseason mention as a Third Team Preseason All-American as selected by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Lewis, the 2002 Big Ten Freshman of the Year was a First Team All-Big Ten selection and finished the year with an 8-2 record and a team-best 2.84 ERA. Lewis finished the year with a Buckeye-best 91 strikeouts in 92.0 innings and was named to the all-tournament teams at the Big Ten Tournament and at the South Bend Regional.
SIX ALL-BIG TEN SELECTIONS RETURN
Ohio State will be aided by the return of six All-Big Ten selections. Nate Smith and Scott Lewis were First Team All-Big Ten honorees last season, while Christian Snavely and Josh Newman garnered second team mention. Add Steve Caravati, a second team selection in 2001 and Greg Prenger, a third team honors recipient from 2001, and the Buckeyes will be bolstered by a total of six former all-conference selections.
WHICH FRESHMAN WILL STEP UP THIS YEAR?
For the past four years and seven years since the inception of the award in 1988, Ohio State has been the home of the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. No other school has had more than two recipients.
Last year for the Buckeyes, it was left-handed pitcher Scott Lewis. Other previous winners include: Doug Deeds (2001), Nick Swisher (2000), E.J. Laratta (1999), Dan Seimetz (1995), Matt Beaumont (1992) and Scott Klingenbeck (1990).
Ohio State welcomes nine freshmen for the 2003 season: pitchers Doug Carpenter and Trey Fausnaugh, catchers Phillip Mattingly and Greg Uland, infielders Kris Moorman, Wes Schirtzinger and Jedidiah Stephen, and outfielders Jacob Howell and Drew Thomas.
SCARLET AND GRAY WORLD SERIES
Team Gray defeated Team Scarlet 5-1 in game three to win the Scarlet and Gray World Series at Bill Davis Stadium, 2-1. The Gray squad took a 2-1 victory in the opener, but dropped a 2-1 decision to the Scarlet in the second game.
For the series, Paul Farinacci of Team Gray, went 5-for-9 with a pair of runs batted in. Four other players had four hits apiece, including Christian Snavely, who had a home run and double in the first game of the series. Derek Kinnear, Drew Anderson and Doug Larason also had four hits in the series.
Scott Lewis earned the win in the opening game for the Gray team. He struck out seven batters in 6.0 innings. In Game 2, Kyle Brown evened the series after going the distance. He scattered six hits with two strikeouts. Freshman Doug Carpenter got the decisive win for the Gray in Game 3. In 6.0 innings, he allowed five hits, the solo Scarlet run and recorded three strikeouts.
LAST SEASON
Ohio State might not have won the 2002 Big Ten regular season championship, but the Buckeyes got the better end of the deal when they qualified for their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. That reward came when Ohio State claimed the Big Ten Tournament Championship May 25 at Minnesota’s Siebert Field with a 6-3 victory over the Golden Gophers, which had won the regular season championship by .22 percentage points in front of the Buckeyes the final weekend of the regular season at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus.
OSU was the only team from the conference to earn a bid to NCAA Tournament. Ohio State drew the third seed at the South Bend Regional, but lost its first-round game to second-seeded Notre Dame before bouncing back to win elimination games over Kent State, the fourth seed, and top-seeded South Alabama. Notre Dame beat the Buckeyes to advance to the Super Regional and ultimately the College World Series.
Along the way, several Buckeyes picked up honors. Eight OSU players were named to the All-Big Ten teams, including Nick Swisher, Scott Lewis and Nate Smith, which all three garnered first-team honors. Lewis was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year (the fourth straight such honoree from Ohio State) and Joe Wilkins was voted the Most Outstanding Player at the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes landed six on the 12-member all-tournament team. Additionally, Lewis was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.
DRAFTED BUCKEYES
Three Buckeyes were selected in the 2002 MLB First-Year Player Draft, including first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher, who was the 16th overall selection by the Oakland Athletics. He is the highest draft selection in OSU history. Additionally, outfielder Doug Deeds was taken in the ninth round by the Minnesota Twins and right-handed pitcher E.J. Laratta was taken in the 26th round by the San Diego Padres. Catcher Joe Wilkins signed a free agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
OHIO STATE TO RETIRE JERSEYS
This season, Ohio State will retire the baseball jerseys of players Fred Taylor and Steve Arlin and player and coach Marty Karow. The three jerseys will be the first retired in the Ohio State baseball program.
Taylor (1947-50) is best remembered as the head coach of Ohio State’s golden era of basketball after his teams made four Final Four appearances and won the 1960 NCAA Championship. However, Taylor wore No. 27 as a baseball player and became the school’s first baseball All-American in 1950.
Arlin (1965-66) is considered the top pitcher in Ohio State baseball history after posting a record of 24-3 in two his two years as a Buckeye. He held OSU marks for victories and strikeouts (294) until 1999 and his .889 winning percentage is the best in school history. He led the nation in strikeouts as a sophomore with 165. Arlin wore No. 22.
Karow (player 1925-27 and coach 1951-75) began his coaching career in 1951 and retired as the winningest coach in the history of the program in 1975 with 478 victories. Karow, who wore No. 13, guided the Buckeyes to a Big Ten championship and an appearance in the College World Series in his first season, but his career did not reach its peak until the mid-1960s when the team made three straight appearances in Omaha in 1965, 1966 and 1967. The 1966 season marked the only National Championship in school history.
BUCKEYES BEGIN 120TH SEASON
2003 marks the 120th season of Ohio State baseball, which first took to the field in 1880, though did not play any games in 1887, 1908 and 1910. Ohio State won its 2,000th game last season and entered this season with an overall record of 2,032-1,306-4, a win percentage of .607.
The Buckeyes have been to the NCAA Tournament of 15 times, four of which have ended with a trip to the College World Series. After finishing second in 1965, Ohio State won the 1966 CWS, its only national championship in baseball. Other appearances in the CWS were in 1951 and 1967. In the NCAA Tournament, OSU is 35-31 (.530)
In Big Ten play, the Buckeyes own a 751-561-2 record, a win percentage of .572. A total of 15 times, Ohio State has won the regular Big Ten title and another six times has won the Big Ten Tournament, including last season when it won the tournament championship at Minnesota.
NEXT ACTION
Ohio State returns to the road next Thursday for a 10-day excursion to Bradenton, Fla. for the annual spring break trip. The trip includes, five non-conference games and the four-game Big Ten series against Northwestern.
The schedule opens March 21 with a 2 p.m. game against Vermont at the IMG Academies, at 53rd Ave. West and 43rd St. West in Bradenton. That will be the site for all of the games, with the lone exception being Saturday’s game against Eastern Kentucky. The two teams will meet at 2 p.m. at Ed Smith Stadium, the spring home to the Cincinnati Reds. That venue is located at 2700 12th Street (12th Street and Tuttle Avenue), in Sarasota, Fla.
Ohio State then returns to the IMG Academies for a three-game non-conference series against Illinois Sunday through Tuesday. All games will be played at Noon. The trip concludes Thursday through Saturday with a conference series against Northwestern. Each day, play will begin at 1 p.m. and will feature a doubleheader on Friday. The series was moved from Evanston, Ill., to ensure good weather the final weekend of March and because both teams were already scheduled to be in Bradenton.
The road swing doesn’t end there as OSU will travel to University Park, Pa. for a four-game set at Penn State, April 4-6. The next action for Ohio State at Bill Davis Stadium is Wednesday, April 9, when the Buckeyes play host to Oakland.
