Prenger and Lewis Named National Players of the Week – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 14, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State baseball pitchers Greg Prenger (Sr., Harpster, Ohio/Upper Sandusky) and Scott Lewis (So., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington) have been named “Louisville Slugger” National Players of the Week as released by Collegiate Baseball Monday.
Prenger retired all 21 batters he faced to post a 2-0 perfect game victory over Oakland in the second game of a doubleheader April 9 at Bill Davis Stadium. It was the first no-hitter by an Ohio State pitcher since Eric Thompson no-hit Michigan State on May 10, 1998 and believed to be the first perfect game in Ohio State’s 120-year history. It was the first perfect game coached by Ohio State head coach Bob Todd, who is in his 20th year as a collegiate head coach. There had only been seven previous no-hit games by Buckeye pitchers.
The right-handed pitcher struck out one batter in the first, two in the third, two in the fifth and one for the seventh out of the seventh and final inning. He had seven fly or pop outs and eight ground or line outs to go with the six strikeouts, which equaled the most in his career. He moved to 2-0 this year with the victory, which was also the 11th of his career against five losses. He has 4.43 season ERA and 16 strikeouts in 20.1 innings.
Lewis fanned 20 batters in nine innings as Ohio State beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 4-1 Friday night in the opening game of a four-game Big Ten series at Bill Davis Stadium. The 20 strikeouts tied the school record held by Steve Arlin, which he set in a 15-inning 1-0 victory over Washington State at the 1965 College World Series. Lewis, whose previous career high in strikeout was 12 last season against Purdue, had that total through the first five innings. He actually had a no-hitter going entering the sixth inning, giving the Buckeyes 12 innings of no-hit baseball in its last two games to go with Prenger’s seven innings of perfection. The left-hander moved to 5-0 with the two-hit complete game against the Hawkeyes. Iowa finished with just two hits. Lewis has a 1.59 ERA and now has 78 strikeouts in only 51.0 innings.
Winthrop’s Kevin Slowey also earned Louisville Slugger Player of the Week mention after striking out a school-record 19 batters against New York Tech in a 9-5 victory. The right-hander gave up four earned runs in the third inning but gave up one hit over the final six innings of the game.
Earlier Monday, Prenger and Lewis were announced as Big Ten Co-Pitchers of the Week.
Ohio State will take on the College of Wooster Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium before beginning a four-game Big Ten series against third-place Indiana Friday at 6:35 p.m. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 4:05 p.m. before concluding the series Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
