Buckeye Baseball Selected No. 3 Seed at Auburn Regional – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 26, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State drew a third seed and will open the NCAA Tournament at the Auburn Regional in Auburn, Ala. against the second-seeded Clemson Tigers Friday at 3:30 p.m. (EDT) game at Samford Stadium and Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park. Auburn and Princeton are the other two teams in the regional.
No. 1 seed Auburn will play No. 4 seed Princeton at 7:30 p.m. The loser’s of those two games will meet Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with the winners meeting at 4 p.m. The winner of Saturday’s first game will play the loser of the second game Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the Saturday night game would have to beat the undefeated team twice on Sunday to advance to a Super Regional against the winner of the Nebraska Regional, which includes Nebraska, Coastal Carolina, Southwest Missouri State and Eastern Michigan. The two Sunday games of the Auburn Regional will be played at 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., if a second championship game is necessary.
The second-seeded Buckeyes finished the Big Ten Tournament with a 4-1 record, beating Minnesota twice Sunday to win their second straight Big Ten Tournament and earn the Big Ten’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State enters the tournament with a 41-19 overall record after finishing second in its conference with a 20-12 record. The 41 wins are the most by the Buckeyes since they won 43 games in 2001 and marked the third time in the last five seasons that they have won at least 40 games. It was the ninth time in coach Bob Todd’s 16 years at Ohio State that his teams won at least 40 games.
This is the school’s 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the 10th, including four in the last five seasons, under Todd. Ohio State played six teams – Lamar (1-0), McNeese State (1-0), Wichita State (1-0), Eastern Michigan (2-0), Southwest Missouri State (0-1) and Minnesota (3-4) – in this year’s field of 64 and is 7-6 in those games.
The Buckeyes, winners of 28 of their last 37 games and have scored 40 runs in their last three games, are led on offense by First Team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Tournament selection Christian Snavely (Jr., Defiance, Ohio/Defiance). Snavely leads the team in batting average (.344), doubles (11), home runs (15), RBI (51), total bases (125), slugging percentage (.683), walks (57) and on-base percentage (.496). He also has six sacrifice flies and eight stolen bases to go with his second-best 63 hits. He trails Drew Anderson (So., Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) with his team-best 70 hits that include 11 doubles, four triples and seven home runs. His 17 stolen bases and 228 at bats also pace the team. The Buckeyes are hitting .294 as a team with 56 home runs, 11 of which came in the Big Ten Tournament.
Just like it was in the conference tournament, Ohio State will be without sophomore ace Scott Lewis (So., Washington Court House, Ohio/Washington), a national player of the year candidate. The Big Ten Pitcher of the Year tore his ulnar collateral ligament against Minnesota May 16 and will undergo surgery in Birmingham, Ala. Thursday. The Buckeyes responded well despite the left-hander’s absence in Minneapolis. Josh Newman (Jr., Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg), a Second Team All-Big Ten selection, picked up two wins in the Big Ten Tournament. He beat Michigan and Minnesota in the second championship game to improve to 7-5 on the year with a 3.78 ERA in 85 2/3 innings. He has 61 strikeouts and just 17 walks with seven complete games, including a shutout at Purdue. Matt Davis (So., Mason, Ohio/William Mason) picked up a win (3-1) and a save (11) in the tournament. As a staff, the Buckeyes have a 3.84 ERA.
Clemson, at 38-20 overall, finished fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with its 15-9 conference record. The Tigers were 0-2 in the ACC Tournament, dropping a 10-2 decision to North Carolina in the opener before losing 7-4 to Duke in an elimination game. Clemson, which advanced to the College World Series in 2002, is making its 17th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Clemson is 8-7 against ranked teams in 2003.
Brad McCann leads the Tigers with a .351 batting average and has started 57 of the team’s 58 games. The third baseman also leads the team in hits (84), at bats (239), doubles (21), RBI (66) and total bases (134). First baseman Michael Johnson has 12 of the team’s 53 home runs and has a team-best .589 slugging percentage. He is hitting .346 with 49 RBI and an on-base percentage of .514. Clemson is hitting .311 as a team. On the mound, the Tigers have a 4.02 ERA and are led by Tyler Lumsden, who is 8-2 with a 3.62 ERA. In 79 2/3 innings, the left-handed pitcher has 69 strikeouts with 31 walks, while allowing 74 hits. Jason Berken (RHP) is 4-2 with a 3.09 ERA and Steven Jackson (RHP) is 7-3 with a 4.27 ERA.
Auburn is 40-19 on the year, thanks to a 24-5 start to the season. The Tigers finished 18-12 to finish second in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division, behind first-place LSU, and then went 2-2 in the SEC eight-team tournament. Auburn opened with a 3-1 win over Vanderbilt then lost 7-5 to Alabama before rebounding for a 5-1 victory over South Carolina. Alabama then eliminated the Tigers 13-3 before going on to win the tournament championship. Auburn is making its seventh straight appearance and, like the Buckeyes, is making their 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Tug Hulett leads the Tigers with a .373 batting average. He also paces the team with 87 hits, 23 of which have been for two bases. The team is hitting .304 with a 4.27 ERA. Leading the pitching staff is Levale Speigner, who is 9-0 with a 2.72 ERA. He has 45 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings.
Princeton won the Ivy League with its 15-5 record to go with an overall mark of 27-21. This third set of Tigers to appear in the Auburn Regional, took two of three games from Harvard in the league championship, May 10-11. Princeton is 1-9 against the five teams it played in the regular season that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. John Miller is the leading hitter with a .346 average on a squad that is hitting .266 as a unit. He has 55 hits with 13 doubles and a team-best 32 RBI. On the mound, the Tigers have a 4.94 ERA and are led by Thomas Pauly, who is 6-1 with a 1.25 ERA. He has 73 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings. He has walked 23 batters and has allowed 30 hits.
Ohio State is a combined 8-15 all time against the Auburn Regional field. The only series lead the Buckeyes hold is against Princeton, in which they have a 3-1 edge. They are 4-10 vs. Clemson and 1-4 vs. Auburn.
Tickets for the Auburn Regional are available by calling the Auburn Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-282-1957, ext. 1, or online at www.auburntigers.com. Regional ticket books are $60 and go on sale Tuesday, May 27. All orders will include a $6 handling fee. Single-game tickets for the Auburn Regional will go on sale Thursday, May 29 at 8 a.m. Single game tickets are $15 for the public.
NCAA Auburn Regional (All Times EDT) Friday, May 30 Game 1 – 3:30 p.m. No. 3 Ohio State (41-19) vs. No. 2 Clemson (38-20) Game 2 – 7:30 p.m. No. 4 Princeton (35-23) vs. No. 1 Auburn (40-19)
Saturday, May 31 Game 3 – 12:30 p.m. Loser of game one versus loser of game two Game 4 – 4 p.m. Winner of game one versus winner of game two Game 5 – 7:30 p.m. Winner of game three versus loser of game four
Sunday, June 1 Game 6 – 2:30 p.m. Winner of game four versus winner of game five Game 7 – 6 p.m. if necessary
