Ohio State Begins Big Ten Season at Indiana and Purdue – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 29, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Big Ten season begins this weekend for the Ohio State softball team with games at Indiana and Purdue. The Buckeyes (16-12) will face the Hoosiers (13-11-1) at 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday in Bloomington before taking on the Boilermakers (19-16) in a double-header beginning at noon Sunday in West Lafayette.
GameTracker will have all four games live at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
The Buckeyes have won seven of their last nine games and are 7-3 on opponent’s home fields this season, which includes a win at No. 6 Alabama March 3. Indiana is 2-2 at home and has already matched its win total from all of last season, while Purdue will play its home opener Friday against Penn State and leads the Big Ten in team batting average (.297).
Following the road trip this weekend, Ohio State will play 18 of its next 19 games at home.
CHECKING THE SCHEDULE
This week marks the final week of the regular season in which Ohio State will not play a midweek game. Meanwhile, Purdue won 2-0 at Butler Tuesday and Indiana travels to Illinois-Chicago Wednesday. Ohio State’s Big Ten travel partner, Penn State, plays at Purdue Friday and Saturday before the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions switch opponents for double-headers Sunday.
OHIO STATE AT A GLANCE
After seeing its record slip under the .500 mark at 9-10 March 5, Ohio State won seven consecutive games before seeing its win streak snapped on the final day of its spring break in Los Angeles last Saturday. Junior Megan Schwab leads Ohio State with a .365 average, a .438 on-base percentage and a .553 slugging percentage. Freshman Courtney Pruner has driven in a team-best 16 runs and her four home runs are tied for the team-lead with junior Jamee Juarez. Two pitchers, Juarez and freshman Kim Reeder, have combined to start OSU’s 28 games. Juarez is 9-6 with a 2.86 ERA, while Reeder is 7-6 with a 1.99 ERA.
OSU returns 11 letterwinners and welcomes four newcomers in 2006 for head coach Linda Kalafatis, who is in her tenth season. The Buckeyes were 32-17 overall in 2005 and finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 9-7 league mark. OSU ranked among the NCAA’s Top 13 in six categories, including scoring (8th, 5.8 runs/game).
BIG TEN AT A GLANCE
Penn State is off to its best start in school history and sits atop the Big Ten with an 18-4 record in the final week before league games begin. All 11 teams will be in conference action this opening weekend, with defending Big Ten and national champion Michigan getting the Friday-Saturday bye. Elsewhere, Iowa is at Illinois and Northwestern, Minnesota is at Michigan State and Michigan, while Wisconsin is at Northwestern and Illinois.
BUCKEYES EXCEL ON OPPONENT’S TURF
The Buckeyes will put their 7-3 road record on the line this weekend in their Big Ten openers. The road wins include Feb. 10 at New Mexico State (11-1), Feb. 19 at Stetson (5-2), March 3 at No. 6 Alabama (3-1) and in double-header sweeps at Loyola Marymount March 22 (5-2, 2-1) and at Long Beach State March 24 (2-0, 2-1). Statistically, OSU pitchers have an ERA that is 2.13 better in road games than in neutral site games (3.65-1.52).
OSU VS. IU ALL-TIME SERIES NOTES
Ohio State is 26-49-2 all-time against Indiana but has won nine of the last 10 meetings between these two schools. The Buckeyes took two games from the Hoosiers last year in Columbus. OSU’s last sweep in Bloomington was in 2002, while Indiana’s last sweep came in 1999 in Bloomington.
Year Location Winner Score 2005 Columbus OSU 3-2 2005 Columbus OSU 4-0 2004 Bloomington IU 4-1 2004 Bloomington OSU 6-4 2003 Columbus OSU 9-0 2003 Columbus OSU 8-1
OSU VS. PURDUE SERIES NOTES
Ohio State is 13-8 all-time against Purdue, with their first meeting coming in 1995. The Buckeyes are 6-1 all-time in West Lafayette and last swept the Boilermakers there in 2001. Last year in Columbus, OSU won the first game, 6-1, to extend its winning-streak to six games over the Boilermakers, before Purdue won the nightcap, 8-0. Purdue has one sweep over OSU in its history, that coming in 1999 in Columbus.
Year Location Winner Score 2005 Columbus Purdue 8-0 2005 Columbus OSU 6-1 2004 West Lafayette OSU 6-4 2002 Columbus OSU 6-5 2002 Columbus OSU 7-1
OSU IN BIG TEN OPENING SERIES
Ohio State’s last sweep in its Big Ten-opening series was at home against Indiana in 2003. Last year the Buckeyes dropped two games at Wisconsin to open Big Ten play but responded with two wins at Minnesota on the same trip. In addition to the IU sweep in 2003, Ohio State has one other Big Ten opening series sweep under 10th-year coach Linda Kalafatis, that coming in 2002 at Michigan State.
A LOOK AT THE COMPETITION
Indiana is 13-11-1 overall (at Illinois-Chicago Wed.) and 8-3 in their last 11 games. The Hoosiers were 13-41 overall last year and 2-18 in the Big Ten (11th place). IU has 15 letterwinners back for second year head coach Stacey Phillips, who is a 2000 Michigan State graduate. The Hoosiers tied No. 10 Oklahoma 11-11 Feb. 17, beat No. 15 Nebraska 2-1 March 11 and beat No. 25 North Carolina 1-0 March 12. Senior Pitcher Mariangee Bogado (7-4, 2.01 ERA) was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week March 13 after she led the Hoosiers to the title of the Florida State Invitational with four wins. Bogado’s 23 strikeouts against South Florida earlier this season set a new school record and her 139 strikeouts on the season rank second in the Big Ten. Senior Lauren Hines’ .421 average leads the IU offense and ranks third in the Big Ten.
Purdue is 19-16 and is 8-3 in its last 11 games. The Boilermakers have scored eight or more runs in 10 games already this season and rank among the Big Ten’s best offensive clubs with a league-best .297 team batting average. Purdue was 34-24-1 last year (10-10 Big Ten) and have 14 returning letterwinners for first-year head coach Kim Maher (Fresno State, 1995). Senior Tricia Lilley (.347) leads the Purdue offense and is tied with teammate Staci Falzon (.339) for the Big Ten lead in hits (37). Sophomore DaQueta Johnson leads the Big Ten in RBI (32) and ranks second in home runs (8). Senior Diana LaRiva (8-7, 2.28 ERA) and junior Brooke Baker (10-8, 2.49) lead the pitching staff, with Baker leading the Big Ten in innings pitched (123.2).
LAST YEAR AGAINST IU AND PURDUE
Ohio State swept Indiana last year in Columbus, 4-0 and 3-2. Jamee Juarez pitched both games, striking out five in the first game for her 19th win of the season and fanning nine in the second game for her 20th win. Billie Carder’s two-run homer propelled the Buckeyes to a win in game one, and a two-run double by then-senior Karisa Evans erased a 2-1 IU lead in game two as the Buckeyes came from behind to win.
Against Purdue, Juarez won the first game of the double-header at Buckeye Field with a two-hit, eight-strikeout performance. The Buckeyes scored twice in the third inning and added three runs in the fourth to pull away. In the nightcap, Purdue knocked Juarez out in the fifth inning on its way to an 8-0 win in six innings.
OSU-OPPONENT CONNECTIONS
Indiana’s Stephanie Pellerito and Purdue’s Diana LaRiva are from Tustin, Calif., a southeast suburb of Los Angeles, as are Ohio State’s Nycole Koyano (Walnut), Stacy Hibma (Buena Park), Jamee Juarez (La Puente) and Liz Caputo (Riverside). Purdue’s DaQueta Johnson is from Ontario, Calif., an eastern suburb of L.A. and only 16 miles from Koyano’s hometown of Walnut. Purdue’s Erika Peterson is from Irvine, Calif., about 25 miles south of Walnut. Purdue’s Tricia Lilley (North Canton, Ohio) and Ohio State’s Courtney Pruner (Akron, Ohio) grew up 20 miles apart.
SHORT HOPS…
Junior Jamee Juarez had pitched four career one-hitters heading into the first game at Long Beach State last Friday, during which she tossed her first career no-hitter. It was the first no-hitter thrown by an OSU pitcher since current assistant coach Kristi DeVries threw a five-inning perfect game against Wright State March 6, 2004. Junior Jamee Juarez tied a Big Ten and Ohio State record Feb. 25 with three home runs in a 6-0 win over No. 22 Oregon in Palm Springs. Her five RBI in that game are a career high.
After her first two outings this season, freshman pitcher Kim Reeder’s ERA was 5.40. Since then, however, she has lowered it to 1.99. Since those first two games, she has given up no more than one earned run in 12 of 16 appearances.
Junior Megan Schwab has at least one hit in 11 of her last 13 games and is batting .436 (17-for-39) during that stretch. Schwab’s .333 average with runners on base is tops on the team. With runners in scoring position, junior Billie Carder’s .296 average is tops.
Of Ohio State’s 16 wins, six have been come-from-behind efforts. Of Ohio State’s 102 RBI, 51 percent (52) have come with two outs. OSU pitchers saw their team ERA creep up to 4.11 after 11 games but now have lowered it to 2.60. The Buckeyes are 13-0 when leading after four innings. OSU is 12-3 when scoring three or more runs or when the opposition scores two or fewer runs. The Buckeyes’ 4-0 start matched their best four-game start in program history (1979). Ohio State went into extra-innings in four of its first six games of the season and went 2-2 in those contests. The Buckeyes won back-to-back games in extra-innings Feb. 11 for the first time among available records.
Freshman Courtney Pruner’s four walks vs. Central Michigan (March 18) tied the OSU record. Her first collegiate hit was a home run (Feb. 11) and she now has four homers on the season, which are tied for second-most in a season by a freshman in OSU history (Juarez in 2004). Pruner is the all-time home run leader in Ohio high school history.
Sophomore center fielder Liz Caputo suffered a broken tibia at Stetson Feb. 19 and is out four to six weeks.
BUCKEYES IN THE BIG TEN
In Big Ten statistics as of March 27, Ohio State ranked eighth in the Big Ten in batting (.251 avg.), eighth in pitching (2.60 ERA) and ninth in fielding (.955 pct.). The Buckeyes were tied for first in triples (5) and ranked third in home runs (21) and stolen bases (40).
Individually, Megan Schwab’s .365 average ranked sixth, her .438 on base percentage tied for sixth and her .553 slugging percentage ranked 10th. Courtney Pruner and Jamee Juarez were tied for seventh in home runs (4) and Pruner was tied for third in walks (14). Nycole Koyano ranked third in stolen bases (15) and tied for third in walks (14). Among Big Ten pitchers, Juarez ranks sixth in strikeouts (99) and Reeder ranks fifth in innings pitched (95.0).
KALAFATIS IN 10TH YEAR AT OSU
Ohio State head coach Linda Kalafatis is in her 10th season at the helm of the Buckeyes’ softball program in 2006. She is already OSU’s all-time wins leader with 311 victories in Columbus (311-221-0, .583), and her overall record stands at 584-336-2 (.639) in 18 years as a collegiate head coach. She is assisted by former Buckeyes Belinda Quisenberry and Kristi DeVries and former Nebraska All-American Ali Viola.
JUNIORS & BAKER IN OSU RECORD BOOK
Junior Jamee Juarez has nine wins this season to increase her career total to 47 and move past current OSU assistant coach Belinda Quisenberry (38 wins) and former Buckeye Genice Turley (39). Juarez is now third all-time in wins and ranks seventh on the innings pitched list (459.1).
Junior Megan Schwab has hit three home runs to increase her career total to 13, which ranks tied for fifth in OSU history. Ashley Cutcliff, a senior last year, ranks fourth with 14. Chelsea Baker has three homers this year to give her 10 for her career, which is tied for eighth with Wendy Allen.
Junior Nycole Koyano ranks tied for third in OSU history with 70 walks, fourth in stolen bases with 47 and eighth in runs scored with 90. She is already tied for ninth in career triples with seven and her next triple will tie her for fourth.
OSU WINS BUCKEYE INVITATIONAL
Ohio State won its home opener March 17, a 2-1 extra-inning victory over Kent State, on its way to a 3-0 record and championship of the Buckeye Invitational. OSU also topped Central Michigan 8-3 and Robert Morris 11-2 in the weather-shortened event. Pittsburgh also went 3-0 but Ohio State’s +15 run differential won the tie-breaker (Pitt was +13).
With the three wins, Ohio State remains perfect in the six years of the Invitational with a 22-0 record. Junior Jamee Juarez was named to the all-tournament team for the third-consecutive year and was joined by juniors Christina Douglas and Megan Schwab.
### GO BUCKS! ###
