Buckeyes begin Big Ten play with four-game set vs. Iowa at Bill Davis Stadium – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2007
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Ohio State Buckeyes
14-3, 0-0 Big Ten
vs.
Iowa Hawkeyes
10-5, 0-0 Big Ten
March 30-April 1, 2007
Bill Davis Stadium (Capacity: 4,450)
Columbus, Ohio
Friday, March 30 – 6:35 p.m.
Saturday, March 31 (DH) – 1:05 p.m.
Sunday, April 1 – 1:05 p.m.
Series History:
Ohio State leads 61-40-1
Last Meetings: March 31-April 2, 2006; OSU 3-1
Radio/Internet
Games 1, 3 and 4: AM 920 WMNI & ohiostatebuckeyes.com and wmni.com
Game 2: ohiostatebuckeyes.com and wmni.com
Gametracker
ohiostatebuckeyes.com
After playing its first 16 games of the year in the state of Florida, Ohio State made its home debut Wednesday, beating in-state opponent Toledo, 18-5, at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes are 14-3 overall and have won 13 straight games.
Ohio State will remain home to kick off Big Ten action with a four-game set vs. Iowa Friday-Sunday at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes and Iowa will play a single game Friday at 6:35 p.m. ET, a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1:05 p.m., and wrap up the series with a single game Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
Three of the four Iowa games will be broadcast on radio on AM 920 WMNI. All four games will have audio available on ohiostatebuckeyes.com and wmni.com and be featured on Gametracker at ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Frank Fraas and former OSU baseball All-American Brian Mannino will call the action. AT BILL DAVIS STADIUM
The Buckeyes are 185-74 (.714) during the first 10-plus seasons in Bill Davis Stadium, which opened in 1997. The venue has played host to two Big Ten tournament championships (1999 and 2001), two regional championships (1999 and 2001) and two super regional championships (1999 and 2003).
Ohio State will play 24 games at Bill Davis Stadium in 2007. Toledo was the first of seven home midweek opponents, which also includes Cleveland State, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Xavier, Akron and a pair vs. North Florida. In addition to Iowa, three more conference opponents will visit Bill Davis Stadium this season. The Scarlet and Gray also welcome Michigan (April 13-15), Indiana (April 20-22) and Michigan State (May 4-6).
ABOUT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes have won 13 straight games, including the home opener vs. Toledo and all seven games on their just-completed spring break trip in Bradenton, Fla. In Florida, OSU played seven games in seven days from March 17-23, with a doubleheader on March 18 and an off day March 20.
In Bradenton, the Scarlet and Gray beat Bucknell (9-5), Jacksonville State (8-3), Dartmouth (6-3), Yale (11-3 and 16-10), Northwestern in a non-conference game (11-6) and Harvard (5-3).
In Bradenton, OSU hit .349 in the seven games and was led by Matt Angle, who hit .444 in the seven games. He was 12-for-27 with five RBI and 10 runs scored. He also added seven stolen bases in eight attempts. The junior is second on the team in hitting at .397. Leadoff hitter Jacob Howell hit .423 with a double, triple, home run, four stolen bases (in four attempts), six RBI and eight runs scored on the trip. J.B. Shuck hit .391 in six games with eight RBI. Shuck leads the Buckeyes in batting for the year at .411. Eric Fryer and Justin Miller led the team in RBI in Bradenton with nine each.
On the hill in Florida, Cory Luebke and Josh Barrera were 2-0, while Theron Minium, Darren Sizemore and Shuck also earned wins. The OSU pitchers posted a 3.86 earned run average over the seven games, while holding opponent hitters to a .235 batting average. Luebke went 13.2 innings in two games and gave up just three earned runs for a 1.98 ERA. He struck out 13. Shuck had a 3.00 ERA in two appearances, including one start. For the season, Luebke is 4-0 with a 1.47 ERA and a team-high 33 strikeouts. Barrera has a 2.31 ERA on the year and Shuck is at 2.59 with 21 strikeouts. Rory Meister also has two wins.
For the year, Ohio State has a .331 batting average and has knocked in 132 runs for an average of 7.76 runs per game. The Buckeyes have been tearing up the base paths as well, stealing 28 bases in 35 attempts. On the mound, OSU boasts a 3.22 ERA and is holding opponents to a .233 average.
BUCKEYES CRACK NATIONAL RANKINGS AT NO. 29 IN NCBWA POLL
On the strength of a 13-game winning streak, Ohio State has cracked the national rankings for the first time this season. The Buckeyes are ranked 29th in the March 26 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll.
COACH TODD EARNS CAREER VICTORY 900
With a 5-3 win over Harvard on March 23 in Bradenton, Fla., Ohio State head coach Bob Todd earned his 900th career victory. The Buckeye skipper is 901-470-2 all-time, including 777-388-2 at OSU. His 900 wins rank 17th among active coaches in NCAA Division I and 47th all-time. He needs 23 victories to earn his 800th win at Ohio State.
OSU DOWNS TOLEDO IN HOME OPENER, 18-5, PROCEEDS GO TO BLUFFTON UNIVERSITY
Ohio State ran its winning streak to 13 games with an 18-5 win over Toledo Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium. It was the home opener for the Buckeyes.
The ticket proceeds from Wednesday’s game will go to two funds established for the Bluffton University baseball team and the student-athletes involved in a fatal charter bus accident March 2 in Atlanta. One fund will provide support for the student-athletes and one to create a lasting campus memorial.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the second, OSU responded with five runs in the bottom of the second, four in the bottom of the third and two in the bottom of the fourth to take a commanding 11-1 lead. With one out in the second, the Buckeyes had seven straight runners reach base on five hits, a hit by pitch and another hit. The big hit of the inning was a two-RBI triple by Tony Kennedy. Senior Matt Angle added a two-RBI single in the inning. In the third, OSU opened the inning with four consecutive singles with Ryan Dew, Kennedy and Cory Kovanda singling in runs.
Toledo scored a run in the second to make it 11-2 but the Buckeyes added five more in the bottom of the sixth to take a 16-2 advantage. Sophomore Justin Miller doubled in three runs in the inning and pinch-hitter Chris Macke singled in two. The Buckeyes tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Miller RBI double and a Brian DeLucia RBI single, making it 18-2. Toledo scored three runs in the top of the ninth to make it an 18-5 final.
Freshman Josh Edgin started and pitched three innings to earn his first career win. Edgin (1-1), a lefty, gave up one earned run on four hits and struck out five. Fellow freshman Eric Best threw three innings, J.B. Shuck two and Jake Hale one.
Miller was the star at the plate, going 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored. Senior Jason Zoeller was 2-for-2 on the day with three RBI and two runs scored. Kennedy also had three RBI, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. The 18 runs scored and the 21 hits were both season highs for OSU. Shuck extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the third.
ABOUT IOWA
The Hawkeyes are 10-5 on the year after beating llinois State, 15-3, on the road Wednesday.
Iowa is batting .327 as a team and is led by Justin Toole’s .419 average. Dusty Napoleon is batting .415 and leads the team with 28 RBI.
On the mound, Iowa’s staff owns a 6.98 ERA and is allowing the opposition to hit .289. Steve Turnbull is the top starter for the Hawkeyes and is 2-1 with a 4.66 ERA and a team-high 19.1 innings pitched. Reliever Mike Schurz has appeared in seven games and has yet to allow an earned run. He is 3-0 with three saves.
Jack Dahm (Creighton, 1989) is in his fourth season at Iowa and has led the Hawkeyes to a 81-102 record. Dahm went to Iowa from his alma mater, where he left with a 283-276 record after 10 seasons as the school’s winningest coach.
AGAINST THE HAWKEYES
OSU leads the all-time series 61-40-1 and played Iowa last season for the first time since 2003. The Buckeyes went 3-1 vs. the Hawkeyes in Iowa City last year. The schools did not play in 2004 and were scheduled to meet in Dothan, Ala., in a non-conference game the opening weekend of the 2005 season, but the game was rained out. Ohio State made back-to-back trips to Iowa City in 2001 and 2002 and were 3-1 against the Hawkeyes each visit. In the 20 meetings since 2000, Ohio State leads 15-5. Bob Todd is 30-17 vs. the Hawkeyes.
Ohio State vs. Iowa Since 2000 (OSU leads 15-5)
| Date | W/L | Score | Site |
| 3/31/2000 | W | 2-1 | H |
| 4/1/2000 | L | 4-2 | H |
| 4/1/2000 | L | 10-4 | H |
| 4/2/2000 | W | 11-1 | H |
| 3/30/2001 | W | 7-4 | A |
| 3/31/2001 | W | 8-1 | A |
| 4/1/2001 | W | 6-5 | A |
| 4/1/2001 | L | 7-1 | A |
| 4/12/2002 | W | 7-1 | A |
| 4/13/2002 | W | 2-1 | A |
| 4/13/2002 | L | 5-4 | A |
| 4/14/2002 | W | 11-1 | A |
| 4/11/2003 | W | 4-1 | H |
| 4/12/2003 | W | 6-1 | H |
| 4/12/2003 | W | 9-5 | H |
| 4/13/2003 | W | 11-10 | H |
| 3/31/2006 | W | 12-5 | A |
| 4/1/2006 | L | 7-1 | A |
| 4/1/2006 | W | 6-4 | A |
| 4/2/2006 | W | 15-1 | A |
THIRTEEN-GAME WINNING STREAK LONGEST SINCE EARLY 2001
The 13-game winning streak the Buckeyes are currently on is the team’s longest streak since a 17-game run early in the 2001 season.
SHUCK HITTING STREAK AT 14
Sophomore outfielder/pitcher J.B. Shuck has a 14-game hitting streak heading into this weekend’s Iowa series. Shuck has a hit in all 14 games he has batted this season. He did not bat in the three games he started as a pitcher.
IN HOME OPENERS
Since Bob Todd arrived to Ohio State prior to the 1988 season, the Buckeyes are 15-5 in home openers. The Scarlet and Gray have beaten Toledo each of the last three years in the home opener to improve to 8-3 all-time in openers at Bill Davis Stadium.
FRESHMAN EDGIN EARNS FIRST CAREER WIN IN HOME OPENER
Freshman Josh Edgin earned his first career win in OSU’s home opener Wednesday vs. Toledo. He started and pitched three innings in the 18-5 win. The lefty gave up one earend run on four hits and struck out five.
SEASON HIGH IN HITS AND RUNS VS. TOLEDO
The 18 runs and 21 hits the Buckeyes garnered in the home opener vs. Toledo were both season highs. The previous highs were 16 runs and 17 hits in a 16-10 win over Yale March 21.
THE BATS ARE HEATING UP
After registering just four double-digit hit games through the first nine games of the season, OSU has reached double figure hits the last eight games.
ALSO STREAKING
In addition to J.B. Shuck’s 13-game hitting streak, two other Buckeyes also have modest hitting streaks in tact. Tony Kennedy has hit safely in eight straight and Justin Miller in seven consecutive.
FRESHMAN MINIUM EARNS FIRST CAREER WIN IN FIRST CAREER START
Freshman Theron Minium earned his first career win in his first career start in OSU’s 11-3 win over Yale on March 19. Minium went six innings, giving up just two earned runs, striking out seven and walking none.
FRYER ONE OF 27 NAMED TO COLEMAN-COMPANY JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
Ohio State catcher Eric Fryer is one of 27 catchers to appear on the official watch list for the 2007 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award, the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced March 15.
Fryer, a second-team All-Big Ten catcher in 2006, is batting .299 in the team’s 17 games this season. He has 20 hits and paces the Buckeyes with 19 RBI. He has scored 10 runs and has four doubles, a triple and a home run. He has committed just two errors on the year and opponents are just six of 11 trying to steal. Last year, Fryer played all 58 games and made 57 starts, including 43 behind the plate. He was a second-team All-Midwest Region Team as selected by the American Baseball Coaches Association and finished third on the team with a .368 batting average and 78 hits. He was second on the team with 52 RBI.
The watch list will be narrowed down to 10 semi-finalists, which will be announced May 17. Three finalists will be selected by a national voting panel and will be announced May 30, prior to the NCAA regionals and the Major League Baseball draft. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All three finalists will be brought to Wichita, Kan. and the winner will be announced at the 10th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 27.
BUCKEYES SIGN 2-YEAR DEAL WITH WMNI
Ohio State and the North American Broadcasting Company have signed a two-year agreement that will put Buckeye baseball games on WMNI Radio (920 AM) for 2007 and 2008, the athletics department announced March 21.
The station will carry 27 regular-season games over the air and on the Internet at ohiostatebuckeyes.com, and has agreed to broadcast another 11 games on an Internet-only basis, also on the school’s official web site. All Ohio State postseason games, including any appearances in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, will be broadcast over the air and on the Internet.
Of the eight Big Ten series the team will play, three of the four games – games one, three and four – will be broadcast on AM 920 WMNI, while game two will be offered solely on the Internet at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
The WMNI broadcast schedule begins Friday, March 30 at 6:35 p.m. when Ohio State opens Big Ten play vs. Iowa in Columbus, and continues through the regular season, which ends Sunday, May 20 at Penn State. All postseason games the team would qualify for also would be carried by the station.
WMNI, which broadcast Ohio State baseball games during the 2006 season, has a long-standing history of sports coverage since it went on the air in 1958. Coverage has included Ohio State basketball, football and men’s hockey.
IN THE BIG TEN RANKINGS
Ohio State ranks first in the Big Ten in pitching with a 3.22earned run average, 0.40 ahead of Michigan. The team battingaverage of .331 is tied for first in the conference with Illinois.J.B Shuck sits sixth in the conference in batting at .411 and MattAngle is tied for 10th at .397. Eric Fryer is tied for third in theBig Ten with 19 RBI. On the mound, Cory Luebke leads the conferencewith four wins. He also ranks second in ERA (1.47), tied for firstin strikeouts (33), first in opposing batting average (.144) andfirst in innings pitched (36.2). Jake Hale is tied for the leaguelead with four saves.
