Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
April 24, 2007
Athletes of the Week
The wins, strikeouts and school records came in bunches lastweek for senior Jamee Juarez of the softball team, who was honoredby the Big Ten Monday as the league’s softball pitcher of the week.In four appearances last week, Juarez went 4-0 with a 0.97 earnedrun average, 46 strikeouts and only one walk in 21.2 inningspitched and threw a perfect game and a shutout. The Buckeyes(27-15, 8-2 Big Ten) went 3-1 on the road in the Big Ten and Juarezearned the win in all victories as Ohio State remained tied forfirst with eighth-ranked Michigan atop the league standings. Juarezalso set two Ohio State career records during the week, first forinnings pitched (692.1) and then for victories (68). She upstagedher innings pitched record Wednesday when she broke the recordwhile tossing her first collegiate perfect game as the Buckeyesbeat IUPUI, 13-0. Juarez had 12 strikeouts in what was her thirdcareer no-hitter.
In the Ohio State career record book, Juarez ranks first in wins (68) and innings pitched (692.1), second in strikeouts (672, 30 shy of record), second in shutouts (24, two shy of record) and third in complete games (61). In Big Ten games this spring, Juarez is 5-1 with a 2.13 ERA, 54 strikeouts and only five walks in 36.0 innings pitched. Juarez has also been one of Ohio State’s biggest offensive threats, as well. Her 115 career runs batted in rank third in school history. In the circle, she is 68-41 in her career with a 2.03 ERA, while at the plate, she is a career .302 hitter with 37 doubles and 12 home runs.
Men’s lacrosse freshman Mario Ventiquattro was named the GreatWestern Lacrosse League Player of the Week for the week of April16-22, the conference announced Monday. The rookie helped theBuckeyes to two league road wins last weekend, as Ohio State won atAir Force 10-6 and at Denver 10-9 in overtime to remain undefeatedin the GWLL. Ventiquattro, from Carthage, N.Y. (Carthage Central),had four goals and two assists for six points in the two winscombined. Against the Air Force Falcons Friday, Ventiquattro had agoal and an assist, including the first helper of his Buckeyecareer. He had his first hat trick and added an assist for hisfirst four-point game for the Scarlet and Gray in Ohio State’sovertime win at Denver Sunday, including the overtime winner with11 seconds left on the clock in the OT period. Jessica Patane ofthe women’s lacrosse team scored the winning goal with one secondleft in regulation at eighth-ranked Penn State to give Ohio State a9-8 victory in conference play. She scored a game-high four goalsin the game, all coming in the second half to be named the AmericanLacrosse Conference Co-Player of the Week. After trailing by threein the first half, OSU tied the game at five in the first minute ofthe second half with an Amanda Shimp goal. Patane gave OSU the leadat 27:29 (6-5) and pushed the lead to two at 24:49 (7-5). After aPenn State goal cut the lead to 7-6, Patane scored at 10:48 to putthe lead at two, 8-6. The Nittany Lions rallied to tie the game ateight with 4:24 left. She collected a missed Buckeye shot andscored the winning goal with one second left in the game. Patanescored three goals in OSU’s 17-4 win at Bucknell for her eighthmulti-goal game of the season.
Athletics Good Stuff
The men’s volleyball team received top honors in the MidwesternIntercollegiate Volleyball Association with the naming of setterDaniel Mathews as the MIVA Player of the Year and coach Pete Hansonas the MIVA Coach of the Year. Mathews and middle hitter LayneDreven were named first team All-Conference selections while middlehitter John Albertson, outside hitters Robbie Klein and Dan Meskeand libero Conor Martin were second team All-Conference selection.
Top-seeded Ohio State (22-3) will play host the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament this week with two semifinal matches Thursday and the championship match Saturday in St. John Arena. Thursday’s action begins with the second seeded IPFW (20-7) Mastodons facing the third-seeded Loyola (23-6) Ramblers at 5 p.m. No. 1 seed Ohio State (22-3) faces fourth-seeded Ball State (18-11) at 7:30 p.m. The semifinal winners return Saturday at 5 p.m. to play for the MIVA Tournament Championship. The championship match will be carried live by CSTV. The Saturday winner receives the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championship semifinals, May 3, hosted by Ohio State in St. John Arena.
Tickets for the MIVA Tournament at $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for students. For groups of 10 or more, tickets are $2.00 when purchased in advance of game day. Tickets will be available at the door. For additional ticket information contact the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-GOBUCKS.
The No. 3 men’s tennis team (24-1, 10-0) clinched the outright2007 Big Ten regular season title Sunday when it beat No. 17Michigan (18-5, 8-2) at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor,Mich. The Buckeyes, 6-1 winners vs. the Wolverines, went unbeatenin conference play for the second-consecutive season, and have nowwon 23-consecutive Big Ten matches. OSU has not lost a Big Tenmatch since it lost to Illinois 4-2 in the 2005 Big Ten TournamentChampionship.
OSU will begin the defense of its 2006 Big Ten Tournament title against the winner of the Northwestern and Michigan State match Friday at 10 a.m. on the campus of Purdue University. The Buckeyes claimed the No. 1 overall seed after winning the regular season for the second consecutive season. The 2007 Buckeyes have the highest regular season winning percentage and most wins in program history with 24-1 and (.96). The previous high was last season when Ohio State went 21-1 and had a percentage of (.954). Ohio State has outscored opponents, 149-18, this season. Opposing teams have managed to take only 56 of 233 singles sets from the Buckeyes.
The women’s tennis team ended the regular season with a 6-1victory over Penn State Sunday at Stickney Tennis Center. TheBuckeyes’ seniors – Sonia Ruzimovsky (Ru-zih-MOV-ski) and CiaraFinucane KEER-uh fih-NEW-kin) – were honored before the match. TheBuckeyes are now 18-9 this season, tying for the second-most winsin a single season in program history.
The Buckeyes head to the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis this weekend. Ohio State will be the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Iowa at 11 a.m. ET Friday in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match will meet the winner of the No. 1-seed Northwestern vs. No. 8 Penn State/No. 9 Michigan State winner at 11 a.m. ET Saturday in the semifinals. The championship match will be at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, with the winner winning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
The rowing team travels to Madison, Wis., to compete in the2007 Big Ten Championships Saturday at Lake Wingra. The Buckeyeswon the Big Ten title last season and are in pursuit of their thirdconference crown overall. Ohio State’s first varsity eight boat,ranked third in the nation the last three weeks, earned the No. 1seed in the event after concluding the regular season with a 7-1mark with six wins against nationally-ranked opponents. OSU alsoearned the No. 3 seeds in both the second varsity eight and firstvarsity four races, the No. 4 seed in the second varsity four raceand the No. 6 seed in the first novice eight. The second noviceeight boats were not seeded. In the Big Ten championships, the teamcompetes in one of two heats for each category in the morning. Thetwo times from each heat will then compete in the Grand Final inthe afternoon, while the other three boats will race in the PetiteFinal. The synchronized swimming team will feature six routines atthe 2007 U.S. National Championships Thursday-Saturday at the IUNatatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. Barbara Nesbitt and Erin DeMarcowill represent Ohio State in the solo routine, while Ellen Hackerand Caitlin Stewart and teammates Jackie Mundy and Brooke Paul willenter the duet competition. Both the Scarlet and Gray teams willenter the team competition. After a 3-1 road trip last weekend, thesoftball team is 27-15 overall and tied for first in the Big Ten at8-2. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Buckeyeshave won 13 of their last 16 games and begin an eight-gamehomestand Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Miami. Purdue and Indianavisit Buckeye Field this weekend for Big Ten games. Senior JameeJuarez was named the Big Ten pitcher of the week Monday after going4-0 last week with 46 strikeouts in 21.2 innings pitched with onlyone walk. She also set two school records last week, the first forinnings pitched (692.1) and then for wins (68). Juarez is 30strikeouts away from that OSU record. The baseball team made a jumpin the Big Ten standings after sweeping a four-game series fromIndiana over the weekend at Bill Davis Stadium. The Buckeyes jumpedfrom seventh to fourth with the sweep, just one game out of thirdand 2.5 out of second. For the week, OSU went 5-1 after splitting aseven-inning doubleheader vs. Ball State last Wednesday at home.The Buckeyes are 23-10 on the year and 8-6 in Big Ten play. TheBuckeyes downed Indiana 6-4 Friday, 4-3 and 9-8 Saturday and 11-3Sunday. Against Ball State, OSU dropped game one, 5-0, beforewinning game two, 3-2.
This week, the team starts a five-game week by wrapping up an 11-game homestand at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday vs. Xavier before heading to West Lafayette, Ind. for a four-game conference series against Purdue Friday-Sunday.
Three of four games vs. Purdue (Games 1, 3 & 4) will be broadcast on radio on AM 920 WMNI. All five games will have audio available on ohiostatebuckeyes.com and be featured on Gametracker at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
On the week, Tony Kennedy led OSU with a .471 average (8-17), five RBI, five runs scored and two game-winning RBI. Freshman Cory Kovanda (co-VON-da) also had a good week, hitting .455 and J.B. Shuck hit .429. The Buckeyes also hit three home runs in the series, one each by Jason Zoeller, Eric Fryer and Jacob Howell. Fryer led the club with seven RBI in the six games. Shuck leads OSU at the plate with a .406 average, while Fryer leads the team in RBI (33) and hits (43) and is batting .355. Kennedy is second on the team in batting at .370. Howell and Kennedy lead the squad in runs scored with 29 and Zoeller leads the team with five home runs. Matt Angle is third on the team in hitting at .356 and leads the team with 15 stolen bases.
On the hill last week, OSU closer Jake Hale (HAIL) had a big week, saving three games and earning a win. He saved the second Ball State game and games one and two of the IU series. Although he did blow a save in game three vs. the Hoosiers, he earned the win as the Buckeyes scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh for the victory. Cory Luebke (LUBE-key) picked up his first Big Ten win in game one of the IU series, going a solid eight innings. Rory Meister captured his first career win as a starter in game two vs. Indiana, pitching 5.2 innings, and Shuck won game four of the series, going eight solid innings and matching his career best for strikeouts with eight.
For the season, Luebke is 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA and a team-high 53 strikeouts. Shuck is 2-1 with a 3.57 ERA and is second on the team with 34 strikeouts. Josh Barrera (Ba-RARE-uh) is 4-1 with a 4.59 ERA and Meister is 3-3 with a 3.70 ERA. Hale has nine saves on the year with 27 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.
The men’s lacrosse team won two games in Colorado last weekend,downing Air Force Friday and beating Denver in overtime Sunday,10-9. The No. 20 Buckeyes (8-4, 4-0 GWLL), on a three-game winningstreak, return home to face league foe No. 10 Notre Dame at noonSaturday in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. A Buckeye victory overthe Irish would give Ohio State the outright GWLL title and theleague’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Against Air Force, four Buckeyes had three points in the win – Jeff Ryan and Kevin Buchanan each had two goals and an assist, while Joel Dalgarno and James Green each had a goal and two assists. Vs. the Pioneers, three Buckeyes had a team-best four points in the win. Mario Ventiquattro, who was named GWLL Player of the Week Monday, had a hat trick (including the OT winner) and an assist, Ben Drake had a goal and career-best three assists and Ryan had two goals and two assists. James Green also had a hat trick, marking the first multiple-goal game of his career.
Women’s lacrosse (9-5, 1-2 American Lacrosse Conference) had asuccessful two-game road trip with a 9-8 win at No. 8 Penn Stateand a 17-4 victory at Bucknell. With the road wins, Ohio Statemoved into 17th place in the Intercollegiate Women’s LacrosseCoaches Association Poll. Jessica Patane scored a team-high fourgoals, all in the second half, including the game winner with onesecond left in the game. Natale Miller and Amanda Shimp added twogoals each in the victory. Kristen Gilwee had the win in goalmaking eight saves. In the win at Bucknell, Patane, Shimp and KellyHaggerty scored three goals each for OSU’s ninth win of the season.Gilwee had the win in goal, playing 18:05, and giving up threegoals. Joy DeMarco finished the game, making seven saves and givingup one goal. Junior Kaylan Clevinger (KAY-lin CLEV-in-ger) posted a9.90 on bars at the NCAA Central Regionals April 14 to advance tothe NCAA Championships, hosted by Utah in Salt Lake City, at 3 p.m.ET Thursday in the Huntsman Center. The Top 4 gymnasts in eachevent will then advance to the individual events finals competitionat 9 p.m. ET Saturday. Clevinger, a 2007 first-team All-Big Tenhonoree, is the first representative from Ohio State to qualify fornationals since 2001. The men’s track and field team finished inthird-place at the All-Ohio Championships in Cincinnati thisweekend. The Buckeyes were led by team balance with 15 Top 4finishes on day two. In the jumps, Marios Iacovou (MAR-eosya-co-VOO) won the high jump with a leap of 6-10 3/4 and BrandonCathcart took second in the triple jump (46 feet, 10 1/4 inches).
The 4×400-meters relay the team of Matt Comer (COMB-er), Elon Simms (EE-lon), Stephen Robinson and Gerald Griffin won the event in 3:09.87. The mark is the 10th best time in the Mideast region this year. Comer added a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and Simms and Comer placed in the Top 5 in the 400-meter hurdles. Simms took second (51.74) and Comer fifth (53.04). In the 1,500-meter run, Ohio State racked up 14 team points with a second-place finish by Chad Balyo (BAL-yo) (3:50.10) and a third-place time by Taylor Candella (3:50.12). Joe Gourley (GORE-lee) took second in the 800-meter run (1:50.72).
Next week the Buckeye will head to the Drake Relays on April 26-28.
The women’s track and field team finished the final day ofcompetition in Cincinnati at the All-Ohio Championships inthird-place. The Buckeyes were led by Ayrizanna Favours(AY-riz-AHNA FAVE-ors), who won the 400-meter dash in 54.32 and the200m dash in 24.22. Favours was one of three Buckeyes to scorepoints in the 400m. Chandra Krempel (SHON-drah KREM-pell) tookthird with a time of 55.41 and Ashley Caldwell came in fifth with atime of 56.99. Favours also added a fourth-place finish in the100-meter dash. Favours ended the day scoring 25 points for theBuckeyes. Krempel also took fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with atime of 1:03.89.
Veronica Vance took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19-2 1/2. On Friday, Veronica Jatsek (JAT-sic) won the weight throw a distance of 201-8. She placed third in the shot put Saturday at 47-6 3/4.
Next week the Buckeyes will head Drake Relays on April 26-28.
The women’s golf team finished fourth at the Lady BuckeyeSpring Invitational this weekend on their home Scarlet course witha score of 935 (321-305-309). Leading the Buckeyes to record theirthird highest team finish of the season was sophomore Emma Jandel.Jandel birdied three holes in the third round to move up from No.21 after 36 holes Saturday. Senior Dana Je also played asignificant role for the Buckeyes with a No. 15 individual finishand a score of 233 to move up from No. 21 after 36 holes Saturday.Ohio State will be back in action April 27-29 when they travel toEast Lansing, Michigan for the Big Ten Championships. The men’sgolf team finished tied for eighth place at the FossumIntercollegiate Sunday. The Buckeyes shot a season best 875(301-280-294) over the two-day, 54-hole event at the Forest AkersWest Golf Course (par 72, 7,013) in East Lansing, Mich. Ohio Statesenior David Vallina (Burgettstown, Pa./Burgettstown) led theBuckeyes and had a career-best finish tying for 13th place. Vallinashot rounds of 75-66-73 (214) for a final score of 2-under par. TheBuckeyes return to action April 27-29 when they host the Big TenChampionships at The OSU Golf Club Scarlet Course. Women’sBasketball – Former Ohio State All-Americans Jessica Davenport andKatie Smith helped USA Basketball’s Senior National team finish offa 4-0 tour of Italy with an 81-41 victory over an All-Star teamfrom Pomezia Tuesday in Pomezia, Italy. Davenport tied for the teamlead with 13 points and led the Americans with nine rebounds. Smithstarted her fourth-consecutive game and pitched in six points,three assists and four steals.
For the four-game tour, Davenport averaged 8.3 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. Smith, tied for the team lead with four made 3-point attempts during the tour. She averaged 6.5 points a game and contributed eight steals on defense.
The former Buckeyes were among members of Team USA Wednesday that toured Ancient Roman ruins, including the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and other historic sites. A photo gallery can be viewed at the women’s basketball page on ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
Ohio State divers Kellen Harkness, Burkley Showe (Shaw) and WesWieser competed at the Speedo USA Spring Nationals last week.Harkness and Showe each advanced to the finals on the 1-meterboard, finishing ninth and seventh, respectively. Wieser was thesole Buckeye to represent Ohio State on the 10-meter platform – anevent he won at the 2006 Big Ten Championships. He earned 13thplace with a total of 321.15 points.
Former Buckeye Mitch Richeson, who trains at Ohio State under head coach Vince Panzano, also competed at the meet, posting a second-place finish on the men’s synchronized 3-meter with partner Troy Dumais. The pair qualified the USA Diving Team for a spot at the 2008 Olympics last month at the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, when they finished fourth in the event. Richeson also finished 12th on the individual 3-meter.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
April 24 – May 1
April 25
Baseball vs. Xavier, 6:35 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Bill Davis Stadium
Softball vs. Miami University, 5 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Softball vs. Miami University, 7 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Nationals, TBA
Indianapolis, Ind.
Women’s Track at Drake Relays, All Day
Des Moines, Iowa
April 26
Men’s Volleyball vs. Ball State, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
St. John Arena
Women’s Tennis at Big Ten Championships, TBA
Minneapolis, Minn.
Men’s Track at Drake Relays, All Day
Des Moines, Iowa
Women’s Track at Drake Relays, All Day
Des Moines, Iowa
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Nationals, TBA
Indianapolis, Ind.
Men’s Tennis at Big Ten Championships, TBA
West Lafayette, Ind.
Women’s Gymnastics at NCAA, 3 p.m.
Salt Lake City, Utah
April 27
Baseball at Purdue, 4:05 p.m.
West Lafayette, Ind.
Softball vs. Purdue, 6 p.m.
Columbus, Ohio
Buckeye Field
Women’s Lacrosse at Northwestern, 4 p.m.
Evanston, Ill.
Men’s Tennis at Big Ten Championships, TBA
West Lafayette, Ind.
Women’s Tennis at Big Ten Championships, TBA
Minneapolis, Minn.
Synchronized Swimming at U.S. Nationals, TBA
Indianapolis, Ind.
Men’s Track at Hillsdale Gina Relays, All Day
Hillsdale, Mich.
Men’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Golf Club Scarlet Course
Women’s Track at Drake Relays, All Day
Des Moines, Iowa
Men’s Track at Drake Relays, All Day
Des Moines, Iowa
Women’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
East Lansing, Mich.
April 28
Baseball at Purdue, 1:05 p.m.
West Lafayette, Ind.
Men’s Lacrosse vs. Notre Dame, Noon
Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Volleyball vs. TBA, 5 p.m.
TBA
Women’s Tennis at Big Ten Championship, TBA
Minneapolis, Minn.
Women’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
East Lansing, Mich.
Rowing at Big Ten Championships, All Day
Madison, Wis.
Men’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Golf Club Scarlet Course
Men’s Tennis at Big Ten Championships, TBA
West Lafayette, Ind.
April 29
Women’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
East Lansing, Mich.
Men’s Golf at Big Ten Championship, All Day
Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University Golf Club Scarlet Course
