Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
May 22, 2007
Athletes of the Week
Baseball senior right-hander Trey Fausnaugh picked up two winslast week, including Ohio State’s 3-2 win Sunday at Penn State thatpushed the Buckeyes into the Big Ten Tournament. Against PSU,Fausnaugh threw the final 2.2 innings and didn’t allow a hit,walking one and striking out two. Last Tuesday vs. North Florida,the Circleville, Ohio native pitched the final two innings to earnthe win in OSU’s 8-7 victory. He gave up just one hit, walked oneand struck out one. Softball senior Lauren Daykin batted ateam-best .400 last weekend in the NCAA Regionals at Buckeye Fieldand helped lead her team within one win of the NCAA SuperRegionals. Daykin hit a seventh-inning two-run homer Sunday in theBuckeyes’ comeback bid against Cal State Fullerton. Daykin batted.270 overall this season and started 43 games at either catcher ordesignated player, helping to lead the Buckeyes to the Big Tentitle, conference tournament title and the school’s firstback-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.
Athletics Good Stuff
The rowing team earned its eighth-consecutive appearance in theNCAA championships and travels Oak Ridge, Tenn., to compete for anational title May 25-27. The Buckeyes are one of 12 teams selectedto participate in the event hosted by the University of Tennesseeat Melton Hill Lake. Ohio State has raced in all three NCAA events(first and second varsity eight and first varsity four) for sevenyears in a row and made program history in 2006 by advancing to theGrand Finals in each event for the first time. The Buckeyes alsoset a team record for points last year with 52 to finish fifth inthe team standings. Ohio State has had previous success in OakRidge, winning five-consecutive Central Region championships onMelton Hill Lake, including the 2007 crown May 12-13. Members ofthe men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete at the2007 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships Friday and Saturday inColumbia, Mo. The University of Missouri will serve as meet host.The regional meet is a qualifier for the 2007 NCAA OutdoorChampionships June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. Student-athletes thatplace in the Top 5 in their event in the region will earn a spot inthe NCAA championships. The baseball Buckeyes are making their 21stoverall appearance at the Big Ten Tournament and the 19th under20th-year head coach Bob Todd. Ohio State is making its 11thstraight appearance at the conference tournament, the longestcurrent streak of any school in the Big Ten and the longest inconference history.
The Buckeyes face third-seed Penn State for the fifth straight game on Wednesday at approximately 3:35 p.m. ET. If Ohio State wins Wednesday, they will face No. 1 seed Michigan at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. If OSU loses its first game it will play at 12:05 p.m. Thursday against the loser of the Iowa (No. 4 seed)-Illinois (5) game. The Buckeyes ended the regular season at 33-22 overall. All OSU’s tournament games will be broadcast on radio on AM 920 WMNI. All the games will also have audio available on ohiostatebuckeyes.com and will be on Gametracker at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
J.B. Shuck finished the regular season as Ohio State’s top hitter with a .361 average. Justin Miller leads OSU with 72 hits and 46 RBI. On the mound, Cory Luebke is 7-1 with a 1.94 ERA and a team-high 83 strikeouts in 93 innings.
The Big Ten champion softball team saw its season come an endSunday in the championship game of the NCAA regionals at BuckeyeField. The host Buckeyes won their first two games of the regional,but Cal State Fullerton won twice Sunday to advance to SuperRegionals. Ohio State ends the season 40-18 overall, which marksthe fourth 40-win season in program history. Five OSU seniors endtheir careers with 146 wins, which rank fifth all-time among OhioState’s winningest classes. Senior Jamee Juarez (WAR-ez) set fourcareer pitching records and senior Nycole Koyano (ni-COLEkoy-YA-no) became the first Buckeye to lead the team in runs scoredall four years. Led by Big Ten coach of the Year Linda Kalafatis(cal-uh-FA-tis), Ohio State won the Big Ten championship for thesecond time in school history (1990) and won its first Big Tentournament title. A veteran and a newcomer on the women’sbasketball team each were selected as finalists for USA Basketballwomen’s teams Sunday. Marscilla Packer, who will enter her seniorseason in 2007-08, was named a finalist for USA Basketball’s U21(under-21) team. Jantel Lavender, an incoming freshman, is afinalist for a spot on the U19 U.S. squad. Both playersparticipated in trials May 17-20 at the U.S. Olympic TrainingCenter in Colorado Springs, Colo. Packer has a chance to be one of12 members of the U21 team that will look to defend its world titleat the 2007 FIBA World Championship June 29-Aug. 8 in Moscow.Lavender is one of 16 finalists for the U19 team that will be heldJuly 26-Aug. 5 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The U19 finalist willreconvene in Washington, D.C., July 12th to train prior todeparting for Europe July 17. The men’s tennis team fell to No. 10Illinois Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NCAA Men’sTennis Team Tournament in Athens, Ga. The No. 2-ranked Buckeyes setthe school record for victories in a season (30), consecutive winsin a season (20) and best winning percentage (.938) andparticipated in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for thefourth time in the last five years. Ohio State also claimed the2007 Big Ten regular season and tournament championships, wentundefeated at home for the fourth-consecutive year, and had aschool record four All-Big Ten selections. Ohio State will berepresented in both the 2007 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles and Doublestournaments in Athens, Ga., at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex Maystarting Wednesday. Sophomore Steven Moneke was selected as the No.6 seed in the singles tournament. Sophomore Bryan Koniecko andsenior Devin Mullings are at-large selections for the field of 64singles players. Senior Chris Klingemann and Mullings received anat-large bid to compete in the doubles section of the tournament.The wrestling team’s incoming freshman class for the 2007-08 seasonwas deemed second-best in the nation by Wrestling InternationalNewsmagazine in its May issue. The No. 2 standing gives theBuckeyes the highest standing among Big Ten Conference schools.
Head coach Tom Ryan and his coaching staff of Tommy Rowlands and Lou Rosselli (Ross-ellee) just completed their first season at the helm of the OSU program. With that came their first full year of recruiting for the Scarlet and Gray.
Ryan welcomed four Ohio natives during the fall signing period in Bo Touris (125) of West Chester Lakota West, Sean Nemec (Nee-mic) (157) of Lakewood St. Edward, Colt Sponseller (165) of Millersburg West Holmes and John Weakley (197) of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. Joining those four was Nikko Triggas (Tree-gus) (125) of Moraga Campolindo in California.
Highlighting the spring class is Patrick Zamaria (Zauh-MAR-ee-uh) (119) of Brecksville High School in Brecksville, Ohio, two-time Ohio state champion Pat Harrington (125) of St. Mary’s Central Catholic and state champion Jesse Campbell (HWT) of Sullivan Black River.
Men’s lacrosse freshman James Green was one of three collegiateplayers among 120 total selected to try out for one of 23 spots onthe 2008 U.S. Under-19 Team that will compete in the Under-19 WorldChampionship July 3-12, 2008, in British Columbia. The tryouts willbe held July 12-15 on the UMBC campus. Green had 13 points on theyear, with 10 goals and three assists while playing in 13 games,including seven starts.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
May 23 – May 27
Wednesday, May 23
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament
vs. Penn State, 3:35 p.m.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ray Fisher Stadium
Men’s Tennis NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Athens, Ga.
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Thursday, May 24
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ray Fisher Stadium
Men’s Tennis at NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Athens, Ga.
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Friday, May 25
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ray Fisher Stadium
Women’s Track at NCAA Mideast Regionals
Columbia, Mo.
Audrey J. Walton Stadium
Rowing at NCAA Championships
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Melton Hill Lake
Men’s Tennis at NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Athens, Ga.
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Men’s Track at NCAA Mideast Regionals
Columbia, Mo.
Audrey J. Walton Stadium
Saturday, May 26
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ray Fisher Stadium
Men’s Track at NCAA Mideast Regionals
Columbia, Mo.
Audrey J. Walton Stadium
Rowing at NCAA Championships
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Melton Hill Lake
Men’s Tennis at NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Athens, Ga.
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Women’s Track at NCAA Mideast Regionals
Columbia, Mo.
Audrey J. Walton Stadium
Sunday, May 27
Baseball at Big Ten Tournament
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ray Fisher Stadium
Men’s Tennis at NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Athens, Ga.
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
