Baseball: First Practice of Season Set for Noon-2 p.m. Friday – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio The 125th season of Ohio State University baseball will commence at noon Friday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as coach Bob Todd leads the Buckeyes through their first practice of the 2008 season.
A total of 38 players will take to the practice field for the scheduled two-hour workout, including 21 returning lettermen, five starting position players and nine pitchers off last year’s 38-24 team that won the Big Ten tournament championship and competed in the NCAA tournament for the 12th time under Todd.
Leading the team will be captains Dan DeLucia and Justin Miller. This will be the third consecutive year in which DeLucia, from Columbus and Bishop Watterson High School, will be team captain. Only 13 players in the history of Ohio State baseball have ever been named to captain the team more than once and DeLucia, a fifth-year senior, has the honor of being the first ever three-time Buckeye captain.
DeLucia, who is 21-10 with a 3.76 ERA in 47 games at Ohio State, had his season end last year after just three starts, a 2-0 record and a 3.18 ERA. He had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow April 10. The tentative date for his return is April 1.
“I was thinking that we would be very, very lucky to have DeLucia back by April 1,” Todd said, “but he might be a little ahead of schedule. We won’t know about his status, though, until he’s actually throwing for us in a game.”
Miller, a junior first baseman/catcher from Dayton, Va., is the 151st captain in Ohio State history. He enjoyed a fine second season for the Buckeyes in 2007, leading the team in RBI with 51 and finishing second with a .346 batting average. He elevated his performance against Big Ten foes, batting a team-best .417 with 28 RBI in 30 conference games. He was named third-team All-Big Ten Conference.
Experienced leaders returning on the mound include junior starting pitchers Jake Hale and J.B. Shuck and senior reliever Rory Meister. The starting position players who return, in addition Miller, are senior third baseman Tony Kennedy, sophomore shortstop Cory Rupert, sophomore second baseman Cory Kovanda and Shuck, who will man one of the outfield positions when not on the mound.
Since 1881…Ohio State’s Oldest Varsity Sport
Baseball, the national pastime, has been an Ohio State pastime since 1881, making the sport of baseball the Buckeyes’ oldest varsity sport. Since that first season, when the Buckeyes posted a modest but perfect, 1-0, record, Ohio State has won more than 2,200 games. In fact, Ohio State enters the 2008 baseball season with an all-time record of 2,228 wins against 1,427 losses with 38 ties, for a winning percentage of .608. The Buckeyes have an all-time Big Ten Conference record of 844-622-5 (.575) through 95 seasons of play (this number includes Western Conference games, the predecessor of the Big Ten Conference, which Ohio State joined in 1913). Ohio State has been champion of the Big Ten Conference 14 times and it has been champion of the Big Ten tournament, which started in 1981, a conference-best eight times for a total of 22 Big Ten crowns.
96 Winning Seasons
Perhaps the most meaningful and impressive stat regarding Ohio State baseball: the team has played 124 seasons and it has only had 22 losing seasons. Buckeye baseball has produced 96 winning seasons and six .500 seasons and the program is on a current run of 20 consecutive winning seasons, the latter under the leadership of coach Bob Todd.
Coach Todd and Co.
The 2008 baseball campaign will mark the 21st season at Ohio State University for Bob Todd. Todd has guided the Buckeyes to an 801-409-2 (.662) record, or an average of 40.1 wins per year, since taking over the program in 1988. Setting the school record with 52 victories in 1991 and hitting 50 wins again in 1999, his teams have never had a losing season, have won at least 40 games 10 times in his 20-year tenure and have never won fewer than 32 games. To his credit are six Big Ten regular season championships, seven first-place finishes in the Big Ten regular season standings, eight Big Ten tournament championships and 12 NCAA regional appearances (1991-95, 1997, 1999, 2001-03, 2005, 2007).
“Cyp,” Parker and Pete
Assisting Todd are Greg Cypret, Eric Parker and Pete Jenkins. Cypret, who overseas the infielders, hitters and is the recruiting coordinator, is in his 21st season with Ohio State. Parker, named a fulltime coach last fall, will focus on the pitching staff and outfielders in this, his fourth season with the program. And Jenkins, a catcher who spent four years in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization and who helped Florida State to back-to-back NCAAs the past two years, will coach the Buckeye catchers in his first season as the team’s volunteer assistant coach.
A National Starting Date
The 2008 Division I baseball season will officially begin Feb. 22 for all teams. This universal start date has been implemented by the NCAA baseball issues committee, of which Todd was a member and the only coach.
Ohio State opens its season in Millington, Tenn., Feb. 22 against Arkansas State at the Service Academies Classic. Games in Memphis will also be played against Memphis and Seton Hall. Additional spring trips will take the team to College Station, Texas (to meet Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech and Arkansas), to West Palm Beach, Fla. (for games against Air Force, Maine and Connecticut) and to Bradenton, Fla., for a series of seven games.
The home opener is March 26 at 2 p.m. against Pittsburgh. Big Ten series at Bill Davis Stadium are against Penn State, Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois. Louisville, a participant in the 2007 College World Series, comes to Bill Davis Stadium April 16.
Stay Tuned For More on the 125th Season of Ohio State Baseball
Upcoming baseball coverage and news to come on www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com will include:
- Since 1881: Baseball is Ohio State’s Oldest Varsity Sport
- 2008 Season Preview
- Radio and Broadcast Schedules
- Plans to Celebrate the 125th Season of Ohio State Baseball
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
