Baseball: ’08 Bill Davis Stadium Finale Tuesday – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tuesday is Columbus City Schools Day at Bill Davis Stadium. The several thousand sixth graders from 29 schools will have a morning assembly at the Jerome Schottenstein Center and then enjoy the game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Buffalo Bulls of the Mid American Conference.
WHAT IS CCS DAY
The Ohio State University joined with Columbus City Schools (CCS) for “CCS Baseball Day.” The day includes approximately 2,600 sixth-grade students and staff from 29 Columbus City Schools coming to campus for an educational pep rally at 10 a.m. in the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
Now in it’s fourth year, CCS Day is designed to show young students the opportunities for and advantages of higher education and the importance of staying in school. The program is one of many partnerships between Ohio State and CCS.
Ohio State Buckeyes
(27-22, 13-13 Big ten)
vs.
Buffalo Bulls
(13-35; 6-17 MAC East)
May 13, 2008
Bill Davis Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
12:05 p.m.
Series History: Ohio State leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: March 18, 1974; Ohio State, 5-1
Broadcast Information
Radio: WMNI-AM 920
OhioStateBuckeyes.com
OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Live Stats
Audio Broadcast
Streaming Video
OHIO STATE WINS ILLINOIS SERIES
Ohio State won two of three games Saturday against Illinois at Bill Davis Stadium as the Buckeyes celebrate 125 years of baseball this weekend. Ohio State is now 27-22 overall and 13-13 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are in fifth-place in the Big Ten Conference standings, one game in front of Northwestern and a game in front of Michigan State. Penn State is one-half game in front of the Buckeyes. Those teams are fighting for the final three Big Ten playoff berths.
THE OPPONENT: BUFFALO
Buffalo comes into the game today with a 13-35 record and a 6-17 record in the MAC.
FOUR GRADUATING SENIORS
Today will be the final home game for four Ohio State seniors and all four of them Dan DeLucia, Tony Kennedy, Chris Macke and Rory Meister will graduate with their bachelor’s degrees next month.
Dan DeLucia, the first three-captain in Ohio State baseball history who won 22 games as a Buckeye, will graduate in June with a degree in business finance.
Tony Kennedy, a career .330 hitter who has scored 91 runs, will graduate next month with a degree in business-information systems.
Chris Macke, who has driven in one run for every two games he’s played who who hit a grand slam this year, will graduate in June with a degree in sport and leisure studies.
Rory Meister, who has won 13 games including five in one week, and saved another 15, will graduate next month with a degree in human development and family studies.
OFF TO IOWA
The Buckeyes leave Wednesday afternoon for Iowa City, Iowa and a four-game series Thursday through Sunday against the Hawkeyes. Saturday’s series finale will be televised on the Big Ten Network starting at 1 p.m.
MILLER IS BIG TEN POW
Justin Miller, who extended his hitting streak to nine games this weekend, is this week’s Big Ten Player of the Week. During the streak, Miller is 17-for-35 (.486) with 15 RBI. Miller, who hit 7-for-13 in the Illinois series, drove in nine runs vs. the Illini to extend his team-best total in that category to 52. He had two or more RBI in each of the Illinois games and now has a team-high 17 multiple RBI games.
Catcher Dan Burkhart was 7-for-11 this weekend against Illinois for a .636 batting average. He had three hits in the 14-8 win and had two hits in the other two games. He also scored two runs and drove in a pair. His catch, shield and subsequent tag-out at the plate of an Illinois runner kept the Buckeyes in the lead of a game they eventually won, 9-2.
More on Last Weekend…
The two seven-inning wins Saturday represented Ohio State’s first doubleheader sweep this season.
The back-to-back wins were the first consecutive wins for Ohio State since April 11 and 13 over Michigan State.
Ten different Buckeyes scored runs during the Illinois series, with Tony Kennedy and Zach Hurley leading the way with four apiece.
In Game One vs. Illinois, Zach Hurley set a career-high with four hits.
In Game Three, Cory Rupert drove in a season-high and tied his career-high with four RBI to go along with three hits, including a double and triple.
Did this inning last an hour? Seemed like it. In the top of the fifth inning in game three, Illinois sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs on six hits. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ohio State sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring 10 runs on seven hits.
The 10 runs were a season-high for an inning, and the most runs the Buckeyes scored in an inning since scoring 14 runs in the first inning at Penn State on May 8, 2005.
The Buckeyes drew a season-high 4,705 paying fans to the Saturday games.
Miller is eighth in the Big Ten in hitting at .394 and fifth in RBI.
J.B. Shuck is eighth in stolen bases with 19.
Dean Wolosiansky is eighth in ERA at 3.82 and tied for second in wins with seven.
Jake Hale is tied for eighth in wins with five.
Alex Wimmers is tied for seventh in the Big Ten in appearances and games in relief (22 each).
Eric Best is third with seven saves.
J.B. Shuck is second in strikeouts (65).
THE OHIO STATE BUCKEYES TODAY
The Buckeyes need three wins to give coach Bob Todd a 23rd consecutive 30-win season. Two more wins in the Big Ten will almost (but not quite) guarantee a Big Ten tournament berth, and they will give coach Todd a 21st consecutive .500 or better season in Big Ten Conference games. Here are a few more notes on the team and its final week of the 2008 regular season:
Ohio State has outscored its opponents by 56 runs in the first three innings (133-77), but are being outscored 188-185 in the final six innings.
Ohio State is hitting .301 as a team in Big Ten Conference games to rank sixth.
The team’s 4.74 ERA in Big Ten games ranks second, as does the staff’s opposing batting average (.288), saves (7) and ER allowed (107).
Ohio State is now 20-2 this season when leading after six innings; 3-15 when trailing.
Two Buckeyes – J.B. Shuck and Justin Miller – continue to hit above .350 in Big Ten games. Shuck is at .406. Miller is at .359.
A LOOK AT THE IOWA SERIES
The games against Iowa will be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Hawkeyes are last in the Big Ten at 8-20, but they rank fourth in the Big Ten in hitting (.325), third in runs scored and hits, and first in stolen bases (65). Despite an 8.12 team ERA, this team will be a handful for anyone. The Hawkeyes have defeated Purdue this season and they swept Indiana as well as split with the Golden Gophers. Individually, Justin Toole is fourth in Big Ten games in batting (.42) and Caleb Curry is fourth with 29 RBI. Curry, Toole, Kyle Riffel and Kevin Hoef all rank among the Big Ten’s top 10 base stealers.
Click on the attached pdf for more notes and stats.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
