BASE: Mid-Summer Update on the Buckeyes – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State senior pitcher Eric Best has been one of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League’s most solid pitchers to start the ’09 campaign.
The left-hander from Lewis Center, Ohio, playing for the Licking County Settlers, has started four games, going 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA. A weekend starter for the Buckeyes in 2009, Best has struck out 17 and walked just five in 18.0 innings pitched.
Best’s Buckeye teammate, Tyler Engle, also has gotten off to a hot start with the Settlers. After starting the summer with Luray (Va.) of the Valley League, the junior shortstop came back to Ohio and must like the home cooking because he is batting .389 with a home run, four RBI and four runs scored.
Additional Summer Baseball Updates…
- Alex Wimmers has continued to build upon his strong 2009 All-American season by giving up just two earned runs while striking out 11 in 8.0 innings pitched in the Cape Cod League with the Bourne Braves. The two runs that the Buckeye ace has yielded have been on solo home runs (accounting for two of the three hits he has given up).
- Wimmers’ longtime battery mate Dan Burkart, also playing in the Cape this summer with the Hyannis Mets, is batting .275 with a double and a pair of RBI in 14 games played. The Big Ten’s reigning Player of the Year also has a .341 on-base percentage. He was recently named an alternate for the Cape Cod All-Star Game.
- Second team All-Big Ten pitcher Dean Wolosiansky is 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA in three starts for Newport of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The junior has given up just 13 hits and a .185 batting average against in 19.2 innings pitched.
- After missing the majority of the ’09 campaign with a broken finger, infielder Brian DeLucia has shown some pop with three long balls, two doubles and a triple in 21 starts for Rockbridge of the Valley League. The Columbus native and red-shirt junior is batting .293 with 15 RBI and a .372 on-base percentage.
- Senior Cory Kovanda has also heated up of late for the Waynesboro Generals of the Valley League, reaching base safely in his last seven contests. The second team All-Big Ten second baseman is hitting .287 with 14 runs scored and a .364 on-base percentage. As solid with the glove as he is with the bat, Kovanda also has a .981 fielding percentage.
- Redshirt freshman Ryan Cypret, playing for the Jersey Shore Tides of the Atlantic Baseball Confederation Collegiate League along with teammate and redshirt freshman Zach Nowland, has been on fire batting .324 with a double, a home run and eight runs scored in 11 games.
- Other Buckeyes playing summer ball include Jared Strayer and Shawn Forsythe with the Rockbridge Rapids and Drew Rucinski and Andrew Armstrong of the Luray Wranglers.
