Rotations Revealed for Scarlet & Gray World Series – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Twenty days worth of practices conducted by head coach Greg Beals and his staff are in the books. The Buckeyes have been divided into a Scarlet team and a Gray team. The pitching matchups are set. Now…it’s time to play some fall baseball!
The Ohio State baseball team’s annual “Fall Classic,” the Scarlet & Gray World Series, will begin Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium with a Scarlet vs. Gray game that will match two-thirds of Ohio State’s Big Ten weekend rotation from a year ago: senior pitchers Drew Rucinski (Scarlet) and Dean Wolosiansky (Gray).
Game 2 will be Friday at 3:30 p.m. with sophomore Brett McKinney taking the mound for the Scarlet and true freshman Greg Greve throwing for the Gray.
A couple of transfers will take to the mound in Game 3 Saturday at 3 p.m.: second-year freshman John Kuchno, who attended Wake Forest last year but didn’t play baseball and is thus eligible to pitch in the spring, will start for Scarlet against Gray newcomer Brad Goldberg, a junior who spent his first two seasons at Coastal Carolina.
“You could say the rotations we have established for this series of games consists of six guys we are looking at as potential starters for us next year,” Beals said.
More Than Figuring Things Out
Beals is not only expecting competitive games in this best-of-five series, but he and his assistants will be looking to see a culmination of all the drills and coaching the team has been engaged in so far this fall.
“Our guys are going to be playing to win a game,” Beals said at practice Monday, “and not just trying to figure things out. We’re upping the ante. We’ll see how they will respond after the last four weeks of work. We want to create as close to a game-type situation and atmosphere as we can create.”
Team Scarlet
Volunteer assistant coach Josh Newman, himself a veteran of four Scarlet & Gray World Series and the third-winningest pitcher in Ohio State history with 32 career wins, will coach the Scarlet. His team will include four seniors and seven newcomers, including:
- Senior outfielder Brian DeLucia, a 74-game starter and a career .324 hitter with 10 home runs and 65 runs batted in;
- Rucinski, who is 17-10 in his career at Ohio State with 71 appearances and 175.0 innings pitched;
- Senior reliever Jared Strayer, a veteran of 43 appearances and 74.2 innings pitched;
- A couple of third-year sophomore infielders – 3B Brad Hallberg and 2B Ryan Cypret – who have 27 and nine career starts, respectively;
- McKinney, who played in 16 games last year as a true freshman, started 11 and posted a 3-4 record; and
- Outfielder Hunter Mayfield, a sophomore who played in 17 games in 2009 and hit .313 with 16 at-bats.
Team Gray
Assistant coach Chris Holick, who handles infield and outfield defense, base running and bunting responsibilities, will coach the Gray team. Holick, a starting infielder for two years at Indiana and another two years at Kent State in the mid-1990s, will coach the Gray team. His roster includes 12 newcomers and just three seniors, including these veterans:
- Three-year starting pitcher Dean Wolosiansky, who has a 22-14 record that includes a 15-5 mark in the Big Ten Conference;
- Three-year and 137-game starter at shortstop Tyler Engle, who has scored 61 runs and driven in another 57;
- 88-game starter at first base and designated hitter Matt Streng, who is second to DeLucia with nine career home runs among current Buckeyes;
- Fourth-year junior outfielder David Corna, who played in three games last year; and
- Fourth-year junior LHP Andrew Armstrong, who did not pitch in 2009 after having shoulder surgery and who is 6-6 overall as a Buckeye with 79.1 innings pitched.
Diamond Club Activities
The Buckeye Diamond Club, the team’s official booster organization, will be hosting its annual cook out on opening night Wednesday. Make sure to stop by, say “hi” and see how you can be a part of the Buckeye Diamond Club.
Games 4 and 5, If Necessary
If necessary, the series will extend into next week. Game 4 will be played Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. with Game 5 set for Thursday, Oct. 21 at 3:30 p.m.
The 2010 Scarlet & Gray World Series Schedule:
Game No. 1 – Wednesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m.
Game No. 2 – Friday, Oct. 15 at 3:30 p.m.
Game No. 3 – Saturday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m.
Game No. 4 – Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Game No. 5 – Thursday, Oct. 21 at 3:30 p.m. (if necessary)
The general public is invited to watch the games. Admission into Bill Davis Stadium is free.
Team rosters are attached.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
