Ohio State Welcomes North Florida to Bill Davis Stadium for a Pair of Midweek Matchups – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – There’s no time to sit back and relish the first series sweep over Michigan in 15 years because Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 6:35 p.m. Ohio State hosts the University of North Florida in a pair of non-conference games at Bill Davis Stadium.
The Buckeyes, 19-18 on the season and just one game out of the Big Ten Conference lead with a 9-6 mark, will try to keep the momentum going against a talented North Florida (23-18, 12-12 A-Sun) team. The Ospreys played at nationally-ranked Stetson this past weekend in a three-game series before travelling to Columbus on Monday.
BROADCAST INFO
Both games of this series will be broadcast live on 1460 ESPN AM with free streaming audio at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. Game 1 will have a video stream at BigTenNetwork.com and Game 2 will have a free video stream at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
OHIO STATE vs. NORTH FLORIDA
Ohio State and North Florida have played 11 times with Ohio State holding a 9-2 edge in wins. All but two of the games have been played in Jacksonville. UNF came to Columbus for a pair of games in 2007. Ohio State has won the last seven games in the series, including 8-7 and 9-3 wins at Bill Davis Stadium in 2007, and 4-2 last year in Jacksonville.
OHIO STATE TODAY
The Buckeyes have won eight of their last 12 games to position themselves near the top of the Big Ten standings heading into this weekend’s series at Illinois. Ohio State owns series wins over Northwestern, Michigan State and Michigan on its path to 9-6. Some notable numbers:
- The team’s ERA in conference games is now fourth-best in the Big Ten at 4.11.
- Ohio State leads the conference in Big Ten games only in four major offensive statistical categories, including average (.317), runs, hits and runs batted in. Ohio State ranks second in slugging (.423) and on-base percentage (.390).
- This isn’t notable but it is important: the team is ninth in fielding (.956). Even though there were 11 fielding errors vs. Michigan, the Buckeyes still found a way to sweep.
- Overall the Buckeyes are hitting .295 as a team with Ryan Cypret (.362) and Josh Dezse (.359) among the Top 10 hitters in the Big Ten.
- Catcher Greg Solomon has picked off seven runners and he has thrown out 39 percent of potential base stealers (20 of 51).
- Drew Rucinski continues to shine on the mound with a 5-1 record and a Big Ten-leading 2.11 ERA. He is 3.0 with a 1.85 ERA in conference games.
- Jared Strayer (2.37 and .231), David Fathalikhani (3.20 and .222) and Andrew Armstrong (3.32 and .200) all have impressive earned run averages and opposing batting averages, respectively, out of the bullpen.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes travel to Champaign for a three-game Big Ten series with Illinois beginning Friday.
