Buckeyes Travel to WKU, Home Opener Set For Tuesday – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 6, 2015
RELATED INFO ?Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook and Twitter ?Weekly Release #4 ?Season Stats ?2015 Promotional Schedule
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State baseball team concludes a 12-game road stretch with a three-game series at Western Kentucky Sunday-Monday. The series was pushed back from its original Friday-Sunday schedule due to weather conditions at Nick Denes Field. The Buckeyes (5-4) will face the Hilltoppers (6-5) in a two-game series at 4p.m. CT Sunday and at Noon CT Monday in Bowling Green, Ky.
Following its road series, the Scarlet and Gray will open the home schedule at 5:05 p.m. Tuesday against IPFW. The contest vs. the Mastodons will be the first of 11-consecutive home games at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.
FOLLOW ALONG Fans can find links to live stats on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com or follow at twitter.com/OhioState_BASE. All three games will have audio available on WKUSports.com. The contest against IPFW will be streamed on BTN Plus as part of the BTN Student U. BTN Plus packages are available for subscription by clicking here.
HOME SWEET HOME Opening Day at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium will be at 5:05 p.m. ET Tuesday against IPFW. The Buckeyes will also face Evansville (March 13-15), Rider (March 17-18), Michigan State (20-22), Toledo (March 24) and Akron (March 25) during the 11-game homestand. The series vs. the Spartans will be the team’s Big Ten opener. Ohio State is 296-152 all-time at Bill Davis Stadium for a fine .661 winning percentage. Ohio State is 162-93 vs. the Big Ten Conference at home.
Promotions (IPFW): One free small popcorn for all fans, buy one, get one seats special
TICKETS ON SALE NOW! The 2015 Ohio State baseball team, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Greg Beals, opens its home schedule against IPFW March 10 with Big Ten home games beginning March 20 against Michigan State. Season tickets went on sale Feb. 9 with single-game tickets available Feb. 24. For more details on season tickets and other ticket packages, go to OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
Fans can order the 3 up, 3 down ticket package by clicking here. Grand Slam packages can be purchased by calling the Ticket Sales Team at 614-292-0043.
ON THE HILL AT WKU G1: LHP Tanner Tully (1-0, 3.24 ERA) vs. LHP John Harman (1-0, 5.68 ERA) G2: RHP Travis Lakins (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP Josh Bartley (2-0, 3.52 ERA) G3: LHP Ryan Riga (1-1, 1.96 ERA) vs. LHP Austin King (0-1, 6.97 ERA)
BUCKYES IN A NUTSHELL ? Ohio State and Western Kentucky are meeting for the second time in program history this weekend. ? Ohio State is 5-4 overall to begin the 2015 season. The Buckeyes went 3-0 at the Snowbird Classic in the opening weekend. The team tallied comeback victories vs. George Mason (4-3) and Saint Louis (6-5) before shutting out Pittsburgh (8-0) to sweep. ? Last time out, Ohio State dropped two of three games at UAB Feb. 28-March 1 in Birmingham, Ala. The Buckeyes claimed a 4-3 comeback win in game three after Troy Kuhn collected the go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth inning. ? The WKU series marks the fourth-consecutive road series for the Scarlet and Gray. ? The 2015 Buckeyes return 21 letterwinners from a season ago, including seven starting position players and five pitchers. ? Big Ten Freshman of the Year Tanner Tully is back on the mound for his second Buckeye campaign, while classmate and sophomore pitcher Travis Lakins and senior pitcher Ryan Riga round out the starting rotation. ? Second team All-Big Ten outfielder Ronnie Dawson and third team third baseman Troy Kuhn also return for the Scarlet and Gray.
SCOUTING WESTERN KENTUCKY ? Western Kentucky has won four straight games heading into the weekend series vs. the Buckeyes, holding a 6-5 overall record. The Hilltoppers were picked to finish ninth of 12 teams in the Conference USA standings and had senior first baseman Ryan Church on the Preseason All-Conference USA team. ?After starting the year 2-5, the Hilltoppers swept Southern Illinois Feb. 28-March 1 and defeated Belmont, 5-2, on Tuesday at home. The team fell to Maryland, 7-3, in its 2015 opener, while also falling to NCAA defending champ Vanderbilt, 10-6, in Nashville. ? Western Kentucky is hitting .283 as a team and has tallied 36 extra base hits in 11 games. ? Anderson Miller enters the weekend as the team’s leader in batting average (.343), runs scored (10) and slugging percentage (.714) and has a pair of home runs, while Danny Hudzina has a team-best 15 hits and 11 RBI. ?The pitching staff is led by starters John Harman, Josh Bartley and Austin King. Bartley is 2-0 with a 3.52 ERA in 15.1 innings in the three starts, while Harman is 1-0 with a 5.68 ERA in three starts. Kevin Elder has the team’s best ERA in 7.2 innings of relief work with one earned run allowed.
SERIES HISTORY Ohio State is 1-0 all-time vs. the Hilltoppers. The Buckeyes scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to pick up a 5-4 comeback win in the first meeting last year at the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, N.C.
A LOOK AT IPFW ?IPFW is 8-3 overall heading into its weekend road series at Butler in Indianapolis. The Mastodons have won five out of their last six contests. ?As a team, IPFW is first in the nation in scoring (9.2), third in batting average (.340) and on base percentage (.439) and fourth in slugging (.533). ?Junior Brandon Soat leads the squad with a .444 batting average, 14 runs scored, five doubles, three triples, two home runs, 17 RBI and .822 slugging percentage. All nine batters for the Mastodons are hitting above .300 11 games into the season. ?The IPFW pitching staff holds a 5.10 ERA in 83.0 innings of work. Ryan Wells is 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in three starts with 14.0 innings and 16 strikeouts.
