Buckeyes Top Maryland in Big Ten Opener, 6-2

Friday, March 24

College Park, Md.

Ohio State

16-7, 0

Maryland

7-21-1, 0

Ohio State

Maryland

Buckeyes Top Maryland in Big Ten Opener, 6-2

3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

March 24, 2017

Final Stats

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Senior Shelby Hursh pitched a complete game – her fifth of the season – and a five-run third inning propelled Ohio State to a Big Ten-opening 6-2 victory over Maryland on Friday night at Maryland Stadium in College Park. The Buckeyes improve to 16-7 while Maryland is 7-21.

THE SHORT STORY
Another strong outing by Hursh was backed up by a six-run, nine-hit effort on offense, highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Taylor White in the third inning. Ohio State won for the ninth time in its last 10 games and was triumphant in its Big Ten opener for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

HOW THE RUNS WERE SCORED
The Buckeyes gave Hursh a 1-0 lead before she even threw a pitch by getting on the scoreboard first for the ninth time in the last 10 games. On Friday, it was set up by a walk from Anna Kirk to start the game. Three batters later, Ashley Goodwin singled up the middle after a six-pitch at-bat to bring Kirk home from third. It was the first of two hits on the night for Goodwin, who also doubled off the left centerfield wall in a five-run third inning.

After neither team managed to score in the second, the Buckeyes put some distance between them and the Terrapins in the third inning by scoring five times on four hits while being aided by one error. It started with Kirk reaching on a lead-off single and then coming around to score on a Maryland error. Emily Clark then picked up an RBI with a single to right field, followed by a Goodwin double and the biggest hit of the night, a three-run home run by White to straightaway center field to make the score 6-0. It was White’s third home run of the season.

Maryland scored its first run of the game on a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the third by Juli Strange and put a second run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a sacrifice fly, but could get no closer.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Trailing 6-1, Maryland threatened to cut deeper into the lead in the fourth inning with Kristina Dillard led off with a double off the centerfield fence. Hursh and the Ohio State defense were able to work around it however, getting two strikeouts and groundout to end the threat. Similarly, Maryland’s sixth inning started with a triple and a sacrifice fly to left, and Maryland had two one with only one out before Hursh got pinch hitter Cassidy Cross to fly out to left and struck out Jordan Aughinbaugh.

After getting out of the sixth-inning jam, Hursh and the Buckeye defense worked an uneventful seventh inning by retiring Maryland in order. Hursh picked up her team-leading eighth win of the season and still has a sub-2.00 ERA (1.93) in 65.1 innings.

STARS OF THE GAME
Piper: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 run scored
Goodwin: 2-4, 2B, 1 RBI, 1 run scored
White: 1-3, 3 RBI
Hursh: 7.0 IP, 5 hits allowed, 5 Ks

THE LAST 10
Bri Betschel, who singled in the sixth inning and had four putouts from her position in left field, is tops amongst everyday starters with a .345 average of the last 10 games. Kirk has been the biggest run producer with 13 over that span and has a .528 on-base percentage from her lead-off spot. Eight different players have RBI, led by Piper (10) and Clark (eight).

In the circle, five Buckeye pitchers have combined for a 1.40 team ERA. Hursh is 3-0 in that span with a 2.10 ERA, two complete games, a save and a shutout.

STREAKS AND SNIPITS
• Piper registered her ninth multi-hit game of the season.
• Hursh picked up her 36th career win and is now 24-13 over her last two seasons.
• Kirk needs just three more runs scored to reach 100 in her career.
• Over the last 10 games, Ohio State pitchers have a combined WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched) of 1.20.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Buckeyes and Terrapins meet for the middle game of their three-game series tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. The contest will be shown live on BTN and a link to live stats can be found on the schedule page of OhioStateBuckeyes.com.