Ohio State, Kentucky Set for Midweek Matchup in Lexington
3/28/2022 9:06:19 AM | Softball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Coming off a Big Ten-opening series win over Indiana, Ohio State makes a trip south on Tuesday for a midweek clash with No. 8 Kentucky. First pitch at John Cropp Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
The game will be streamed on SECN+ with former Arizona All-American Jenny Dalton-Hill on the call. Live stats are also available at the link below and on the schedule page of OhioStateBuckeyes.com
The Basics
No. 23 Ohio State at No. 8 Kentucky / Tuesday, March 29 / 6 p.m. / John Cropp Stadium
Live Stats / Watch Live: SECN+ / Twitter Updates
Briefly on the Buckeyes
- Ohio State won two of three games against Indiana last weekend to improve its record to 20-6 on the season.
- The Buckeyes were ranked No. 23 in last week’s Extra Inning Softball poll, No. 24 in the DI Softball poll and checked in at No. 23 in the RPI rankings.
- The Buckeyes have won six of their last seven games and are 11-3 in the month of March.
- Ohio State’s .300 team batting average is fourth-best in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes boast six players who have started at least 12 games who are batting over .300: McKenzie Bump (.452 in 14 games), Sam Hackenbracht (.370 in 26 games), Melina Wilkison (.357 in 22 games), Kamni Kortokrax (.333 in 26 games), Jaycee Ruberti (.329 in 26 games) and Niki Carver (.313 in 26 games).
- Ohio State’s pitching staff is also among the Big Ten’s best: The Buckeyes’ 2.45 team ERA is fourth-best in the conference.
- Graduate student Lexie Handley, who spent the last three seasons at Auburn, is 10-3 on the year with 10 complete games, a 1.86 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 94.1 innings.
- A pair of sophomores – Allison Smith (5-2, 44.0 IP, 3.66 ERA, 45 Ks) and Emily Ruck (5-1, 32.0 IP, 2.62 ERA, 45 Ks) rounds out the staff.
- Ohio State is the only team in the Big Ten that ranks in the top four in both team batting average and team ERA.
- Head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly is in her 10th season and has a record of 287-177-1 with the Buckeyes. Her .618 winning percentage is the best in program history.
Weekend Rewind
- Ohio State and Indiana were able to get all three games of their Big Ten-opening series in last weekend. They played a doubleheader on Friday afternoon and then finished with a single game on Saturday.
- In the opener, Lexie Handley went seven innings and struck out 12 Hoosiers, allowing just two solo home run in the seventh inning of a 6-2 triumph.
- Indiana took the second game, 17-5, but Ohio State bounced back to get a series-clinching victory on Saturday, 6-4.
- In that game, Niki Carver hit a home run to spark a four-run second inning and Handley picked up her 10th win of the year.
- Carver’s home run was part of a weekend in which she hit .571 with three RBI, a 1.429 slugging percentage and a .700 on-base percentage.
History vs. Kentucky
- Tuesday will be the first regular season matchup between Ohio State and Kentucky since 2011.
- The Wildcats won that game, 9-0, in the season-opener at the Florida International Tournament in Miami.
- In 2010, the two teams played twice in the NCAA Columbus Regional, held at Buckeye Field. The teams split those games with Kentucky winning the first, 6-5, and Ohio State taking the second, 5-3.
- The last time Ohio State played a regular season game at Kentucky was March 5, 2003.
- Ohio State and Kentucky have met annually during the fall. This past September, they played a doubleheader on Columbus.
This and That
- Meggie Otte recorded her 100th career hit on Sunday with a third-inning double. The East Sparta, Ohio native has played in 126 games and also has 70 career RBI.
- Over the last 10 games, Sam Hackenbracht has a 1.276 slugging percentage and seven home runs, 15 RBI and nine extra base hits. Between March 13 and March 22 – a total of nine games – she hit eight HRs.
- The Buckeyes are outscoring opponents 24-6 in both the first and second innings of games this season. One-third of their total run production (48 of 141) has come in the game’s first two innings.
- That trend continued last weekend. In their Friday win, the Buckeyes scored four times in the bottom of the first inning. On Saturday, they put four runs on the board in the second inning.
- Ohio State is 18-1 this season when it scores first.
- Buckeye pitchers have given up two or fewer earned runs in 20 of their 26 starts.
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