Ohio State Visits Pitt Wednesday
4/2/2019 3:08:39 PM | Softball
RELATED INFO
- Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram | 2019 Schedule (PDF) | Game Notes
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State is taking a break from conference play to visit Pittsburgh for a midweek matchup at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be live on the ACC Network Extra and streamed on the WatchESPN app.
WEEKLY BASICS
| Ohio State at Pitt | April 2 | 4 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream |
BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN
- Ohio State is coming off a 2-1 weekend at Maryland, improving to 14-3 all-time against the Terps.
- The Buckeyes are 20-10 on the year with a 5-1 mark in Big Ten games.
- Ohio State outscored Maryland by a 27-7 margin in College Park.
- The Buckeyes scored 15 runs, connected on 17 hits and drove in 13 runs Sunday, all of which are season highs.
- Seven Buckeyes hit .400 or better through three games.
- Kallie Boren batted .625 and slugged .875 while accumulating five hits, five RBI, four runs, three walks, two doubles and a stolen base.
- RHP Lauren Rice was 2-0 in the circle after tossing 10 innings for a 2.10 ERA. She allowed nine hits and four runs with striking out seven. Rice has earned a win in her last four appearances.
- Ohio State checked in at No. 33 in this week’s NCAA RPI. Overall, the Big Ten came in with the fourth-best conference RPI.
- The Buckeyes are receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll.
- Morgan Ray currently leads the Big Ten in opposing batting average with a .146 clip. She also ranks eighth behind a 1.69 ERA and 87 strikeouts.
- Emily Clark ranks in the top 15 of multiple categories in the conference, including slugging percentage (.618), total bases (62), RBI (28), runs scored (22), doubles (10) and home runs (6).
- Claire Nicholson is making her mark as Ohio State’s starting catcher and has caught 10 stealing, the best mark in the Big Ten.
- Defensively, the Buckeyes have caught 11 stealing and fielded 16 double plays, the top marks in the league.
- For the first time since 2007, Ohio State has thrown two no-hitters in a season. The first came against Army (Feb. 22) as Skylar Hayward and Morgan Ray combined for a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts.
- Ray had the first solo no-hitter of her career in game two against Portland State (Mar. 12) after pitching seven innings of six-strikeout ball.
- The Buckeyes had a season-high eight hits for extra bases in game one at Portland State. The team tallied four home runs, three doubles and a triple.
- Ohio State is 9-1 when scoring in the first inning and 14-1 when leading after five innings.
- The Buckeyes have outscored their opponents 146-75.
SCOUTING REPORT
Pitt snapped a seven-game losing streak Saturday with a 14-5 win over North Carolina. The Panthers are 5-28 on the season and 3-18 in non-conference outings. As a team, Pitt is batting .237 with 194 hits and 97 RBI. Individually, Katlyn Pavlick is hitting .272 with 25 hits, 22 runs, 10 RBI and six home runs. In the circle, Abby Edwards has a 3-7 record and 5.33 ERA, having pitched 67 innings with 16 strikeouts.
SERIES HISTORY
Ohio State is 14-4 in the all-time series against Pitt. The Buckeyes took last year’s meeting in Columbus behind a 5-1 victory. Emily Clark was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and a RBI while Niki Carver drove in two runs.
HOME COOKING
With three wins against Indiana, Ohio State improved to 69-27 at Buckeye Field over the last seven seasons. The Buckeyes have won a minimum of 10 games at home in each of the past six years.
ROAD TRIPPIN’
Ohio State spent the first six weeks of the season on the road. The Buckeyes played 24 games away from Columbus, posting a 13-5 neutral site record and 2-4 away mark. During the stretch, the Buckeyes faced six opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including defending national champion Florida State and runner-up Washington. Ohio State still has four games against two teams that made the postseason a year ago.
STREAKIN’
Lilli Piper has successfully gotten on base in the last nine games. Kallie Boren, Bri Betschel and Andi Farrah are each riding a three-game hitting streak. Piper tops the team with 10 multi-hit outings while Emily Clark has six games with multiple RBI.
WOMAN IN CHARGE
Head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly picked up her 200th win at the helm for Ohio State when the Buckeyes delivered a 7-0 shutout versus George Mason to open the 2019 season. Schoenly hit another milestone on March 12 when OSU swept its doubleheader at Portland State for win No. 400 of her 13-year career as a head coach.
EYEING THE RECORD BOOK
| Ohio State Career Records Standings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Totals | Rank | |
| Lilli Piper | .420 batting avg. | 2nd |
| 47 home runs | 3rd | |
| 151 runs | 6th | |
| 143 RBI | 7th | |
| 40 stolen bases | 10th | |
| Emily Clark | 169 RBI | 3rd |
| 40 home runs | 5th | |
| 42 doubles | 5th | |
| 81 walks | 8th | |
| Morgan Ray | 44 wins | 5th |
| 414 strikeouts | 6th | |
| 455.1 IP | 10th |
UP NEXT
Ohio State returns to Buckeye Field for a three-game series when it hosts Rutgers this weekend Apr. 5-7.
