Ohio State was cruising against UConn Sunday. The Buckeyes put up five runs in the first six innings before starter J.B. Shuck handed a 5-0 lead over to Jake Hale, who was making his 2008 debut after missing the first two weekends because of tendonitis, in the seventh. Hale struck out his first two batters before allowing a home run to Harold Brantley Jr. in the seventh. After the Buckeyes used a sac fly to take a 6-1 lead, three more Huskies scored in the bottom of the inning to pull within two, 6-4. Hale retired the batters in order in the ninth to preserve a 6-4 victory (box score).
Shuck must have looked spectacular in his third start of the season (2-1). He allowed only one hit in 6.0 scoreless innings. He struck out three, walked three, hit one and balked once. He stayed in the game as the DH when Hale took over on the mound in the bottom of the seventh. Hale allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits in his 3.0 innings to pick up the save. He will likely move into a starting role next week on spring break
The Buckeyes, though, again had three errors in the game. UConn had five. It must have been ugly since the teams combined for just as many hits as they did errors. Ohio State now has 23 errors in their nine games, an average of 2.6 per game. It has just one error-free game this season and committed nine errors this weekend in West Palm Beach.
Justin Miller had two of the Buckeyes’ eight hits. He also knocked in two. Six other Buckeyes had a hit, while Tony Kennedy and Dan Burkhart drove in the other two RBI. Six hits came from the top five spots in the batting order.
The Buckeyes are 5-4 and will take winter quarter final exams this week before opening the spring trip in Bradenton March 15-21. The first game of the trip will be against Bucknell at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The rest of the games will be played in Bradenton, either at IMG Academy Park or Manatee Community College.
8 comments:
Great pitching By JB Shuck today. Cool to see Hale back on the hill.
The infield defense stinks, 23 errors in 9 games.We had 9 in 3 games this weekend. That hurts, giving extra outs. We have to get better on Defense or it will be worse than last year. Just pathetic for a program like Ohio State
Trying to stay positive.... its hard but trying.
It seems like Todd has his favorities or just isn't aware of what is going on.
I like Dew, great kid, hasn't caused any problems, but realistically he is just entering his second season, and as of right now what has he shown to be an everyday starter? Let alone our 3-hole hitter?
The more the errors continue to pile up on our left side the more it has to be contributed to coaching and lack of improper instruction. Bourquin, Stephen, Kennedy, Zoeller, DeLucia, Engle, Miller, Rupert... it has not mattered who has played SS or 3B the errors have piled up.
I've been to 95% of the home games the last 2 years, both Big Ten Championships, and a few road series and it just feels like nothing has changed, there has been no progression as a program. Honestly are Jake and JB better as Juniors than Freshmen? DeLucia went through TJ surgery, Rory seems to have regressed. Its just frustrating. I know we have talent, a nice facility, and we are Ohio State. As much as I want us to be elite and think we can hang with the powerhouses, realistically we can't. Defense, bullpen, no power, and so on. We should be fine in the Big Ten, God is Michigan struggling, but come tourney time, another 1-2 finish looks likely. Omaha is just a dream.
Not really relate to anything but looking around the Big Ten, which we have the best record at 5-4, embarassing but true some of these stats popped out.
Northwestern is batting .350 for 1st but have an ERA of 6.88 next to last.
We're 5th at .287.
Purdue has a 4.25 ERA tied for first with OSU, but is batting .207 last in the conference.
In 9 games Iowa is 21-28 in SB's. We're 6-9.
Surprisingly we have not GDIP yet.
Michigan has allowed 11 HR's, team ERA is 6.15.
In the same amount of innings they have walked 56 compared to our 38.
You thought we were hitting batters a ton, Michigan State has 22, yes 22 hit batters in their 12 games, as well as 18 wild pitches.
Our 23 errors are by far the most.
All in all somehow we should be in really good shape heading into conference play in 2 weeks, which is a sad reality to Big Ten baseball.
Nice write up rocky buckeye
I am suprised how bad Michigan's pitching staff has been so far.They did lose 2 pitchers to the MLB draft last spring. They did play # 4 ASU a couple of times.
They only have 5 Home runs in 10 games.Kinda a suprise. I do think, as much as it hurts to say Coach Maloney has them heading in the right direction as a program. They have kicked our butts the last couple of years.It was great to beat them finally in the Tournament at Fisher last spring.
Michigan's 13-1 record on the road in the Big Ten last spring is very impresive to me.
I agree about Todd having his favorite players over the years. I like Dew, but also think he would be better in the 6th or 7th spot in the lineup.Makes you wounder what Arp does in practice to not split time with Dew in RF?
Yeah the Big Ten is down this season so far. Lowa did beat #7 Vandy last week.
Looks like Purdue is laying an egg so far this season. They are struggling really bad at the plate.A lot of K's so far at the plate.
Purdue lost all 4 games vs. #17 Kentucky this weekend. Tough team to play early.
In reality its probably not that bad, or off on years pasts as a whole, its just shocking that Michigan would lose to Portland and Ga. Southern, Purdue sitting at 0 wins, and for Minnesota to start the season getting absolutely rocked in 3 games.
You can't really knock Maloney at all, he is very fortunate to have Seniors VanBuskirk and Recknagle back, I know they weren't drafted like or Angle and Fryer, but if ours wasn't we'd be at 9-0. A legit 3-hole hitter, a web in CF, a leadoff hitter, leadership... ok I'm dreaming I'll stop.
Its hard to be critical on a program without coming off as throwing kids under the bus. Its like Dew is a talented player, no doubt, he is playing for a qualit DI program, and hasn't done terrible, but as a program you have to be realistic and say "wow, for s to be where we want to we're not as good in certain areas as we need" and a legit 3 spot hitter is one of them. Same with our left infielders. The team is full of great kids and its never to knock them personally, just for friends, family, fans, alumni who care about the program, you want and expect a bit of greatness at every piece of the puzzle.
From what I here Arp busts his tail at practice an does nothing but produce every time he gets a chance. He would change the whole attitude and intensity of this team because his teammates know he belongs on the field. He is not the only player that belongs on the field.
I agree i would like to see Arp play more too. He is a great player and a nice kid. I knew he worked hard at practice.He always plays hard. Just wish he would get a chance to play more. He won the Big Ten Tour. game vs. Minny last year with a great At bat in the late innings.
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