A Midweek Threat?

One thing is certain for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. when Central Michigan visits Bill Davis Stadium: the Buckeyes will not have a cake walk for the second straight week. Ohio State beat Toledo 13-0 last Wednesday, the same day, Central Michigan surprised Michigan 7-3 in Mount Pleasant.

Scouting Central Michigan
Central Michigan improved to 12-16 after getting by Illinois-Chicago Tuesday. Sean Hoorelbeke's two-out, two-run shot tied the game at seven and Brendan Emmett's RBI single in the 10th helped CMU knock off UIC, 8-7. Central Michigan is coming off a series win over Bowling Green last weekend. CMU took the opener, 6-2, and the final game, 10-6. CMU lost eight of nine games in the early going but has gone 11-8 since. The Chippewas are 3-5 in the MAC.

Buckeyes vs. Chippewas
Ohio State and Central Michigan have met only four times previously and each team has two wins in the series. Ohio State’s wins came in 2000 (11-4) and in 2006 (8-5) while CMU has wins in 1990 (24-22) and in 2000 (3-2). The two games in 2000 were played at Texas A&M. The 1990 game was at Trautman Field and the 2006 game was at Bill Davis Stadium.

Ohio State is 16-9 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten. The Central Michigan game is the last of an 11-game homestand in which the Buckeyes are 7-3.

Buckeye Bullets...
• Ohio State is 13-1 this season when leading after six innings…1-5 when trailing.
• The Buckeyes are also 13-0 when leading after seen innings and 15-0 when leading after eight innings.
• Illness caused Ryan Meade to miss the entire Minnesota series. The true freshman is on a current 17-game hitting streak.
• Michael Arp made three appearances in the Minnesota series and made the most of his time by going 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI.
• Cory Rupert, who injured his leg late in the fourth Minnesota game, continues to lead the team in RBI with 23.
• Ryan Meade and Tony Kennedy are second with 18 RBI apiece. Justin Miller has 17.
• Miller and Cory Kovanda each hit safely in all four Minnesota games. Zach Hurley had at least one hit in each of the three games he played.
• Pitching wins are nicely balanced with J.B. Shuck the leader with four and Jake Hale, Dean Wolosiansky and Andrew Armstrong with three apiece.
• In four starts, Armstrong has a 1.70 ERA with just four earned runs allowed in 21.1 innings pitched. He has lasted at least 5.0 innings in each of his starts.
• After a pinch hit, RBI single in the second game of the double header win over Minnesota, Ben Toussant earned a start at DH in Game 4 of
the series.
• Rupert has scored 10 runs in the last 10 games and now only trails leader Shuck by three.
• Kovanda and Kennedy have each recorded hits in 21 games this season.
Buckeye Bullets taken from the Ohio State game notes