Power Surge Leads to 21-14 Win and 7-0 Start
Every starter scored a run and nearly every starter hit a home run as Ohio State defeated Connecticut, 21-14, Saturday at Harmon Field to improve to 7-0 on the season. The 7-0 record ties for the third-best start ever for an Ohio State team with only two teams – the 1917 team opened 10-0 and the 1991 won its first eight games – opening the season with a better record.
The Buckeyes pounded 21 hits against five UConn pitchers. Seven of those hits were home runs, including five in the third inning that enable the Buckeyes to come back from a 4-2 deficit and take a 10-4 lead. The seven home runs increased the team’s total to 15 in 2009 after hitting only 19 the entire 2008 season.
In that third inning and with one out, Justin Miller hit a solo shot, Dan Burkhart walked and Cory Rupert homered. Then with two out, Michael Arp singled, Matt Streng homered over the scoreboard in left field, Zach Hurley singled, Cory Kovanda homered and then Michael Stephens homered. Single inning home run records are not tracked in the Ohio State media guide, so it is unsure whether a record was set.
Hurley added a two-run shot in the fourth inning and Streng, a sophomore from Upper Arlington in the starting lineup for only the second time, hit another towering blast in the seventh inning that made the score 21-13. Streng’s home runs were not only the first two of his career, but they came from both sides of the plate. No idea when – if ever – that’s been accomplished by a Buckeye.
Ohio State added five runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to maintain a goal-line-stand advantage over a Huskie team, now 3-3 on the year, that would not quit. Despite trailing by scores of 10-4 and 15-6, the Huskies kept swinging the bats against an array of Ohio State pitchers – freshman Ross Oltorik made his first collegiate start and he was followed by Theron Minium, Jared Strayer and Drew Rucinski – and closed the gap to 15-12 through six innings. The Huskies totaled 18 hits for the game with five players having two or more.
Minium, who entered the game in the bottom of the third with Ohio State trailing 4-2, picked up the win. He and Strayer joined Oltorik in seeing their first action of the 2009 season. Minium was pitching for the first time since the 2007 season as he red-shirted last year.
Jake Hale came in and finished his fifth game of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. UConn starter Greg Nappo gave up eight runs off eight hits in 2.2 innings and dropped to 1-1 with the loss.
Game Notes and Recap courtsey Ohiostatebuckeyes.com
Box Score
10 comments:
posted this on another thread ... but in case you missed it; here's an article on Gus from the Big 10 site
http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/022609aaa.html
Also Dan Burkhart picked as a co-player of the week by the Big 10
I am very exicted how well the Bucks have played in these first 7 games. But i really hope the pitching can hold up for the whole season. I really like the weekend rotation with Wimms,Armstrong and Dean W. Rucinski,Best and Hale are your top pen guys but Coach Todd has to find some other guys to use too. I think Ross Oltorik is gong to be ok,but he is behind the curve cause he missed fall ball. I kinda wish i knew what the status of Shinn and Barrera is. I don't even know if they were on the trip this past weekend. We have to keep these guys fresh and rested so they don't tire or get worn out at the end of the Big Ten season. That would be a horrible cause i have seen it happen in past seasons. This team is going to score a lot of runs even if it is not by the long ball, but we have to hold our own on the mound.
Whats up with Wolosiansky, a 9.90 ERA, .354 opp. b/avg, and a whip of 2.10 is terrible.
I found this quote at cbssports.com "I was real disappointed that the Wolosiansky kid topped out at 86. He's too big to throw that soft. I sat with all the scouts that were there and they put thier radar guns away after the first 5 batters he faced".
I agree we need to use more pitchers. Sunday was not really fair to the pitchers that threw, a 35 mph wind blowing out is a hitters dream (7 HR's), Oltorik, Strayer, and Minium will be ok.
Buckeyes up to #25 in Collegiate Baseball rankings
This comment is not related to the game story -- Anyone with info regarding the commits of two players (Mayfield,Brown) from Tallahasee Chiles? Todd has been criticized for having a myopic recruiting strategy and now two guys from Fla. Connection to the coach? Any info?
Yeah i don't know anything about the 2 guys from Florida. In recent years i don't remember any one from the state of Florida on the Bucks roster. I have no idea how the OSU staff found these kids. Kinda cool though,i know the pitcher Cole Brown is pretty good i guess. He had some nice pitching stats from last spring. The HS down in Chiles has a cool site for the baseball team.
http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/default.asp?u=CHILESVARSITY&t=c&s=baseball&p=roster
I'll try to get some info on this years signees.
Sorry about missing the Miller article, and being lateon Dan's award. I've tried, but I haven't been added to the Big Ten email list, anything they produce I have to search manually, and unfortunately the Big Ten website usually does one feature a year so I wasn't expecting it.
Thanks for staying on top of it.
Heard that the new volunteer coach (Pete Jenkins) was on the FSU staff for the last two years. He was evidently aware of these two guys. Maybe not FSU caliber but who knows. With Bob Todd's recruiting history I knew there had to be a story behind these commitments.
powerdog 18
Thanks for the quote re: Wolo. Who said it; a reporter? an opponent / coach?
Ohio State weekend rotation
Fri. vs. Rhode Island - LHP Andrew Armstrong (1-0; 3.27)
Sat. vs. Northeastern - RHP Ross Oltorik (0-0; 9.00)
Sat. vs. Maine - RHP Dean Wolosiansky (1-0; 9.90)
Sun. vs. Central Michigan - RHP Alex Wimmers (2-0; 0.77)
Don't change it if it is not broken. Hope to see Dean W have a nice game on the hill. The Bucks need to get Dean back on his A game if this club wants to have a great season. We need Dean to find that form he showed last spring on the mound.
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