Hartford's Rally Comes Up Short, Bucks win 9th in a Row

The No. 22 Ohio State baseball team won its ninth consecutive game with a 9-8 win over Hartford Sunday at Chain of Lakes Field. The win improved the team’s record to 17-2 on the season. Hartford drops to 1-10.

Ohio State starting pitcher Ross Oltorik, a true freshman, pitched a career-long 5.0 innings, allowing just one run off six hits to record his initial collegiate win against no losses. He struck out a career-best five batters and walked three in his best performance to date as a Buckeye.

Oltorik had a couple of one-two-three innings, including striking out the side in the fourth, and he successfully got himself through a couple of tight situations. In the second inning with Ohio State up 2-0, Oltorik got through a bases loaded with nobody out pinch with a fly ball and a thank-you-very-much one-two-three double play with Oltorik fielding a one-hopper and throwing to Dan Burkhart for the force at home. Burkhart then threw to first to get the batter.

In the fifth inning, Oltorik faced a bases loaded with one out exam. He passed this test with flying colors as well, getting back-to-back strikeouts of the four and five hitters and fist-pumping all the way to the bench at the end of the inning to close the scorebook on his first collegiate win.

Meanwhile, the Ohio State offense was chipping away at a handful of Hawk pitchers and building a 9-1 lead. Zach Hurley led off the game with a triple and he scored on a groundout. Michael Stephens followed with a single and scored on Justin Miller’s single for a quick, 2-0 lead.

Consecutive doubles by Ryan Dew and Michael Arp plated another run for a 3-1 lead after the Buckeyes’ second, and then Ohio State scored four times in the seventh off four hits and two Hartford errors. Hurley, Cory Kovanda, Michael Stephens and Miller all singled and scored runs off Hartford reliever Matt Govoni.

Three consecutive two-out doubles in the eighth – by Kovanda, Chris Griffin and Miller – increased the lead to 9-1.

Miller led the Buckeyes offensively with four hits and three RBI. The senior captain recorded his 55th career multi-hit game and his three RBI represented the 35th time he has had multiple RBIs in a game.

The first four hitters for Ohio State – Hurley, Kovanda, Stephens and Miller – all had multiple hits as did Ryan Dew and Michael Arp, and the Buckeyes totaled 16 hits on the afternoon.

Hartford rallied with four runs in the eighth inning and another three in the ninth – with half of its 14 hits coming in those two innings – before closer Jake Hale came in to get the final three outs for his fourth save of the season and his 10th consecutive game finished without allowing a run.

Bucks now 17-2

BoxScore

No Time to Relax; 6 Games in 6 Days for Spring Break Trip

The Ohio State Buckeyes are heading on spring break this week...finally! After finals week this week and four straight weeks of travel to places like St. Petersburg, Winter Haven, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Fla., for four-games-in-three days action, the team will take off Thursday afternoon for six games over the course of five days.


This Week in Ohio State Baseball

No. 22 Ohio State (13-2) on Spring Break in Winter Haven, Orlando and Miami...

Game 16: vs. Indiana (6-10 2009; 31-30 in 2008)
Friday, March 20 - 6 p.m. (Note: this is a new start time!)
Chain of Lakes Field; Winter Haven, Fla.

Games 17-18: vs. Army (5-7 2009; 25-25 in 2008)
Saturday, March 21 - 1 & 4 p.m.
Chain of Lakes Field; Winter Haven, Fla.

Game 19: vs. Hartford (1-7 2009; 18-31 in 2008)
Sunday, March 22 - 11 a.m.
Chain of Lakes Field; Winter Haven, Fla.

Game 20: at Rollins (17-9 2009; 29-24-1 in 2008)
Monday, March 23 - 1:30 p.m.
Alfond Stadium; Winter Park, Fla.

Game 21: at No. 9 Miami (15-3 2009; 53-11 in 2008)
Tuesday, March 24 - 6 p.m.
Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Stadium; Coral Gables, Fla.

Scouting the Spring Break Opponents

• Indiana, 6-10 after a Tuesday loss to E. Illinois, is in central Florida all this week on spring break. The game with Ohio State will be IU’s second-to-the-last on its trip. The two teams do not meet for a Big Ten series this year. Led by Jerrud Sabourin (.475) and Josh Phegley (.412) the team is hitting .340 and has a 5.43 ERA.

• Army, 5-6, has won three consecutive games (Sacred Heart, No. Iowa and Central Florida). The Black Knights, who have scored as many as 17 runs in one game this season, have four players hitting over .365 led by Kyle Fleming (.429). The team has swiped 25 bases.

• Hartford is 1-7, including four losses at New Mexico State to open the season, and has had four games cancelled due to weather. The team runs a Big Ten test with games vs. Indiana, Illinois and Ohio State this week. Hartford is led by Mike Amendola’s .481 avg.

• Rollins, a Division II school in the Sunshine State Conf., has five wins over DI programs and is 16-9. The Tars (it means sailor) are hitting .342 as a team and two starters - Tim Griffin and Stephen Hiscock - have four wins each.

• Miami is 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the ACC. The ‘Canes play a three-game series at unbeaten Virginia this weekend and host Top 10 school Georgia Tech three days after the Ohio State game. Miami boasts a team ERA of 3.14 against a mighty schedule with 145 strikeouts vs. 55 walks. The team averages just under 10 runs per game.


LIVE STATS

OhioStateBuckeyes.com


RANKINGS

Five consecutive wins and a 13-2 record has the Buckeyes climbing in the polls. The team moved from No. 30 to No. 22 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll and it made its debut in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll at No. 30.


Entire release including directions and a recap of last weekend