2011 Ohio State Buckeyes baseball - preview and general discussion

[JCOSU86]

I'm going to try to write up a preview of this season's Buckeyes. Hopefully I get to it

In the meantime, if anyone has anything to add about the season, please put it here.

 

[JCOSU86]

Buckeyes sign 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State baseball coach Greg Beals has signed four more student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to attend Ohio State University, increasing the first-year coach and his staff's total of new recruits for the 2011-12 season to eight.
Beals announced Friday the four new Buckeyes include three players who are currently attending Arizona junior colleges and a fourth who is in Germany but has relatives in the Youngstown, Ohio area and has spent the last couple of summers playing in camps and tournaments throughout the United States. The four new Buckeyes include:

• Cavan Cohoes, a shortstop/outfielder from Stuttgart, Germany and Patch American High School;
• Tyler Giannonatti, a right-handed pitcher from Chandler, Ariz., and Chandler-Gilbert C.C.;
• Brian King, a left-handed pitcher from Phoenix, Ariz., and Paradise Valley C.C.; and
• Kirby Pellant, a middle infielder from Chandler, Ariz., and Chandler-Gilbert C.C.

Beals and his assistants, Mike Stafford and Chris Holick, were incredibly diligent in working through the junior college ranks to get the three young men who they expect will immediately challenge for starting positions. Ohio State will have an inexperienced lineup this season as seven starters from last season have departed and another eight seniors will exhaust their eligibility after the 2011 campaign.



Continued...

 

[reagdog]

Poaching AZ talent I see!! Hope those guys work out for you.

 

[reagdog]

Let's meet the new Buckeyes.


Aaron Gretz - Catcher / 6-1, 195 / Apple Valley, Minn. (Apple Valley)
Gretz will be a four-year starter in both baseball and hockey for Apple Valley High School, located just outside of the Twin Cities. He was honorable mention all-state in baseball as a junior and was also named all-Lake Conference and his team's MVP. Gretz has hit nine home runs and 38 doubles leading into his senior season and has a career batting average of .389. He hit .485 with 12 doubles and 45 runs batted this summer for the Ohio Warhawks. He is the son of Brian and Suzanne Gretz. His older brother, Nick, played six years in the Colorado Rockies organization.
Coach Greg Beals: "Aaron is a left-handed hitting catcher who really impressed me this summer in every aspect of his game. Defensively, he can catch very well with above average arm strength. Aaron also has a great feel for hitting."

Eric Haase - 3B/Catcher / 5-11, 185 / Westland, Mich. (Divine Child)
Haase, who has played on two state championship teams so far at Dearborn's Divine Child High School, was a Division II first-team all-state pick by the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association as a junior. He was also named first-team All-Catholic High School League. He hit .434 with seven home runs, 15 doubles, 47 runs batted in and 43 runs scored in 2010. On track to break numerous school batting records with 19 career home runs and 99 RBI, Haase was also 5-2 with a 2.10 ERA on the mound for coach Tony DeMare's powerhouse team. He is the son of Don and Lori Haase.
Coach Greg Beals: "Eric can flat-out hit. He is one of the best hitters we evaluated all summer. He has the ability to play defensively both behind the plate and in the infield. This versatility gives us more options to get his bat into the line-up."

Matt Panek - LHP / 6-5, 180 / Cary, Ill. (Cary-Grove)
Panek was first-team all-Fox Valley Conference as a junior and also received all-area accolades for Cary-Grove High School, a Class 4A school located just northeast of Chicago. Panek posted a 6-2 record on the mound in 2010 with a 3.50 earned run average and 41 strikeouts in 54.0 innings pitched. At the plate he hit .452 and slugged .810. Cary-Grove, coached by Don Sutherland, reached its first Illinois state championship in 2009 and last year it won a regional championship. Panek is the son of Karen and Jeff Panek.
Coach Greg Beals: "Matt has an upside that we are very excited about. He is a tall lefty with clean arm action and a feel for spinning his curve ball. Matt will bring much needed depth to the left-handed side of our pitching staff."

Matt Wisler - RHP / 6-3, 180 / Bryan, Ohio (Bryan)
Wisler was a second-team Division II all-state selection in 2010 by the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association. He has also been named first-team all-Northwest Ohio Athletic Conference and first-team all-district the past two years. Coached by Joe Roebuck, Wisler is comng off a 2010 campaign where he went 6-1 on the mound with a 0.17 earned run average. He struck out 71 in 42 innings while walking just seven and allowing only 13 hits. He is the son of Sue and Bob Wisler.
Coach Greg Beals: "Matt is an extremely talented young man with a great future ahead of him. He has an uncanny ability for his age to command all four of his pitches. He is considered by many, including our staff, to be the best pitching prospect in Ohio for 2011. Matt is a dedicated student-athlete who figures to compete for a rotation spot immediately."

Cavan Cohoes - SS/OF / 6-1, 195 / Stuttgart, Germany (Patch American H.S.): Cohoes moved to Lakenheath, England, from Omaha, Neb., before his freshman season of high school and has since moved on to Patch High in Stuttgart, Germany, where he hit .446 with 29 runs batted in and 27 stolen bases in 2010. He was named the all-Europe shortstop this past season while leading Patch to the European Division I baseball championship. Born in San Diego, Cohoes has also lived in Florida and Virginia and he has relatives in Youngstown, Ohio. Cohoes is the son of Chris and Darby Leach Cohoes. His father is in the Air Force.
Coach Greg Beals: "Cavan is a long, lanky athlete who possesses great baseball tools. He can really run and throw. We are extremely excited to work with Cavan and see how god he can get. We feel the sky is the limit for this young man."

Tyler Giannonatti - RHP / 6-0, 200 / Chandler, Ariz. (Chandler-Gilbert C.C.): Giannonatti spent his freshman season of college baseball playing for Kansas State, helping the Wildcats to a 37-22 record and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Fayetteville Regional. He was 2-0 with a 6.27 ERA in 11 appearances with the Wildcats. After the season he transferred to Chandler-Gilbert C.C. in his hometown of Chandler, Ariz. Giannonatti was a top prep pitcher for Corona del Sol H.S. He, and Ohio State recruit Kirby Pellant, led the Aztecs to the 2009 Arizona Class 5A state championship, and Giannonatti was named by the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association as its Player of the Year. He was 14-4 for his high school career and he was 7-1 with a 1.64 ERA during his senior season when he was also named honorable mention all-state and all-city. Giannonatti, the son of Mark and Pamela Giannonatti, also played football in high school and was all-state and all-city in that sport as well.
Coach Greg Beals: "I really like what Tyler will bring to our pitching staff. He is a fierce competitor with a power-sinking fastball. His presence will make an immediate impact to our team."

Brian King - LHP / 6-3, 190 / Phoenix, Ariz. (Paradise Valley C.C.): King, a top 100 junior college prospect for 2011 by Perfect Game, posted an 8-3 record with a 3.63 earned run average in 2010 for Paradise Valley C.C., the same junior college that current Buckeye Greg Solomon attended. The pair and their teammates helped Paradise Valley make the 2010 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II College World Series. King's freshman campaign at Paradise Valley also included 90 innings pitched and 70 strikeouts, and he earned second-team all-region honors. He threw a perfect game against Luna C.C. on Feb. 10, 2010. A graduate of Marcos de Niza High School, King is the son of Ron and Rene King.
Coach Greg Beals: "Brian is the top-shelf lefty that we were looking for in this class. He has an electric arm which we see impacting our rotation next year. Brian has a bright future as a Buckeye student-athlete and beyond."

Kirby Pellant - SS/2B / 5-9, 190 / Chandler, Ariz. (Chandler-Gilbert C.C.): Pellant played for Marshall University this past season, hitting leadoff for the Herd and finishing with a .293 overall average that jumped to .337 in conference play with seven doubles, four triples and 20 runs scored. He was named to the Conference USA all-freshman team. Pellant transferred to Chandler-Gilbert C.C., located in his hometown, following the 2010 season. A 38th-round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2009 MLB amateur draft, Pellant was a three-time all-city pick for Corona del Sol and first-team all-state in 2009 when he, and Ohio State recruit Tyler Giannonatti, helped the Aztecs win the 5A state title. He finished with a .460 career batting average and surpassed the 100 hit, run and RBI plateaus. He also was an all-state pick in football and was his team's MVP as a senior. Pellant is the son of Gary and Julie Pellant. His father is a scout for the Chicago White Sox and played baseball collegiately at Long Beach State.
Coach Greg Beals: "Kirby is the dynamic offensive player we were looking for to solidify our lineup. He is dynamic in his ability to produce offensively, both with his bat and with his speed. Kirby brings a competitive toughness that we are working to instill in our program."
These four new recruits join four others who had previously signed National Letters of Intent with Ohio State: Aaron Gretz, a catcher from Apple Valley, Minn., and Apple Valley High School; Eric Haase, a combo 3B/C from Westland, Mich., and Divine Child High School; Matt Panek, a LHP from Cary, Ill., and Cary-Grove High School; and Matt Wisler, a RHP from Bryan, Ohio, and Bryan High School.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The season gets going Friday against Cincinnati, some tidbits from the official site


http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...1&SPID=10418&ATCLID=205093976&DB_OEM_ID=17300

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The start of the 2011 Ohio State baseball season, and the game-day coaching debut of first-year head coach Greg Beals, is one week from today. To be a bit more specific...the date is Friday, Feb. 18. The time is 1 p.m. EDT. The location is Al Lang/Progress Energy Park in St. Petersburg, Fla. And the opponent is the Cincinnati Bearcats.

And for those interested in following the action of the game and the rest of Ohio State's weekend at the 2011 Big East/Big Ten Challenge, Live Stats will be running at OhioStateBuckeyes.com and one can also follow a little less objective, and a touch more subjective, commentary of the on-field activities on Twitter at @BuckeyeNotes.

The start of every new season brings with it loads of thoughts, notes, numbers, statistics, recaps, quotes and, quite simply, tons of information that every fan, alum, friend and reporter who follows the Buckeyes should know. So...here is a start of things to know about the 2011 Ohio State baseball season: from hello to Huntington Park.

"Hello coach" Beals was hired from Ball State University this June after a national search to find a successor to Hall of Fame coach Bob Todd, the winningest coach in Ohio State history. Beals played collegiately at Kent State, where he also received bachelor's and master's degrees, and for three years in the New York Mets farm system.

"Staff" & the staff Beals brought with him to Ohio State his pitching coach and recruiting coordinator the last seven years with him at Ball State: Ohio State graduate Mike Stafford. Chris Holick, from Westlake, Ohio and a Kent State grad, is the other fulltime assistant. Josh Newman, a 32-game winner for the Buckeyes in the early 2000s and a young man who knows what it takes to pitch in the big leagues because he made 14 starts for Colorado and Kansas City, is the team's volunteer assistant coach.

The energy to bring it... Commenting one day last week on the makeup of his coaching staff, Beals said the most important attribute of his staff was that, collectively, they had the "energy to bring it every day," meaning he wanted a staff that develops a practice plan and then executes it with high energy on a daily basis. Just watch a practice sometime. They bring it!

128 Baseball, the oldest sport on Ohio State's campus with a beginning in 1881, will open its 128th season of play this season.

33 There are 33 members on the team. In terms of eligibility: the team is comprised of seven seniors, six juniors, nine sophomores and 11 freshmen.

Vets and rookies Eighteen players who were with the team last year return and there are 15 student-athletes who were new to the team when fall baseball practice started. The returnees include 12 lettermen.

Returning starters Three players who were considered everyday starters last year - SS Tyler Engle, RF Brian DeLucia and 1B Matt Streng - return from last season; only three. Streng has switched positions: he'll play third base this season.

Now starting for the Buckeyes In addition to Engle, DeLucia and Streng at the positions noted above, here's who to expect in the opening day lineup:

LF will be a platoon situation initially with junior David Corna and sophomore Joe Ciamacco sharing starts and helping each other through the game-day learning process. They have one game and one at-bat between them.

CF will feature true freshman Tim Wetzel, a left-handed hitter who has speed and defensive prowess.

RF is all DeLucia's. Citing the jumps he gets on the ball, his speed and his arm strength, Beals says DeLucia is "as good a defensive outfielder as I've been around in my coaching career."

3B will be Streng's position. The senior is called "steady" by Beals.

SS will be manned by Engle, the anchor of the infield according to Beals, for a fourth consecutive year.

2B was seized by sophomore Ryan Cypret. A coaches' son - his Dad, Greg, the longtime Buckeye assistant is now an assistant at Akron, Cypret won the position, according to Beals, by making huge strides over the offseason both offensively and with his athleticism. "He has been leading the charge in our conditioning drills," Beals said. "And the reasons behind that are his improved athleticism and he is a great competitor."

1B will feature Brad Hallberg, the converted third-baseman whose bat "has to be in the lineup for us," says Beals, with freshman Josh Dezse also playing the position. Expect when one is at first, the other will be in the designated hitter role. "Both have shown they can hit," said Beals.

C will be sophomore juco transfer Greg Solomon who Beals says is a "great athlete behind the plate who can really catch the ball, has quick hands and feet and can make all the throws."

DH, for starters, will be either Dezse or Hallberg.
In summary, that's two starters returning to their everyday position from 2010; a third returning starter making a switch to third base; five first-year starters and a new designated hitter.

137 starts Engle has made a team-high 137 starts with Streng (88) and DeLucia (74) next on the list. Hallberg (28) and Cypret (nine) are the only other position players who have started a game for Ohio State.

Going yard Current players have hit a total of 23 home runs as Buckeyes. DeLucia (10), Streng (nine) and Engle (three) are the only Buckeyes who have multiple career home runs. Juco transfer Brad Hutton hit 24 in his two seasons at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla.

Staff's staff Pitching coach Mike Stafford, along with Newman, have 16 pitchers on staff but only five have worked 20 or more innings. A sneak peek of who the Buckeye coaches expect to utilize early in the season:

Three young men - seniors Drew Rucinski and Dean Wolosiansky and freshman Greg Greve - have risen to the top of the starting rotation group, according to Beals. Rucinski has pitched 175.0 innings and has 28 Big Ten Conference appearances among his 71 total appearances. He has 17 career wins. Wolosiansky has logged 258.0 innings and has 22 victories, including 15 vs. Big Ten teams.

Sophomore Brett McKinney is coming off a minor knee surgery in the offseason that has slowed him a bit. Regardless, Beals says he is throwing well and will be available to pitch at the start of the season.

Beals expects plenty of innings out of the bullpen from senior Jared Strayer. He was lights out the second half of the season last year - after having a minor surgery in March - with a 3.30 earned run average, 15 strikeouts and only six walks in the second half of the season.

Dezse is a talented freshman in more ways than one and he is the leading candidate to be the Buckeyes' closer. Beals is certainly aware of the adjustments and preparation it will take he and Stafford to manage if Dezse is playing first or is in the lineup as a DH, but he is ok with it. They have managed similar scenarios before with excellent results.

The coaches will look to a couple of veteran lefties - fifth-year senior Theron Minium and fourth-year junior Andrew Armstrong - to throw quality innings and create favorable matchup opportunities.

Two other pitchers - junior Brian Bobinski and sophomore Cole Brown - pitched in limited roles for the Buckeyes last year which leaves the coaches with five available pitchers who have yet to pitch in a collegiate game.

The wild card That would be junior right-hander Brad Goldberg, a transfer from Coastal Carolina who is seeking to be eligible this season to pitch for the Buckeyes. If he is granted a waiver, he fits in with the top three starters on the team, according to Beals.

Two you won't see Two transfers from Division I schools are not eligible to compete this year because of transfer rules: Mike Carroll, an outfielder from Duke University; and right-handed pitcher Brock Trimbur, from Ohio University. Both players will have three years of eligibility starting with the 2012 season.

Brothers Two sets of brothers are on the team. Ben and Josh Bokor are true freshmen twins - Josh is older, by three minutes - from Gahanna and Brad and Blake Hutton are from Orlando, Fla. Brad is a junior and Blake is a true freshman.

Going west Ohio State will make a west coast swing during spring break with three games at California, two at Fresno State and three at Cal State-Bakersfield. It is being reported that this will be the last season of baseball at Cal...a stunning development in the college baseball world.

Exhibition vs. the Clippers For the first time in a long, long time, Ohio State will play an exhibition game against the Columbus Clippers. Clippers President, GM and good guy Ken Schnacke, who's been with the team 33 years, could not recall the last time the teams played. They'll play an exhibition game April 5 at Huntington Park starting at 6:35 p.m.

1460 AM The Fan Starting with the home opener March 29 vs. Xavier, 1460 AM The Fan will carry 28 regular season games and all of the Buckeyes' post-season tournament action. The veteran Buckeye announcer Frank Fraas will handle most of the play-by-play with Marty Bannister taking over for most of the road Big Ten games.

Lots of visual opportunities For those who can't make a game at Bill Davis Stadium, at least 15 Ohio State home games and possibly one or two more will be available for viewing on either the Big Ten Network or streamed to BigTenNetwork.com or OhioStateBuckeyes.com. A number of road games in the Big Ten will be streamed - by our opponents Student U broadcast teams - to BigTenNetwork.com as well. Complete broadcast info will be released within the next couple of days.

Schedule same but different Ohio State will face the same eight Big Ten teams in the same order as it did last year, but the location is reversed. The Buckeyes will host Northwestern, travel to Indiana, host Michigan State, travel to Penn State, host Michigan, travel to Illinois, host Iowa and close the regular season at Minnesota. Ohio State does not play Purdue in the regular season.

Huntington Park The Columbus Clippers' lovely, two-year-old stadium in downtown Columbus' Arena District will host the 2011 Big Ten tournament May 25-28.

 

[CleveBucks]

Awesome. Can't wait to get it going.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The Cincinnati and Louisville games this weekend can be seen live for free at http://www.bigeastbigtenbaseballchallenge.com/?SPSID=87801&SPID=10418&DB_OEM_ID=17300

 

[buckeyemania11]

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...1&SPID=10418&ATCLID=205097236&DB_OEM_ID=17300

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio State baseball team heavy on newcomers - there are 15 - and returning only three position starters from 2010 will open its season in challenging fashion this weekend at the 2011 Big East/Big Ten Challenge in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater areas of Florida. The Buckeyes, under the direction of new coach Greg Beals, will start the season off against in-state rival Cincinnati and then meet two 40-plus win teams from a year ago that each made NCAA Regionals: No. 20 Louisville and St. John's.

"We'll be ready for the challenge," Beals said during his team's season-opening "meet the team" dinner Saturday evening. "We're ready to stop throwing at each other and swinging at each other. We need an opponent."

Games This Week:

Friday at 1 p.m. - Ohio State vs. Cincinnati at Al Lang Field/Progress Energy Park in St. Petersburg;
Saturday at 4 p.m. - Ohio State vs. Louisville at Bright House Field in Clearwater; and
Sunday at 10 a.m. - Ohio State vs. St. John's at the Raymond A. Naimoli Complex in St. Petersburg.

Following the Action:

Streaming Video - Watch the Cincinnati and Louisville games for free at www.Collegebaseball360.com and/or at www.BIGEASTBigTenBaseballChallenge.com. Calling the action will be Collegebaseball360.com's Sean Stires, Bradenton Marauders announcer Joel Godett and Ian Dooley.
Live Stats - Access through baseball schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
Twitter - @BuckeyeNotes

The Buckeyes

Ohio State is coming off a 28-23 season in 2010 and it went 11-13 in the Big Ten Conference for a seventh-place tie that snapped the team's record run of 13 consecutive Big Ten Conference tournament appearances. The team was 21-9 midway through the season but hit a funk, losing five consecutive Big Ten series and 14 of its final 21 games. Hall of Fame Coach Bob Todd announced May 6 that the season - his 23rd at Ohio State and his 39th in the baseball coaching profession - would be his last.

Quick Hitters ...

Returning position players for Ohio State include rightfielder Brian DeLucia (.320 average in 2010 and leads all Buckeyes with 10 home runs and 65 runs batted in), shortstop Tyler Engle (a four-year starter who has a career average of .252) and third baseman Matt Streng (nine career home runs; 54 RBI and a career average of .288). All three are seniors.

Two weekend starters - seniors Dean Wolosiansky and Drew Rucinski - lead the pitching corps and a couple fifth-year seniors - Jared Strayer and Theron Minium - give Beals and pitching coach Mike Stafford some experience out of the bullpen. Wolosiansky is 22-14 with a 5.44 career earned run average. He has logged 258.0 innings. Rucinski will start for a second consecutive year after coming out of the bullpen his first two seasons. He has a 17-10 career record and a 5.50 ERA and his pitched 175.0 innings. Strayer has made 43 appearances; Minium 46.

Two third-year sophomores - second baseman Ryan Cypret and first/third-baseman Brad Hallberg each bring an element of experience to the team. Cypret has played in 26 games and made nine starts. Hallberg has played in 37 games and made 28 starts.

Expect three freshmen - centerfielder Tim Wetzel, starting pitcher Greg Greve and first baseman/designated hitter/reliever Josh Dezse - to make their first collegiate starts this weekend.

Juco transfer Greg Solomon will catch, replacing 2010 10th-round draft pick Dan Burkhart, who made 156 starts behind the plate the last three years.
Junior David Corna and sophomore Joe Ciamacco are going to open the season in a platoon situation in left field.

The Opposition...Briefly

Bearcats: Cincinnati is coached by Brian Cleary, a 1990 Farfield graduate who is 364-432-1 in 15 years. UC was 29-29 last season and went 13-14 in the Big East Conference. Key returnees include outfielder Justin Riddell, who hit .312 last year with eight home runs, starting pitcher Dan Jensen (4-2 with a 4.02 ERA) and reliever Andrew Strenge (7-1 with a 1.93 ERA).

Cardinals: Louisville has been a dominant program in Dan McDonnell's four seasons, amassing an average of 44 wins per season with a College World Series appearance plus two Super Regionals and an NCAA Regional. The Cardinals were 50-14 last season and reached the final of its own Louisville Regional. RHP Tony Zych (5-2 with a 5.13 ERA last season as a freshman All-American) and second baseman Ryan Wright (.366 with 16 HR and 80 RBI in 2010) have each picked up multiple preseason All-America accolades so far.

Red Storm: St. John's is under the direction of Ed Blankmeyer, who is 513-305-3 in 15 seasons as coach. His Red Storm are coming off a 43-20 season in 2010 that included a Big East tournament championship and an invite to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional. All-American outfielder Jeremy Baltz, just a sophomore, hit .396 last year with 24 HRs and 85 RBI. Three teammates - shortstop Joe Panik, first baseman Paul Karmas and second baseman Matt Wessinger - combined to hit 25 home runs and drive in 161. Sophomore RHP Kyle Hansen was a freshman All-American last season after going 8-3 with a 3.71 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 94.2 innings.

Series Histories

Ohio State and Cincinnati are meeting for the 89th time in a series that dates to the first year of baseball at Ohio State: 1881. Ohio State leads, 65-21-2. This is the third consecutive season the teams have played with Cincinnati winning last year at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in St. Petersburg at the Naimoli Complex, 12-4.

Louisville and Ohio State are meeting for the 10t time. Louisville leads the series, 6-3, and has won five consecutive games dating to the 2008 season, including 6-0 and 10-8 wins last year.

Ohio State and St. John's have met just three times with Ohio State leading the series, 2-1. St. John's won the last meeting, 7-1, in the NCAA Corvallis Regional in 2005.

 

[LitlBuck]

Can't we put a sticky on this thread so it will be above every other college baseball team in the country. It would be nice if the followers of the baseball team would post this scores and statistics of the games in this thread. Just send this is the Ohio State baseball forum and I would think that the Ohio State baseball thread would be at the top. Thanks.:osu:

 

[JCOSU86]

Josh Drezse picks up 2nd Freshman of the Week Award

COLUMBUS, Ohio- Two weeks ago Ohio State's Josh Dezse was named the Big Ten Conference's first-ever recipient of its Freshman of the Week award. Today, he became the first two-time winner of the award as the conference honored him for his efforts in the Buckeyes' only game last week, vs. Army.
The designated hitter/relief pitcher from Powell, Ohio and Olentangy Liberty High School led the team offensively in the 7-1 win over Army with three hits in four at-bats, two runs scored and two RBI. He singled in both the first and third innings and scored the first two runs of the game on Matt Streng singles. Then in the seventh inning he broke the game open with a bases-loaded double that gave the Buckeyes a 6-1 lead.
Those runs were more than enough for Ohio State starter Drew Rucinski, who scattered two hits over eight innings to pick up his second victory of the season against no defeats. The win improved the Buckeyes' record to 5-3 on the season.
Dezse leads the team in batting (.469), hits (15), RBI (nine) and on-base pct. (.486). He ranks second in the Big Ten in batting and he is Top 5 in RBI and on-base pct.

 

[JCOSU86]

A hilarious prank played on one of Ohio State's baseball trainers:

From the Official Site

Stephen, this is Auburn calling Student athletics trainer Stephen Taylor, a fine young man who already has a job lined up at Auburn University once he graduates in June, wasn't on the trip but he was on the minds of those who were on the trip. So assistant Mike Stafford became "John Anderson calling from Auburn" and placed a call to Stephen urging him to try and get to Auburn as quickly as possible because an ankle injury has limited the Auburn athletics training staff. The ruse lasted about 10 minutes and included Stephen actually concurring that he had spoken to "John" about a week ago. The talk started to go downhill when Stephen was told he'd get a free oil change if he got to Auburn sooner rather than later.

 

[Buckskin86]

July 13, 2011
Hayes leaving Ohio State to play for ISU

Craig Pearson The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE ? Hometown baseball has been good to Terre Haute South graduate Jacob Hayes.

The shortstop won four sectional titles with the Braves during a standout high school career, and Hayes has enjoyed this summer with the Terre Haute Rex.

Hayes? experience with the Rex has convinced him that he?d like to leave Ohio State to play for Indiana State.

The sophomore-to-be will have to sit out next season, but he?ll still have three years of eligibility for coach Rick Heller.

Hayes is hitting .213 for the Rex with one home run, eight RBIs, two doubles and 14 runs. Hayes played sparingly this spring for Ohio State, but the appeal of returning home near a big contingent of friends and family was the main factor.

Cont...

http://tribstar.com/sports/x227001662/Hayes-leaving-Ohio-State-to-play-for-ISU