Buckeye Tournament 2010

[JCOSU86]

The Ohio State baseball team heads to Port Charlotte, FL (I wish I could) to host the annual "Buckeye Tournament" over this coming weekend. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, March 5th 1:00 pm - Duquense
Saturday March 6th 1:00 pm - St. Louis (DH)
Sunday March 7th 11:00 am - Fairleigh Dickinson

Duquense Preview

Official Duquesne baseball site

The Dukes have had a rough start to the 2010 season, losing their first 5 games and being outscored 54-27. Duquesne is located in Pittsburgh, PA and is a member of the Atlantic 10 conference.


St. Louis Preview

Official St. Louis baseball Site

The Billikens opened their season in Arkansas, defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff and St Peters College and falling to Arkansas-Little Rock. They then lost 2 of 3 to Central Arkansas University to start their season 3-3.


Fairleigh Dickinson Preview

Official Fairleigh Dickinson baseball site

The Knights were swept in 3 games by High Point University to start their season 0-3. Pitching was the problem in those games as FDU game up over 40 runs in the losses. Fairleigh Dickinson University is located in Teaneck, NJ and is a member of the Northeast Conference.

 

[JCOSU86]

The upcoming games are against opponents whose combined record is 3-11

And we aren't talking about Arizona, Tennessee or some other large school just having a bad start.



@ the tag

 

[fourteenandoh]

They invited some real heavy hitters. Serious question...Is it hard to get a good field for a pre-season invite tourney?

 

[JCOSU86]

They invited some real heavy hitters. Serious question...Is it hard to get a good field for a pre-season invite tourney?

By way of comparison, the LSU Tigers, the defending National Champions have played Centenary, McNeese State and William & Mary College. They then have Brown, Pepperdine, Louisiana-Monroe and Northwestern State before playing Big 12 Kansas.

Not a hard schedule at all IMHO.

 

[JCOSU86]

The Buckeyes survived a real scare from the Duquesne Dukes 9-8 today.

The Dukes overcame a 7-5 lead in the top of the 9th with 3 runs to take an 8-7 lead. The Buckeyes responded with 2 in the bottom of the 9th for the win. Ohio State started the rally with 2 out and Burkhart at 1st, the beneficiary of a walk. Hallberg singled to right advancing Burkhart to 2nd. Delucia hit a grounder to short that should have ended the game but the Duquesne SS booted it, allowing Burkhart to score with Hallberg advancing to 3rd. Streng then followed with a singe to score Hallberg and win the game.

 

[Gatorubet]

By way of comparison, the LSU Tigers, the defending National Champions have played Centenary, McNeese State and William & Mary College. They then have Brown, Pepperdine, Louisiana-Monroe and Northwestern State before playing Big 12 Kansas.

Not a hard schedule at all IMHO.

We lost Tuesday to #3 FSU, and beat # 10 Miami on Friday. The major UF in-state rivals are - unfortunately - usually very good in baseball.

 

[JCOSU86]

Buckeyes split DH with St. Louis

From the Official Site


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Seven times in three games this weekend Ohio State has trailed and six times it has come back to retake the lead and in the process win two games. The team couldn't come back a lucky seventh time in the nightcap of a doubleheader with Saint Louis Saturday, falling 10-9 after winning the opener, 15-9. The split with the Billikins at the North Charlotte Regional Park left Ohio State with a 7-2 record heading into its Snowbird Classic finale Sunday at 12 noon against Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Saint Louis scored its 10 runs off 12 hits but was helped along with seven walks by the Ohio State pitchers. The game featured six different lead changes with Saint Louis taking the lead for good behind a four-run seventh inning to take a 10-7 lead. Ohio State scored a run in the seventh and another in the eighth and had a man on second in the ninth but couldn't come through one more time this weekend with a big hit to extend or win the game.



Continued...

 

[JCOSU86]

Buckeyes win Tournament Finale 15-8

From the Official Site


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - All teams have their sights set on No. 16 Ohio State, but the Buckeyes can play some defense, they have offensive weapons and they can get pitching when it is needed. For the fourth time at the Snowbird Classic, Ohio State found itself in a dogfight and, despite losing a 5-0 lead, rallied to claim a 15-8 win over Fairleigh Dickinson to cap a 3-1 weekend and improve to 8-2 on the season.
In a game that featured 18 Buckeye hits, including five more by Zach Hurley - he had 12 hits for the four-game weekend and hit .571, four hits and four RBI by Ryan Dew, and three hits by two additional hot Buckeyes, it was actually a handful of key defensive plays that really contributed to this win. Among them:

• Tied at 6-apiece with men on second and third in the fifth, first-baseman Matt Streng fielded a hard hit ball behind the bag but made a perfect throw to the plate to nail the runner.
• Also in the fifth, centerfielder Chris Griffin missed on a diving attempt with two on, but he recovered to chase down the ball at the fence and hit Tyler Engle above second base. Engle relayed the ball to catcher Dan Burkhart who applied the tag to batter Ryan Kresky when he overran the plate. Kresky was trying to stretch a triple to an inside-the-park home run.
• In the sixth with two on and nobody out, Cory Kovanda soared to spear a line drive. He hustled the ball to Engle waiting at second to double up the runner and end what looked to be a serious threat.
• Griffin went to the fence in deep centerfield to calmly secure a well-hit ball in the seventh and with Ohio State clinging to an 8-7 lead.
• And with a run already in and a man on second in the eighth, Engle dove to his left to snap a line drive out of the air.

Continued...

 

[rhgbosu]

I was...stunned by how poorly we pitched this weekend. I knew Sunday was gonna be a mess, but i felt like we would dominate SLU with Wimmers and Wolo.

If we pitch like that next weekend, we will get embarrassed. I wonder how the pitching rotation will be in Knoxville. If it were me, McKinney vs Marshall, Wimmers vs UT, and Wolo vs UConn. We have a much better shot to out slug Marshall than UConn.

0-3 is much more likely than 3-0, imo....I think Marshall is as good as any team we have played. UT can rake, and is UConn is playing the best baseball of the group.