OSU Baseball Tidbits (2006 season).....

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

4/14/06

OHIO STATE | BASEBALL

Versatile freshman

Galion’s Shuck has proven to be a real find for Buckeyes at the plate and on the mound

Friday, April 14, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG> MIKE MUNDEN | DISPATCH Ohio State freshman J.B. Shuck is 5-0 with a 1.10 ERA that ranks fourth nationally.


The first time J.B. Shuck swung a bat for Ohio State, it didn’t matter that the opponent was Wake Forest in the highprofile Pepsi Baseball Classic in Gainesville, Fla.
Shuck went to the plate with a simple plan: See the ball and hit the ball. The result was a pinch-hit single.
Flash forward four weeks and Shuck’s philosophy remained elementary in his Big Ten pitching debut. He just wanted to throw strikes. The result was a no-hitter until he gave up a home run in the eighth inning of a victory over Iowa.
It should come as no surprise that Shuck, a true freshman from Galion, doesn’t waste words describing his success.
"I’m not surprised because I have high expectations of myself," said Shuck, whose initials stand for Jack Burdette. "What I try to do is give it my best all of the time. That’s all you can really do. When I pitch, I try to throw strikes. When I’m batting, I try to put the ball into play."
Shuck will try to do more of the same when the 24 th-ranked Buckeyes (20-7, 6-2) face Michigan (16-12, 4-4) in a four-game series in Ann Arbor, Mich. The first game is at 6:35 tonight.
Eight Buckeyes have been named Big Ten freshman of the year since 1990. None, however, played multiple positions like Shuck.
As a left-handed starter, he is 5-0 with a 1.10 ERA that ranks him fourth nationally. Opponents are batting .174 against him.
As a first baseman and sometimes outfielder, Shuck is batting .370 with 14 RBI and a .463 slugging percentage. He has struck out three times in 54 at-bats.
Shortstop Jedidiah Stephen, a senior captain, is impressed that Shuck can juggle so well.
"I can’t imagine the pressure on him, but each day he focuses on hitting and then he focuses on pitching," Stephen said. "He has no problem taking on that kind of responsibility, and you don’t always get that with a freshman. It’s such a big deal, but his mind-set never changes."
Shuck said teammates have made it easier for him.
"I know they always have my back," he said. "It’s not difficult pitching and playing first base. That’s not tiring. Other guys play every day, too."
What did Ohio State coaches know that major-league baseball scouts and most other Division I colleges didn’t know about Shuck?
Despite putting up science fiction-type numbers as a senior at Galion High school — .578 batting average and a 1.12 ERA — Shuck was not drafted and only Dayton and Akron showed interest in him besides Ohio State.
"We knew J.B. had the talent to pitch and play in the field," Buckeyes coach Bob Todd said. "The biggest question was maturity, and J.B. has shown that he has a lot of that. We talk to our team about blocking out external things such as expectations of fans, parents and girlfriends. J.B. has had a good approach. He’s sharply focused. He has not disappointed."
At one point, though, Ohio State coaches were looking at Shuck only as a first baseman.
"People in Galion kept saying, ‘Please, don’t count him out as a pitcher,’ " assistant Greg Cypret said. "What happened is J.B. refined his mechanics and that added 4 to 5 mph to his fastball. His curveball got sharper, too. That’s when we started looking at him as someone who could pitch for us."
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

4/21/06

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Buckeyes look to rebound from sweep by Michigan

Friday, April 21, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




The last time Ohio State coach Bob Todd and his players checked, the sky was not falling.
At times last weekend, it might have seemed that way as the Buckeyes dropped a fourgame series at Michigan.
It stung losing to a rival, and it hurt in the Big Ten standings as well. Ohio State went from a tie for first place to three games behind surprising Northwestern.
"I told the players that I’m not sure I had any words of wisdom," Todd said. "That was only the third time in my life I’ve been swept. I’m not used to that. But you look at the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees and they will lose seven, eight games in a row. That’s just baseball.
"We can only look at the future and try to improve. We still have 20 conference games left. We won’t do much changing. I think this team competed against Michigan. We played hard. Two of those three losses were by one run. Those were heartbreakers."
The drive to gain ground on Northwestern begins today at Indiana (13-20, 4-8). In the past seven series against the Hoosiers, the Buckeyes (21-11, 6-6) have won six and split one.
History says Ohio State will rally and reach the NCAA tournament. It has done so six of the past nine years.
The Buckeyes, however, want to win the Big Ten regular-season championship for the first time since 2001 so they can play host to an NCAA regional to better control their destiny. They made three of the last four NCAA tournaments by winning the conference tournament, and that landed them in South Bend, Ind., Auburn, Ala., and Corvallis, Ore., as an at-large team.
"We’ve got pictures in our lockers of the Big Ten championship ring, and we still want nothing less," shortstop Jedidiah Stephen said. "We’ll bounce back. We’re too good of a team and we’ve got a lot of games left. We’ve just got to step it up. Coach Todd doesn’t have to yell. Yelling does nothing. We’ve got to play up to our ability."
Even when the Buckeyes were winning their first two Big Ten series against Iowa and Illinois, Todd cautioned that the offense was carrying a shaky defense and a young rotation that was getting behind too many batters in the count.
When the Wolverines hit the ball hard at the Ohio State fielders, Michigan won the first two games 14-3 and 7-1.
"The good thing is we’re approaching the game the right way," Todd said. "This team has no problems with attitude."
Left fielder Jacob Howell, who missed the series because of a pulled hamstring, said the players know what they have to do against Indiana.
"What we have to do is approach every game the same way, and that starts with the first one," he said. "You have to be more consistent. The Michigan series definitely was a wake-up call. We know we have great ballplayers, but being good on paper doesn’t matter when you’re out on the field. What we have to do is start over, and we’ve done that before."
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Canton

5/3/06

OSU’s Bourquin named Big Ten Player of Week

Wednesday, May 3, 2006


Former Canton South High School star Ronnie Bourquin is making quite an impact for the Ohio State baseball team.

Bourquin, a junior for the Buckeyes, was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday and was among 64 players recently named to the Dick Howser Trophy watch list.

Bourquin leads the Big Ten in batting average (.426), hits (69), RBIs (50) and on-base percentage (.492). He’s also third in slugging percentage (.599).

Last week, he batted .706 with seven RBIs and five runs during a five-game homestand. He had multiple hits in four of the five games and is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak.

Bourquin shared Big Ten Player of the Week honors March 20.
The Howser Trophy, which honors the former Major League Baseball player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, is given on the basis of performance on the field, leadership, moral character and courage. It’s awarded annually to the nation’s top college baseball player.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

5/5/06

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Buckeyes’ Fryer bears down on field

Friday, May 05, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

</IMG> KYLE ROBERTSON DISPATCH Ohio State catcher-first baseman Eric Fryer has a reputation for discipline and hard work — and chatter in the dugout.


Ohio State baseball coaches have learned when they won’t get an accurate head count of players.
Generally, they will be short at least a player minutes after team meals and meetings, when almost everyone is lounging in the clubhouse.
That’s when sophomore catcher-first baseman Eric Fryer of Reynoldsburg will slip away to beat on balls in the batting cage, go to the weight room or get his head straight in solitude in the outfield.
"Eric comes very focused. He comes ready to play all the time," coach Bob Todd said. "He doesn’t like a lot of outside distractions. You’ll see him during Big Ten weekends leave team meals and meetings and go to the outfield to start stretching. He’s getting himself ready."
Fryer’s rigid schedule has brought rewards. Going into OSU’s game against Michigan State at 2:05 today in East Lansing, Mich., he’s batting .396 with four home runs and 44 RBI. His longest hitting streak has been a modest nine games, yet his longest hitless streak has been two games twice.
The Buckeyes (28-14, 12-8) get a lot more from Fryer than statistics. He’s a holler guy in the dugout and rubs off on others just by the way he goes about his business.
"For me, baseball is fun," Fryer said. "I like putting the work in. I’m someone who thinks he has to hit every day. If I don’t, I feel like I’m behind. Like my grandfather always said, if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. I take that to heart."
Grandpa is Bob Stuart, a former Eastmoor coach who was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988 and a volunteer assistant at Ohio State under Earle Bruce.
Joe Fryer also made sure his oldest son got the most out of his ability.
"My father never forced me into anything, but he did instill a work ethic," Eric Fryer said. "He wanted me to get the most out of myself."
There isn’t much downtime for Fryer. He’ll stretch and run in the outfield an hour before practices and games. Then he’ll hit off a tee in the batting cage.
During games, Fryer is constantly chattering in the dugout and talking up the pitcher if catching.
"That helps you stay into games," he said. "I also figure that if guys can cheer me on, I can do the same for them. I’m trying to reinforce them, build them up. I also want to win."
Outfielder Michael Arp has been teammates with Fryer since Little League. In 2004, they helped Reynoldsburg get to the Division I state tournament as seniors.
"Eric always has been the most serious, disciplined and hardest-working player I’ve been around," Arp said. "All that hard work is paying off. The summer before we got to Ohio State, Eric, Matt Angle and myself worked on fundamentals all the time. We were so focused. We kept saying, ‘Another day of baseball.’ "
Fryer has been known to go into overdrive emotionally during games.
"Oh, he’s a character. That’s the best word to describe him," Arp said. "He’s so into the game on the bench. He’s loud and vocal whether we’re up 10 runs or down 10 runs."
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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

5/12/06

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COLLEGE BASEBALL

Coach lectures OSU on late-season realities

Buckeyes know what they’re facing in Big Ten race

Friday, May 12, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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It’s standard for Ohio State baseball coach Bob Todd to gather his players before and after practices for a brief talk about the mental aspects of the sport.

With the Buckeyes trailing Northwestern and Michigan by one game in the Big Ten with two conference series left, one meeting last week dealt with a history lesson as to why the race is never over until it’s over.

The deficit really is two games. Michigan and Northwestern, who are 16-8, own tiebreakers over Ohio State as far as playing host to the conference tournament. Only the conference tournament winner is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The Wolverines swept the Buckeyes (31-15, 15-9) in four games.

Northwestern does not play Ohio State and in the event of a tie would win out over Michigan and OSU because it took three of four from Michigan.
Todd, whose master’s degree in education specialized in psychology, spoke to the team about the 2001 season.

"The Big Ten came down to the final weekend," Todd said. "We lost the first game against Michigan, and Purdue beat Iowa the first three games of its series. But we wound up winning the next three games against Michigan and Purdue lost the last game against Iowa. I didn’t find out we had won the championship until I pulled into my driveway that Sunday night."

Throw out the Michigan series and the Buckeyes, who face Minnesota (24-23, 11-13) at 6:35 tonight in Bill Davis Stadium, have been dominant in winning three of four games in five series. Three series have been on the road.

Ohio State has won despite having freshmen Jake Hale and J.B. Shuck in the rotation and not having left fielder Jacob Howell, a captain and catalyst.

Shortstop Jedidiah Stephen said the Buckeyes must continue to apply pressure.

"We just have to play baseball the way we have to and whatever happens, happens," he said. "We’ve shown that we can play (championship) baseball.

This team will continue to play hard the next two weekends."

The Buckeyes would be in first place if they swept Purdue and Michigan State the previous two weekends. They won the first three games against each only to lose Sunday.

"It’s hard to win four games during a weekend, and it’s even harder to do it on the road like at Michigan State," Stephen said. "As a senior, you know how important those (lost) games are."

Todd’s teams have won seven Big Ten regular-season titles.

"People don’t realize how difficult it is to win a championship," Todd said.

"We put ourselves behind the eight ball at Michigan and we have responded. We have to stay focused. There are eight conference games left. That’s a lot of games. A lot can happen. That’s why I told them that story about 2001."

Center fielder Matt Angle said being in a close race means having tunnel vision.

"That’s means we can’t watch the scoreboard and we can’t go on to Web sites to follow Michigan," he said. "We’ve been playing well all year. It’s just that we’ve beaten ourselves here and there with one bad inning. But we’ve been consistent, and that’s all you can ask from yourselves."

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

5/15/06

Bourquin’s foes now feeling pain

Monday, May 15, 2006
[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By Joe Frollo Jr. Repository assistant sports editor[/FONT]

Ohio State third baseman Ronnie Bourquin — a Canton South graduate — entered the weekend hitting .425 with a .500 on-base percentage and 54 RBIs. He leads the Big Ten in all three categories.​

year ago, swinging a bat was out of the question for Ronnie Bourquin. Even the vibration that comes with a good clean ping was too much.

That isn’t a problem any more.
Bourquin has put an injury-plagued sophomore season at Ohio State University behind him and come on strong for the Buckeye baseball team.
The Canton South High School graduate entered the weekend leading the Big Ten in batting average and RBIs for a team contending for a conference title.
Bourquin missed six weeks in 2005 after suffering a broken bone in his left thumb while sliding into first base. The crack ran from the thumb’s tip to the base and left Bourquin on the sideline for the first time in his life.
On paper, Bourquin was gone only 11 games. It took much longer than that for everything to feel right again.
“There wasn’t really much rehab that I did. The bone was broken, and that was it,” Bourquin said. “After six weeks, it’s a matter of how much pain you can tolerate. I wasn’t 100 percent, but I wanted to go out there and play 100 percent.”
After a successful freshman season in which he hit .333 with 20 RBIs in 46 games, Bourquin finished 2005 batting .268 with 23 RBIs in 49 games. Tough times followed during the summer and fall as he worked his way back.
The break was on his glove hand, so taking hard ground balls at third base was a concern. Every time he hit the ball off the bat handle, the vibration would send shock waves through his thumb.
“There’s no doubt that frustration was setting in,” Ohio State Head Coach Bob Todd said. “We talked a great deal about how this setback, as we look at the big picture, was something necessary so that his future would stay bright.
“During that period after he came back, I thought he showed a great deal of heart and mental toughness in playing with the pain.”
Things are better now.
Bourquin entered the weekend hitting .425 with a .500 on-base percentage and 54 RBIs, all best in the Big Ten. He is in the conference’s top five in slugging (.581), runs (46), total bases (104) and walks (26) and has reached base at least once in all but three of the Buckeyes’ first 46 games.
Todd said Bourquin’s patience is leading to the success.
Bourquin said he finally feels healthy.
“With this being my third year playing college baseball, it’s becoming more natural. I’m getting more comfortable at the plate,” he said. “The speed of the game has slowed down a little bit. I’m able to get into a comfort zone.”
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Bourquin hits fourth in the Buckeyes’ lineup despite just four home runs in 179 at-bats.
The strategy seems to be working, though, as the Buckeyes have scored a Big Ten-best 332 runs, 7.2 per game.
“He has gotten a little bigger and stronger this year, and he gives us the occasional power,” Todd said. “But you can drive in an awful lot of runs with doubles.”
Bourquin hopes to continue his success through the final two weeks of the season. The Buckeyes are battling Northwestern and Michigan for the Big Ten regular-season title. Though the conference tournament champion gets the automatic NCAA regional bid, a regular-season crown likely would assure an at-large bid.
Beyond that? Bourquin says he will see. Pro scouts are regulars at Ohio State games. He plans to take his shot when it comes.
“Right now, my main focus is finishing out my junior year,” Bourquin said. “Hopefully, we can go to the places we set out to go. The draft will take care of itself. If it’s the right situation, possibly I do leave. If it isn’t, I play my senior year.” You can reach Repository Assistant Sports Editor Joe Frollo Jr. at (330) 580-8564 or e-mail: [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ozone.net

5/19/06

May 19, 2006 10:10 AM

Baseball: Ohio State junior third baseman Ronnie Bourquin has been named one of 16 finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy.


The Dick Howser Trophy is given to the top player in college baseball by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in conjunction with the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bourquin is one of 16 finalists on the list. He currently leads the Big Ten with a .426 batting average with 81 hits and 59 RBI. His slugging percentage of .595 is also tops in the league as is his on-base percentage of .505.

Some previous winners of the Dick Howser Trophy include Robin Ventura (1988), Jason Varitek (1994), Todd Helton (1995), Kris Benson (1996), J. D. Drew (1997), Mark Teixeira (2000), Mark Pryor (2001) and Khalil Greene (2002).

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

6/3/06

Bourquin All-America pick

Saturday, June 3, 2006


COLUMBUS - Ohio State University junior third baseman Ronnie Bourquin was named third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

The Canton South High School graduate was named Big Ten Player of the Year after leading the conference in batting average (.416), slugging percentage (.612), on-base percentage (.492), hits (91) and RBIs (66).

Bourquin came within one hit of tying the school record for a season. He had a career-long 14-game hitting streak and led the Buckeyes with 27 multiple-hit games, including five hits March 19 against Massachusetts.
Bourquin also is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Brooks Wallace Award, both given to the player voted the top player in college baseball.

 

[JCOSU86]

Bourquin came within one hit of tying the school record for a season.

So close.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

7/14/06

Central Catholic’s Grove catches on with Ohio State
[FONT=verdana, Times New Roman, Times, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By DAVID HARPSTER


[email protected][/FONT]

As far as summers go, this one certainly didn’t start out well for Nate Grove.
The former Central Catholic standout catcher had high hopes of helping his team to a Division III state championship, but those dreams were dashed when the Crusaders lost in the semifinals in early June.
Then, when Grove should’ve been in the midst of his summer baseball schedule, he was forced to deal with having his wisdom teeth extracted before having to battle mononucleosis.
“I could barely eat or drink there for a while,” Grove said. “I probably lost about 10 pounds and couldn’t do anything with baseball for two or three weeks.”
Grove’s recovery – and summer in general – got a massive boost of energy, however, when he received a call from Ohio State earlier this week. While the Buckeyes couldn’t offer Grove a scholarship for next season, coach Bob Todd and assistant Greg Cypret informed Grove that he will have a place on the team next spring.
“I went down for a visit earlier this week and talked to both coach Todd and coach Cypret,” Grove said. “I guess they had watched me play in the state semifinals and liked what they saw. I got call from them and they said that if I came to school there I would be on the team next year.”
While Grove might be considered a walk-on, he said that unlike other non-scholarship players who sometimes have to try out to make the team, the coaching staff gave him assurances that he would be on the roster come opening day next season.
“I’m not getting any scholarship money but it’s above a preferred walk-on in that I don’t have to try out like some other players might,” Grove said. “I had already applied to Ohio State anyway, just to go as a student in case I didn’t play baseball anywhere. Once they called me, though, it was a no-brainer. It’s a dream come true.”
Grove had ideas of continuing his career in college throughout his senior year, and his stats certainly reinforced his belief that he could play at the next level. Grove led the Crusaders with 41 hits and finished with a team-leading .451 average. He also added 15 RBI and a .569 on-base percentage.
“Akron was interested in me as a catcher but they’d used all their scholarships,” Grove said. “I had kind of talked to Ohio State back and forth some during the spring and I also had a lot of contact with smaller schools. I looked at Ashland and West Liberty State in West Virginia too.
“I wanted to get a good education and go to a larger school. I really wanted to play baseball if I could ... I wasn’t ready to give up on that quite yet, so the way this worked out was just great.”
Grove said that the Ohio State coaching staff indicated that they would keep him at catcher.
“They recruited two other catchers this season and they have a returning starter coming back there,” Grove said. “But they’re losing their backup because he’s transferring. So there’s going to be a chance for someone to come in and get the backup spot next season.”
Once Grove gets back to full strength he’ll rejoin his summer team, where he’s teammates with Perry’s Zach Messer, Canton South’s Devon Torrence and Green’s Dean Wolosiansky, who was recruited to Ohio State as a pitcher. Once the season is over, Grove will concentrate on getting ready for fall ball in Columbus. “They said they don’t want the baseball players down there until September 11 or so,” Grove said. “That’s going to give me some time to get ready and get in shape before I go down there. It’s going to be great.”