Baseball
Buckeyes Still Looking for Relief Pitching as Home Season Opens
By John PorentasThe Ohio State baseball team will play its home opener today when the Pitt Panthers visit Bill Davis Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
The Buckeyes are currently 9-6. Pittsburgh comes to Columbus with a record of 6-11.
Typically OSU Head Coach Bob Todd uses the games before the home opener to look at the Buckeyes and determine what the strengths and weaknesses of his team will be in the upcoming season. This year was no exception, and after 15 games, Todd is still not sure just how good or bad his team is this year.
"I wish that maybe we had played a couple more games (in Florida)," said Todd.
"It was pleasing to see that the last couple games down there our defense settled in and we played a couple games where we didn't make any errors.
"We still have some real question marks about our middle relief and who's going to be our closer.
"Those were questions we really wanted to get answered and I'm not sure that they've been finalized."
Todd's pitching staff is solid in the starting rotation, but thus far has been lacking in the bullpen. The starting rotation is expected to include right hander Jake Hale and left handers Dan DeLucia and J. B. Shuck, all proven veterans. The fourth starting spot is likely to go to redshirt freshman Dean Wolosiansky. Where the Buckeyes have big questions is in the relief corps where the Buckeyes may end up relying on freshman arms.
"There's no doubt that this year is a year where freshmen are going to get opportunities and they're going to continue to get thrown into the fire," said Todd.
"We have not nearly as much depth as I would like."
Thus far, the bullpen has been the weak link on the Buckeye squad.
"If you take a look at the six losses we have this year, four of them we had leads going into the seventh inning and then kind of lost it," said Todd.
Two freshman being looked at in relief are Alex Wimmers and Drew Rucinski, both right handers. Wimmers has eight appearances thus far and has struck out 18 in 12 innings of work. He has been credited with two saves and has a record of 1-1, but his era of 5.25 is a bit more than you would like in a reliever. Rucinski has five appearances and has struck out nine in 11 innings of work. His 1.8 ERA is impressive. He is 1-1 and has been credited with a save. According to first-year pitching coach Eric Parker, both Wimmers and Rucinski are going through an adjustment period in trying to become effective bullpen performers.
"The majority of freshmen have been starters through their whole careers so there is a period of adjustment in finding that role as a reliever when they've been the starting pitcher throughout their high school careers," said Parker
"It's a big adjustment for at times for some, for some it's a little bit easier. I know personally it was a big adjustment for me when I went to college. I was in the same situation."
Middle relief is a problem, but of even more concern is the closer position. The Buckeyes were hoping that senior right hander Rory Meister would fill that role this year. Thus far, Meister has an ERA of 11.81 and is 0-1 with two saves.
Despite their bullpen woes, the Buckeyes have an overall team ERA of 4.97. Pitt's staff has earned an ERA of 5.85.
Offensively, the Buckeyes have been surprisingly productive. They sport a team batting average of .342 and have scored 110 runs in 15 games, an average of 7.33 runs per game. What the Buckeyes have lacked is power. Their 191 hits includes just 39 extra base safeties, 36 of those doubles. OSU has just five homeruns on the season. By comparison, visiting Pitt is hitting just .274 as a team but has collected 17 homers.
"We need to find a way to get some line drive balls off he fence. We've got to find a way to with one swing of the bat get three runs. You can't go through a ball game trying to get three hits to get one run all the time," said Todd.
"We've got a lot of multi-hit games which is good. The trouble is we're not driving the ball like we should," Todd continued.
"Sometimes we need to get three runs with one swing of the bat once in a while and we have not done that. It's nice to see that up and down our lineup we've been able to put some offense together, but we have to put two or three hits together to get one run."
Leading Buckeye Hitters (50 at bats or more)
J. B. Shuck Cory Kovanda Justin Miller Cory Rupert Ryan Meade Tony Kennedy The Buckeyes look like a team that will score some runs this year and should be a credible fielding team. Pitching, particularly relief pitching, will go a long way in determining how far this team goes. Todd's problem is that because of the schedule, he does not have a lot of time to determine who will be dependable, particularly on the mound.
"In years past we've talked about playing the first two or three of the Big Ten season and see where the dust settles and then lets go from there and see what we've got to do to compete for a Big Ten championship.
"The first two weekends are crucial for us. We've got Penn State that finished third in the conference last year and they're picked very high in the conference this year. Right behind them is Minnesota and I think everybody knows that Ohio State and Minnesota in baseball there's a tremendous rivalry there.
"There's going to be an added emphasis to get off to a good start, there's no doubt about that."
Notes: OSU second baseman Cory Kovanda was named the Big Ten Player of the Week this week. In six games last week Kovanda hit .688 with a .737 on base percentage. It is Kovanda's first Big Ten Player of the week award. The last OSU award winner was Ronnie Bourquin on May 22, 2006.
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