More on this weekend's games
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OHIO STATE
(1-1; 0-0 Big Ten)
at
KEITH LECLAIR CLASSIC
March 4-6, 2005
Clark-LeClair Stadium, Greenville, N.C.
Fri., March 4 vs. No. 7 Georgia 2 p.m.
Sat., March 5 vs. No. 4 North Carolina 2 p.m.
Sun., March 6 vs. Arizona State 10 a.m.
SERIES MEETINGS
Georgia (5-1): Georgia leads 7-4-1,
last game: Ohio State, 7-2, March 6, 1999
North Carolina (8-0): Ohio State leads 3-2,
last game: North Carolina, 6-3, March 13, 1972
Arizona State (8-10): Arizona State leads 8-2
last game: Arizona State, 9-6, March 5, 1994
OHIO STATE RADIO/INTERNET
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OHIO STATE STARTING PITCHERS
UGA 6
Mike Madsen, R 1-0, 1.80 ERA, 4K, 5.0IP
UNC 39
Trent Luyster, L 0-1, 9.00 ERA, 2K, 5.0IP
ASU 36
Dan DeLucia, L 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0K, 0.0IP
COLUMBUS, Ohio - With only two games under its belt, Ohio State heads to Greenville, N.C., for the Keith LeClair Classic to play three teams - Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona State - that have already played 32 games between them. Forget the Buckeyes' opponents have played significantly more games than they have because two of those teams are ranked and all three played in the NCAA tournament at the end of last season, including Georgia which advanced to the College World Series.
No. 7 Georgia is off to a 5-1 start thanks to a three-game sweep of Elon before a win over Mercer and a series split of a two-game series with Georgia Southern. The Bulldogs play Georgia State in Marietta, Ga., Wednesday before heading to Greenville. No. 4 North Carolina is perfect through eight games, all of which have been played at home. The Tar Heels have swept three-games series from Seton Hall and Birmingham Southern and have wins over Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington.
Arizona State has already played 18 games this season and is 8-10 after starting the season as one of the nation's Top 10 teams. The Sun Devils, though, enter the tournament having played their last eight games against teams in the Top 10 and have played 11 of their 18 games against ranked opponents. So far, ranked opponents Arizona State has played include No. 1 Tulane (0-3), No. 7 Arizona (0-2), No. 8 Baylor (2-1) and No. 14 Long Beach State (1-2).
Ohio State opened the season last weekend at the Wiregrass Baseball Classic in Dothan, Ala., where it went 1-1. The Buckeyes downed Middle Tennessee, 8-4 to start the season, but then lost to Troy 6-4 before a third game, against Iowa, was rained out. Ohio State received votes in two of the four preseason polls and continue to get notice by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
ABOUT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are 1-1 this season after opening last weekend with an 8-4 win over Middle Tennessee, a 2004 NCAA tournament team, and a 6-4 loss to Troy. Ohio State played error-free in its opening tournament of the season, the Wiregrass Baseball Classic, in Dothan, Ala.
Junior designated hitter
Cody Caughenbaugh led the Buckeyes in Alabama, batting .571 (4-for-7) with a double and one RBI. Sophomore outfielder
Jacob Howell, the 2004 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, batted .500 (4-for-8) with his fifth career triple and one RBI. The big RBI producer for Ohio State was senior first baseman
Paul Farinacci, who had just two hits, both doubles including a bases-clearing double in the win over Middle Tennessee. As a team, the Buckeyes had 21 hits and batted .288.
Senior right-handed pitcher
Mike Madsen earned the victory against Middle Tennessee for his 18th career victory. He allowed only one run in five innings against the Blue Raiders with four strikeouts. Madsen is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He gave way to freshman lefty
Cory Luebke, a 19th-round pick by Pittsburgh, who allowed two runs in three innings in his college debut. Sophomore pitcher
Trey Fausnaugh closed out the game, but was not eligible for the save. Fausnaugh led the Big Ten with nine saves last year and appears on the watch list for the inaugural NCBWA Stopper of the Year award.
Senior southpaw
Trent Luyster, a 2004 draft pick of the Chicago Cubs, got the start against Troy, but was tagged with the loss in his season debut. He allowed five runs on seven hits in seven innings. Redshirt freshman
Rory Meister pitched two innings of hitless relief before senior lefty
Brett Hatcher finished the game. The Buckeyes have a 5.29 ERA through their first two games and have given up 10 runs on 18 hits with 11 strikeouts.
Ohio State will likely stick with the rotation from last weekend, when it threw Madsen and Luyster in the first two games. Sophomore lefty
Dan DeLucia was to start against Iowa before the game was rained out. DeLucia was 3-3 with a 7.00 ERA in 45.0 innings in 2004.
ABOUT GEORGIA
Georgia is 5-1 on the year and ranked as high as seventh in this week's national polls. The Bulldogs opened with a three-game sweep and took a single game vs. Mercer before splitting a pair of games against Georgia Southern last weekend. Georgia will play Georgia State Wednesday before heading to East Carolina for the LeClair Classic.
Pitching has been the story for the Bulldogs so far this season. The pitching staff has a 2.05 ERA, 68 strikeouts against only 13 walks in 57.0 innings. Brooks Brown has a 1-0 record and has not allowed a run in 9.0 innings of action to go with 10 strikeouts vs. one walk. Reliever Mitchell Boggs also is 1-0 with one save and has 10 stikeouts, one walk to go with a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings.
Justin Niefer leads the Bulldogs through their eight games. He is batting .545 (6-for-11) with a double and two RBI. Four other players are batting above .300, including Brandon Masters (.350), Matthew Dunn (.333), Josh Morris (.333) and Jonathan Wyatt (.308). As a team, Georgia has a .266 batting average with 53 hits (eight doubles, one triple, five home runs) and is outscoring teams 28-14. Georgia has won three games this season in walk-off style, including two by the long ball. Jason Jacobs' two-run shot lifted the Bulldogs past Mercer 3-1 in 11 innings and then Bobby Felmy delivered a dramatic walk-off grand slam to beat Ga. Southern 7-4 last Sunday.
The head coach at Georgia is David Perno (Georgia, 1991), who is 111-79 in his fourth season in Athens and as a head coach.
AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
Georgia leads the all-time series with Ohio State 7-3 though the Buckeyes won the last meeting between schools, claiming a 7-2 win in 1999. The series dates back to 1925, when the Bulldogs twice downed the Buckeyes in Athens, Ga.
1925 - @Georgia 7, Ohio Sate 0
1925 - @Georgia 8, Ohio State 3
1926 - @Georgia 8, Ohio State 2
1926 - @Georgia 8, Ohio State 1
1927 - @Georgia 7, Ohio State 2
1927 - @Georgia 4, Ohio State 2
1March 18, 1957 - Ohio State 3, Georgia 1
1March 19, 1957 - Georgia 7, Ohio State 0
2March 19, 1960 - Ohio State 10, Georgia 3
3March 6, 1999 - Ohio State 7, Georgia 2
1 - neutral site in Florida; 2 - at Tallahassee, Fla.; 3 - at Miami, Fla.
ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina is ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation with its 8-0 record. The Keith LeClair Classic will mark the first games this season outside of Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won three-game series from Seton Hall and Birmingham Southern to go along with wins over Appalachian State in the season opener and UNC-Wilmington. UNC will play host to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday.
Like Georgia, the Tar Heels have relied on pitching to remain unbeaten. North Carolina has a team ERA of 0.75 and has 72 strikeouts vs. 23 walks in 72.0 innings. Andrew Miller is 3-0 with a 0.48 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. Daniel Bard is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 11.0 innings and Adam Kalkhof is 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA and six strikeouts in 10.1 innings. Matt Danford has three saves and has nine strikeouts without allowing a run in 6.1 innings.
North Carolina is bating .282 as a team and is led by Jay Cox, who has a .414 average. He has 12 hits in eight games, including a triple and a home run. Chase Younts has a .412 batting average. Matt Elington has a team-best two home runs and has a team-high eight RBI.
The Tar Heels are coached by Mike Fox (North Carolina, 1978), who is 254-126 in his seventh season at his alma mater. Now in his 22nd season as a head coach, he is 794-267-4.
AGAINST THE TAR HEELS
The Buckeyes lead the all-time series against North Carolina 3-2, though dropped the last meeting of the series, 6-3, in 1972. The series dates back to 1954 when Ohio State won 8-7 in DeLand, Fla. The teams have never played at a location other than a neutral site.
1March 22, 1954 - Ohio State 8, UNC 7
2March 25, 1955 - UNC 4, Ohio State 3
2March 21, 1957 - Ohio State 6, UNC 2
2March 22, 1957 - Ohio Sate 10, UNC 6
3March 18, 1972 - UNC 6, Ohio State 3
1 - DeLand, Fla.; 2 - Winter Park, Fla.; 3 - Gainesville, Fla.
ABOUT ARIZONA STATE
Do not let the Sun Devil's 8-10 record be deceiving. While Arizona State, a preseason Top 10 team, has played a sub-.500 record and fallen out of the Top 25, it has arguably played the nation's toughest schedule. Eleven of its 18 games have been against ranked opponents and its last eight games entering the weekend have been played against teams in the Top 10. Arizona State has gone 0-2 at No. 7 Arizona, 0-3 at No. 1 Tulane and went 2-1 at home against No. 8 Baylor.
The Sun Devils were 2-2 last week and ended a school-record-tying six-game losing streak. The team is batting .289 has 183 hits (33 doubles, six triples and nine home runs). Colin Curtis leads the team with a .366 batting average and 26 hits. His 15 RBI are tied with Jeff Larish for second behind Tuff Gosewisch, who batted. 462 last week. Jeff Larish has four of the team's nine home runs.
As a unit, the pitching staff has a 5.17 ERA with 144 strikeouts in 163.2 innings. Zechry Zinicola is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA with one save and 15 strikeouts in six appearances (two starts) and 16.0 innings. Erik Averill is 2-2 with a 3.66 ERA and a team-best 33 strikeouts. Jason Urquidez also has two wins for the Sun Devils.
Pat Murphy (Florida Atlantic, 1982) is 409-206-1 in his 11th season at Arizona State. Now in his 18th season as a head coach, Murphy is 721-322-2.
AGAINST THE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State leads the all-time series with Ohio State 8-2. The first year the schools met was in 1965 when they played six times. When the teams met again in June at the College World Series, the stakes could not have been greater. Playing for the third time in four days, the Sun Devils handed Ohio State a 2-1 loss and claimed it first of five national championships. Ohio State won its only national championship, and the last by a northern school the next year, before ASU won in 1967. ASU also won in 1969, 1977 and 1981.
March 22, 1965 - @ASU 6, Ohio State 3
March 23, 1965 - @ASU 7, Ohio State 6
March 24, 1965 - @ASU 10, Ohio State 3
1June 9, 1965 - ASU 9, Ohio State 4
1June 11, 1965 - Ohio State 7, ASU 3
1June 12, 1965 - ASU 2, Ohio State 1
March 17, 1969 - Ohio State 10, @ASU 5
March 18, 1969 - @ASU 2, Ohio State 0
March 19, 1969 - @ASU 5, Ohio State 0
2March 5, 1994 - ASU 9, Ohio State 6
1 - College World Series, Omaha, Neb.; 2 - Minneapolis, Minn.
