Same players, same coach, same stadium and same fans. The difference: nine wins and a Big Ten championship.
The Ohio State baseball team (39-15, 17-6) begins its run at a conference tournament title Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The winner of that game will play at 7:05 p.m. Friday.
CHRIS UHLER/THE LANTERN
The Ohio State dugout reacts after Michigan walked in an OSU runner during the May 3 game. Michigan defeated the Buckeyes 9-2."Last year's team featured seven starters who were true freshman. The team was 30-26.
"People call last year a disappointment," coach Bob Todd said. "The expectations here are so high so we needed to compete."
The first-seed Buckeyes, who have a first round bye, will play the lowest-winning team of Wednesday's opening games. Fourth-seed Illinois defeated fifth-seed Michigan State in the early game Wednesday, 16-5. As of 5:10 p.m., Wednesday, third-seed Indiana leads sixth-seed Purdue 3-0.
As of now it is likely that the Buckeyes will face Illinois in its first game.
The Buckeyes were 2-1 against the Illini this season. OSU is 97-88-2 against Illinois, but the Illini have a 5-2 record in Big Ten tournament games. Illinois defeated OSU 3-2 in 2008's game.
The Buckeyes swept the series at Purdue this season. OSU leads the all-time series against Purdue 136-57-1 and is 6-1 against the Boilermakers in tournament play. The Buckeyes won 2-1 in their last game against Purdue in the 2006 tournament.
OSU has a 154-97 record against the Indiana Hoosiers and a 3-1 record against them in the conference tournament. The Buckeyes defeated Indiana 10-8 in last year's tournament. The teams played one game this season in Winter Haven, Fla. OSU won 2-0 behind Alex Wimmers' complete game 14 strikeout performance.
Wimmers is likely to be the game one starting pitcher for the Buckeyes. This season he is 9-1 with a 2.58 ERA and 122 strikeouts.
The Big Ten champions took home 11 conference awards Tuesday. Eight players were named First or Second Team All-Big Ten. Wimmers was selected as the co-Pitcher of the Year and Dan Burkhart was named Player of the Year.
Coach Todd was a unanimous choice as the league's coach of the year. It was the fifth time Todd has won the award.
Wimmers, who is also a contender for the National Pitcher of the Year Award, held a 9-1 record and led the Big Ten in ERA, opposing batting average and strikeouts. He was a unanimous first team choice and he shared the conference's pitcher of the year award with Indiana pitcher Eric Arnett.
Burkhart hit .362 with nine home runs and 57 RBIs this season. He has also thrown out 18 potential base stealers. Burkhart shared first-team all-conference honors for a catcher with Indiana's Josh Phegley. He received the most votes by the league coaches and was named the Big Ten's Player of the Year. Burkhart is a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Catcher of the Year award.
Wimmers is the fifth Buckeye pitcher to be named pitcher of the year. Burkhart is also the fifth Buckeye to be player of the year.
Designated hitter Ryan Dew and closer Jake Hale joined them with first-team all-conference honors. Dew ranks third in the Big Ten with a .395 average. Hale leads the Big Ten in saves, appearances and games finished. He has a 1.09 ERA and .165 opponents' batting average in conference play. Hale is in the running for the Stopper of the Year award
Senior captain and third baseman Justin Miller, junior second baseman Cory Kovanda, junior center fielder Michael Stephens and sophomore pitcher Dean Wolosiansky were named to the all-Big Ten Second Team.
Miller has hit .680 in the last two weeks, during which he has won Big Ten Player of the Week twice. Last week Miller was 10-for-16 (.625 avg.) with five runs scored and six RBIs. He raised his batting average 24 percentage points to .314 overall and to .350 in the Big Ten. Miller has multiple-hit games in his last six games.
Miller's third Big Ten weekly award of the season was the ninth time this season a Buckeye has earned it, which is a single season record for weekly conference awards for OSU. The 2004 team held the previous record with players winning the award seven times.
Kovanda, who also won the conference's sportsmanship award, hit .335 this season and has hits in 19 of his last 21 games. Stephens led the Buckeyes with 12 home runs and 25 extra base hits, and also hit .341 an drove in 54 runs. Wolosiansky led the Big Ten with an 11-1 record this season. It is the first Buckeye 11-game winner in 10 years.
Todd's coach of the year honor is his first since the 2001 season, which was the last time OSU was the Big Ten champion. It was the fourth time Todd has received the award.
Alex Kopilow can be reached at kopilow.1@osu.edu.
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