The Lantern

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Sports

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Ohio State's Ryan Meade connects with a pitch during the Buckeyes 9-1 victory against the Pitt Panthers.

Few freshmen get the opportunity to start on the mound in their first season with a baseball powerhouse such as Ohio State. But even fewer freshmen sport the type of resume southpaw Andrew Armstrong complied in his three seasons at Turner Ashby High School in Virginia.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound true freshman made his second start of the season in Tuesday's home opener against Pittsburgh (6-12), tossing five innings of two-hit ball in the Buckeyes' 9-1 victory. The win not only improved Armstrong's record to 2-1 this season, but - perhaps even more importantly - it proved he can do something he has never had to accomplish since his Little League days: rebound from a loss.

"They'll hit any pitch you throw, that's for sure," Armstrong said. "Even if you throw your best pitch, there's guys out there that can still hit it pretty hard."

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Ohio State's Tony Kennedy slides into third.

In three seasons with the Knights, he compiled a perfect 28-0 record en route to back-to-back state titles his junior and senior years. As a junior, he went 12-0 with a 0.78 ERA. His team won 26 of 27 games. During his senior campaign, the Knights again went 26-1 behind his 10-0 record and 1.20 ERA.

It's no wonder Ohio State coach Bob Todd felt compelled to give Armstrong the nod early on this season.

"There's a lot of potential there," Todd said. "It was very obvious to the dugout that he was very nervous in the first inning and really struggled, but from the third on, he pitched like we think he has the potential to pitch."

His first loss was a tough one, too; he had his longest outing of the season with 6.1 innings pitched against St. Louis during last week's tournament in Bradenton, Fla. He surrendered just two runs on four hits in the contest, but the Buckeyes (10-6) were unable to manufacture any runs in the 4-0 loss despite picking up 10 hits.

Armstrong's high-school accolades didn't end with the state titles. In 2007, he was named to the First Team All-State squad. A couple months later the Atlanta Braves drafted him in the 45th round, but Armstrong decided to give collegiate baseball a try.

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Ohio State catcher Dan Burkhart watches a pitch whiz by his face during the Buckeye's 9-1 victory against the Pitt Panthers in the 2008 home opener at Bill Davis Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

"I was recruited by schools like Miami (Florida) and a couple other bigger schools, but here they don't really care how hard you throw, they just take you as a person," Armstrong said. "Other places they just care about how hard you throw and what you do."

It also helped that he knew someone currently attending OSU.

Justin Miller, a junior co-captain for the Buckeyes, knew exactly what the Bridgewater native could bring to OSU if he opted to forgo professional baseball - at least for the time being.

"I called him quite a few times, and I'm sure he probably got sick and tired of me calling him all the time trying to get him to come here," said Miller, who caught for him for two years at Turner Ashby. "But I knew he was going to be a good one, and that if we could get him to come here he could be really good.

"The way he could command his fastball is what impressed me the most back then," Miller said. "He was a sophomore at that point, and you just don't see too many guys that young command a curveball like the one he had. I knew at that point that he was going to get a chance one day to do something big."

In four appearances on the mound this season, Armstrong is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA and 11 strikeouts. Five of those strikeouts came in yesterday's non-conference win over the Panthers. In his most recent outing, Armstrong threw five innings and surrendered just two hits. The only run he allowed was unearned after the game's lead off batter reached base on an error and later scored on a single.

The second inning, however, proved to be troublesome for Armstrong. The leadoff batter reached on a walk, but was quickly picked off trying to steal. The ensuing batter than laced a single before a walk put two runners on. A couple batters later, Pittsburgh was threatening to blow the game open with the bases loaded and just one out.

But Armstrong settled the crisis, showing a veteran's composure in working out of the jam with a strikeout and flyout.

The Buckeyes will next be in action this weekend when they host Penn State at Bill Davis Stadium. The four-game series is set to begin Friday at 6:35 p.m.

Matt Gottfried can be reached at gottfried.35@osu.edu.

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