Forgive the Ohio State baseball pitching staff if it is beginning to enjoy mid-week contests.

Five different Buckeye hurlers combined to shut out Bowling Green at Davis Stadium yesterday, extending OSU’s mid-week scoreless innings streak to 36. The last time Buckeye pitchers gave up a run during the week was in a doubleheader against Oakland April 9.

“The players that pitched tonight have not been getting a lot of innings on the weekend,” OSU coach Bob Todd said. “So we’ve had to find ways to keep them sharp. As you’ve seen, I think these guys have some ability.”

The win over the Falcons also marked OSU’s eighth shutout of the year, tying a school record. The Buckeyes have 15 more games remaining in the season.

“It’s been amazing to watch these guys,” pitching coach Pat Bangston said. “Shutouts are hard to come by.”

Mike Madsen earned the start for OSU and pitched four innings, surrendering just three hits and striking out four hitters. He threw just 68 pitches in his four innings of work and improved to 4-1 on the year.

“Mike, we’re grooming as a starter for the future,” Bangston said. “But this has been his role, because he hasn’t been able to crack the top four, and he’s doing great as a starter.”

Lefty Trent Luyster pitched two innings, and the combination of Greg Prenger, Kyle Brown and Matt Davis closed out the game.

Despite not being able to crack the weekend lineup, Bangston said that none of the young pitchers are showing frustration.

“You hate to compare it to football, but look at the tailback situation here over the years,” he said. “You go down the line, and all of the great ones have had to wait their turn. That’s what makes it good about coming here – it’s competitive, and that makes better pitchers.”

The five-man rotation received plenty of offense, and keeping up with recent trends, the biggest blows came with two outs. With OSU holding a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning, first baseman Paul Farinacci drove in both second baseman Drew Anderson and right fielder Christian Snavely with his two-out double.

Center fielder Mike Rabin followed Farinacci with a two-out hit of his own in the eighth inning. Rabin, who finished the game 2-for-3 with two walks, drove in Anderson and designated hitter Terry Pettorini with a triple off the left-field wall.

“I’ve been struggling lately with guys in scoring position,” Rabin said. “So it was kind of nice to get out of that slump a little bit.”

Timely hitting as been the key for the Buckeyes all season long, and Todd knows that it will come in handy when OSU faces the rest of the Big Ten schedule.

“That’s what you’ve got to do to win ballgames,” Todd said. “That wasn’t there in the beginning of the season, but I think that it’s starting to come along because we’ve seen the improvement in our practices.”

Although it wasn’t a two-out hit, freshman third baseman Jedidiah Stephen provided the night’s biggest blast. With one out in the fifth inning, Falcon pitcher Burke Badenhop tried to throw a fastball by Stephen on the inside corner. Stephen took advantage and pulled the ball down the left-field line. The only question was whether the ball would stay fair, and it did as it fell over the fence. The homer was Stephen’s fourth in 45 at bats this season.

“Jed’s still got a lot to learn,” Todd said. “He hasn’t played enough good baseball to be where he needs to be. But in saying that, he is very strong in the hands and shows you great potential.”

The Buckeyes now face Big Ten rival Michigan in a four-game series starting Friday at 6:35 p.m.