Happy Valley Hardball

Giving up those 15 runs on Friday certainly didn’t help PSU’s Pythagorian projections. They’re still mired in the basement. Conversely, scoring those 15 runs helped Ohio State hold onto first despite actually splitting this weekends games. OSU’s percentage actually went up while PSU’s went down.

In a week or two, I’ll be changing these projections to be based just on conference stats. The out of conference schedules are so disparate that using in conference numbers is really the only fair way to go.

At least PSU has pulled themselves out of the RPI cellar but this ranking sure points out the fact that, almost assuredly, their only chance of getting an NCAA bid will be to do it by winning the conference tournament.

Junior J.B. Shuck struck out 13 batters in eight innings and pitched Ohio State past Penn State 2-0 yesterday in Big Ten baseball for the program’s 200th victory in Bill Davis Stadium.

Shuck (4-1) scattered four hits and walked five before being relieved by Eric Best, who pitched a perfect ninth inning and posted his first save of the season.

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Penn State (2-2) at Ohio State (2-2)

• Friday: Ohio State 15 Penn State 0
• Saturday (1): Penn State 3 Ohio State 1
• Saturday (2): Penn State 5 Ohio State 2
• Sunday - Ohio State 2 Penn State 0

Iowa (0-4 at Michigan (4-0)

• Saturday (1): Michigan 4 Iowa 3 (10)
• Saturday (2): Michigan 5 Iowa 3
• Sunday (1): Michigan 6 Iowaa 3
• Sunday (2): Michigan 3 Iowa 2

Purdue (3-1) at Northwestern (1-3)

• Friday: Purdue 3 Northwestern 0
• Saturday (1): Northwestern 11 Purdue 3
• Saturday (2): Purdue 10 Northwestern 2
• Sunday: Purdue 8 Northwestern 6

Indiana (2-2) at Minnesota (2-2)

• Friday: Minnesota 10 Indiana 2
• Saturday (1): Minnesota 5 Indiana 4
• Saturday (2): Indiana 8 Minnesota 3
• Sunday: Indiana 8 Minnesota 7

Illinois (3-1 at Michigan State (1-3)

• Saturday (1): Illinois 9 Michigan State 5
• Saturday (2): Illinois 2 Michigan State 0
• Sunday (1): Illinois 5 Michigan State 3
• Sunday (2): Michigan State 3 Illinois 2

Ryan Stobart and the Nits put up a hard fought effort against the Buckeyes today but came up short 2-0. Stobart pitched a six hitter and gave up only one earned run but the Penn State batters couldn’t do a thing against the Buckeyes pitcher/outfielder JB Shuck. Shuck was masterful as he struck out 15 Nits and gave up only 4 hits to earn the Buckeyes a series split.

All in all, after the ugly 15-0 loss on Friday, getting out of Columbus with a split against one of the top teams in the conference has to make Robbie Wine and his crew quite happy.

Penn State 3-5 Ohio State 1-2

Bad day for Buckeyes

Dreaded doubleheader doubly disappointing

Sunday, March 30, 2008 3:39 AM By Mark Znidar The Columbus Dispatch One positive came out of Ohio State’s doubleheader loss to Penn State yesterday, and it had nothing to do with players being able to get out of the biting wind and cold after four-plus hours. This is the final year that Big Ten baseball teams will play four-game series that include the dreaded seven-inning game on Saturdays that test even the best of pitching staffs and longest of attention spans. So the Buckeyes can at least say “one doubleheader down and only seven more to go” after losing 3-1 and 5-2 to the Nittany Lions in Bill Davis Stadium.

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PSU managed to sweep two from the Buckeyes today to make up for that ugly 15-0 loss last night. Drew O’Neil came on to get a four-out save after Mike Lorentson pitched a wonderful 5 innings of one run ball earning the win. O’Neil did make it interesting by loading up the bases in the bottom of the seventh (with help from an error by Landon Nakata) but he worked out of the jam to get the save.