'Great competition' expected when Ohio State visits The Fish

Perennial Big Ten contenders look to get season back on track in four-game weekend

By Dan Williams

Daily Sports Writer

The Ohio State baseball team hasn't gotten off to as quick a start as it would have liked.

With two conference series under their belt, the Big Ten preseason favorite Buckeyes (4-4 Big Ten, 21-11 overall) find themselves in the middle of the pack early in the season. They've split series with both Iowa and Minnesota.

"I think that if you take a look at the Big Ten right now, splitting with people is not necessarily what you want to do," Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. "But if you get hot at the right time, you can definitely still win the championship."

The Buckeyes plight seems microscopic compared to that of the Wolverines. Michigan entered the season believing that it could make the Big Ten playoffs again, despite the loss of 14 seniors from last year's Big Ten Tournament championship team.

But Michigan's first 12 games in conference were demarcated by a bevy of youthful mistakes, and without a remarkable turnaround, Michigan will not experience the postseason.

Such a turnaround would have to occur this weekend.

Enter Ohio State: A team that hasn't lost one of their last 23 Big Ten series. They're also a team that has bested Michigan in five of the last six conference series.

The Buckeyes have developed into Michigan's biggest rival, with both teams hovering around the top of the conference for much of the last four years. The most recent meeting saw the Wolverines overcoming Ohio State, 8-6, in last year's Big Ten Tournament.

"It's always been great competition between us," Todd said. "It's been a good rivalry because the players play good, clean, hard baseball."

Michigan's biggest weapon in the rivalry renewal may be the pitching tandem of sophomore Bobby Korecky and junior Vince Pistilli, who are scheduled to make their second consecutive back-to-back starts in a Saturday double-header.

Last weekend against Illinois, both hurlers pitched complete games - Korecky in a 4-1 win and Pistilli in a 3-2 loss. They've risen above the rest of the pitching staff by getting ahead in the count and avoiding walks.

Ohio State counters with some of the more powerful bats in school history.

Junior Chad Ehrnsberger and senior Jason Turner are both among the Buckeye's 20 most prolific all-time homerun hitters.

The downfall of both teams has been that they simply haven't been able to put enough full games together. Ohio State has made enough mistakes to prevent them from pouncing into the conference lead. Michigan's mistakes have dropped the team out of title contention, and practically off of the playoff radar screen.

"We have to focus on the playoffs," said sophomore pitcher Phil Lobert.

"We have to focus on it every pitch and every batter. It's the only thing left that we can do. There's no way that we can outright win the conference."

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily

Freshman Brad McCloskey and the Michigan pitching staff have been plagued by inconsistency. The hurlers need to find their rhythm when Ohio State invades this weekend.

Hitting a homerun

If you don't have a car, want to spend a

lot of money on going to Comerica Park,

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this summer, check out the Michigan

Nine at a venue near you.

April 14 Ohio State 1 p.m.

April 15 Ohio State (DH) 1 p.m.

April 16 Ohio State 1 p.m.

April 23 Siena Heights 1 p.m.

April 26 Notre Dame 7 p.m.

April 28 Penn State 3 p.m.

April 29 Penn State 1 p.m.

April 30 Penn State 1 p.m.

May 2 Oakland 1 p.m.

May 3 Eastern Michigan 7 p.m.

May 5 Michigan State 3 p.m.

May 6 Michigan State (DH)1 p.m.

May 7 Michigan State 1 p.m.

May 9 Bowling Green 3 p.m.

May 10 Central Michigan 3 p.m.

May 12 Iowa 3 p.m.

May 13 Iowa (DH) 1 p.m.

May 14 Iowa 1 p.m.

May 18-21 Big Ten Tournament

Bold indicates home game