sports
Wednesday April 18, 2012
thelantern www.thelantern.com upcoming Tuesday
Running down the dream of starting job Dan Hope Lantern reporter hope.46@osu.edu
Xavier 3, Baseball 2
upcoming WEDnesday Men’s Tennis v. Purdue 3pm @ West Lafayette, Ind. Softball v. Ohio 5pm @ Columbus, Ohio Softball v. Ohio 7pm @ Columbus, Ohio Baseball v. Cincinnati 7pm @ Columbus, Ohio
Thursday Men’s Gymnastics: NCAA Qualifier 1pm @ Norman, Okla. Men’s Track: Mt. SAC Relays All Day @ Walnut, Calif. Cody Cousino / Photo editor
Friday Women’s Tennis v. Michigan State 2pm @ Columbus, Ohio Men’s Gymnastics: Team & All-Around Finals 7pm @ Norman, Okla. Baseball v. Illinois 7:05pm @ Champaign, Ill Women’s Gymnastics: NCAA Championships 6pm @ Duluth, Ga. Women’s Track v. Florida International TBA @ Gainesville, Fla. Men’s Track: All-Ohio Championships All Day @ Oxford, Ohio Men’s Track: Mt. SAC Relays All Day @ Walnut, Calif.
Saturday Men’s Lacrosse v. Air Force 11am @ Columbus, Ohio Women’s Soccer v. West Virginia 1pm @ Columbus, Ohio Football: Spring Game 1:30pm @ Columbus, Ohio Women’s Lacrosse v. American 2pm @ Columbus, Ohio Women’s Soccer v. Pittsburgh 3pm @ Columbus, Ohio
OSU rising junior Carlos Hyde runs with the ball during a March 28 Buckeyes spring practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
continued as Hall on 4B
Softball freshmen make presence felt Andrew Williams Lantern reporter williams.3384@osu.edu Nobel Prize-winning playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, “Youth is a wonderful thing,” a statement Ohio State softball coach Linda Kalafatis and her Buckeyes could agree with so far this season. OSU has started at least two freshmen in 36 of their 40 games, including 19 games where it has started three or more freshmen. Kalafatis said it isn’t uncommon for as many as five freshmen to be in the game at any given time, depending on the situation. Some coaches would have mixed feelings about playing so many young players in their first year of collegiate competition, but Kalafatis said she puts the best nine on the field and doesn’t worry too much about how they are classified. “It’s the best players play, it doesn’t matter what class they are,” she said. “It just matters how productive they are, if they make adjustments, if they do what we ask of them and if they’re able to execute on offense and on defense. If we’re putting them in the lineup, it’s because we think they can.” Outfielder Taylor Watkins is one
of the players Kalafatis believes has been productive and has earned a regular place in the lineup. The freshman from Bonney Lake, Wash., has started 38 games in centerfield for the Buckeyes and is second on the team with a batting average of .361 from the leadoff spot. Watkins said that while the transition from high school was not a big change for her, there was a noticeable difference. “I don’t think it was that hard just because I played club and it was intense practices, so that prepared me for this,” Watkins said. “But it’s different coming from a high school team to college. It’s a lot more intense and the competitiveness is higher … but I like it.” Freshman second baseman Maddy McIntyre has also played a key role, Kalafatis said. McIntyre, a California native, moved to second base this year after playing shortstop in high school, and has started 22 games there for the Buckeyes this season. She has a .943 fielding percentage and hit a walk-off, two RBI single to beat Dayton April 11 at Buckeye Field. McIntyre said the biggest difference she’s noticed comes when the opposing teams are at the plate. “For me, the pitchers kind of are the same. There’s not really any dominant pitching,” McIntyre said.
abby Sweet / Lantern photographer
OSU freshman infielder Maddy McIntyre makes a toss to 1st base during a game against Dayton April 11 at Buckeye Field. OSU won, 3-2. “The difference is how every single hitter in the lineup is good, and on defense we have to be ready for everyone. You can’t take anyone lightly.” Senior shortstop and captain Alicia Herron said she doesn’t really look at the girls on the field by their class rank, but more as one unit working together. She said she knew there
were some good players joining the team this season and they have brought new energy while contributing to the team’s overall success. “We knew we had a solid recruiting class and we were excited,” Herron said. “They came in right off the gun hot so it’s been fun. They’ve been working really hard for us and it’s been a good time.”
Baseball player pipeline runs from Arizona to Buckeye State Aaron Green Lantern reporter green.1078@osu.edu
Baseball v. Illinois 4:05pm @ Champaign, Ill. Softball v. Nebraska 5pm @ Columbus, Ohio Men’s Gymnastics: Individual Event Finals 7pm @ Norman, Okla. Softball v. Nebraska 7pm @ Columbus, Ohio Men’s Track: All-Ohio Championships All Day @ Oxford, Ohio Women’s Volleyball v. Purdue TBA @ Lexington, Ky.
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After one season as the Ohio State’s football team’s wide receiver coach, Stan Drayton is the Buckeyes’ running backs coach, returning to the position he once played as a three-time Division III All-American at Allegheny College. In his first season under coach Urban Meyer, Drayton faces the task of replacing the team’s top running back from last season, Daniel “Boom” Herron, who ran for 672 yards in just eight games. Drayton won’t have Herron to work with, but the team returns three running backs who combined for 1,090 rushing yards last season. Carlos Hyde, a rising junior, ran for 566 yards this past season. Rising senior Jordan Hall ran for 408 yards as a junior. Additionally, rising redshirt sophomore Rod Smith ran for 116 yards in his first season. OSU’s stable of running backs also includes freshman Bri’onte Dunn, who enrolled at OSU in January and is participating in spring practices. Drayton said all four of the players are competing for playing time. “It’s open competition right now,” Drayton said. “We’re just trying to see who’s going to separate themselves. Nowadays, you got to prepare at least three or four (running backs) to make it through an entire season anyway, so all of these guys are preparing to get
game-ready. As far as me setting the depth chart right now, I like to leave it open so these guys can continue to compete throughout the spring.” Hall, who led the Buckeyes with 1,275 all-purpose yards last season, is expected by some to be the leader of the OSU running game. Drayton said the coaching staff will use Hall in a variety of ways this season. “We’re going to play into Jordan Hall’s strengths,” Drayton said. “He’s a guy who can be a versatile player for us.” Drayton said he expects Hall to contribute as a receiver this season, but added that he thinks all the running backs should do so. “He’s very, very capable,” Drayton said of Hall’s receiving abilities. “We may put a little bit more on Jordan’s plate, but all of my backs are going to have to get out there, get lined up at wide receiver, recognize coverages and play out there.” Hall said he is uncertain how he will be used in the offense this year, but said he is looking forward to playing in the offense implemented by this year’s new coaching staff. “I don’t know really what my role is yet, but I just know that the offense is more zone reads, bubble screens, screens … just getting in open space,” Hall said. “I like being in space, and this is the perfect offense.” Drayton said he has been very impressed with Hall’s maturity this spring.
Todd Avery / Lantern photographer
OSU junior catcher Greg Solomon celebrates with teammates at homeplate during a game against Nebraska April 13 at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. OSU won, 10-2.
Ohio’s erratic, day-to-day weather conditions are nothing like the sunny, cactus-filled deserts of Arizona. The two states are separated by almost 2,000 miles and the Rocky Mountains, so it’s no shock the climates are quite different. However, when five Arizona natives willingly leave the year-round warm weather to play baseball in the often-unpredictable climate of Columbus, it’s surprising. Ohio State sophomore Jaron Long and juniors Greg Solomon, Tyler Giannonatti, Brian King and Kirby Pellant all left “The Grand Canyon State” to play ball two time zones away for the Buckeyes coach Greg Beals. “I just came because I wanted to get out of Arizona,” Solomon said. “I wanted to come to a D-I university that had a good program.” Solomon, a catcher, was the first of the five to make the decision to come to Columbus when he left Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix after the 2010 season. As a junior college transfer, he said he wanted to go somewhere where he knew he could play and at least have the opportunity to start. He said he felt OSU was a good fit because then-starting OSU catcher Dan Burkhart was leaving for the pros and Beals was taking over for retiring OSU coach Bob Todd.
Solomon started 46 games last season for the Buckeyes and has started 24 of OSU’s 35 games this season. The other four “Arizona Buckeyes” transferred just a year later from junior colleges as well. Pitchers Long, Giannonatti and infielder Pellant, all transferred from Chandler Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz., while King came from Paradise Valley like Solomon. “I feel like I should get some sort of finders fee for these guys,” Solomon said with a grin. “I mentioned (King) to the coaches last year and I don’t know if they had already thought about going out there, but I feel like I was the instigator of these guys.” King, a pitcher for the Buckeyes starting eight games this season with a 5.08 ERA and 3-3 record, acknowledged it was easier making the decision to come to OSU knowing his junior college batterymate was already there. The same can be said of Giannonatti and Pellant, who not only went to the same junior college, but also won the 2009 Arizona Class 5A state championship together at Corona del Sol High School in Chandler. “(OSU) came out and they offered me and they offered (Giannonatti), and it was like, ‘If he’s going, I’m going,”” Pellant said. Beals said it definitely helps the recruiting process when players are recruited in pairs. “They’re coming a long way from home,
continued as Long on 4B 1B