The Ohio State baseball team started this season ranked as high as 14th in the country by several preseason publications.
But they ended this season unranked and will miss the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in 14 years.
“It’s honestly just a weird feeling,” OSU catcher Dan Burkhart said. “Coming into the season, you’re ranked 14th in the country and we didn’t have the year that we wanted to. We couldn’t get things to click the whole year.”
With many of the team’s top players from 2009 returning for the 2010 season, it’s hard to believe that the Buckeyes would struggle as they did this season.
Looking back at the season, here were some of the major factors that led to a disappointing 2010 season for the Buckeye baseball team.
Offensive, defensive inconsistency
Throughout the season, the Buckeyes struggled to put together a winning streak longer than three games after a long Florida road trip.
Much of the reason for this was the inability of the team to put together a combination of timely hitting and solid pitching.
For example, OSU allowed just one run to Penn State on April 23, and then give up 18 and 14 runs, respectively, in the next two games of the series against the Nittany Lions.
The offense also had its issues throughout the season, including a series against Louisville in which the team scored eight runs one game after being shut out.
The inconsistencies on both offense and defense created problems that didn’t allow the Buckeyes to stay high atop the Big Ten standings.
Alex Wimmers’ Injury
Before a scheduled start against Michigan on April 30, pitcher Alex Wimmers suffered a hamstring injury that caused him to miss three starts.
“I was hurting pretty bad,” Wimmers said.
OSU lost all three of the games Wimmers was scheduled to start, by only a combined six runs.
His injury came at a time when the Buckeyes desperately needed conference wins. OSU managed just a 4-8 Big Ten record after Wimmers was hurt.
The Big Ten Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year, Wimmers was 9-0 in nine starts before his injury.
His ability to shut down opposing lineups helped the Buckeyes get to first place in the Big Ten before his injury.
Bad Luck
With the problems the team was having on the field, the players and coaches all felt that the team was just unlucky throughout the season.
“I’ve said all year that I like the character of this team,” coach Bob Todd said. “They’ve done a lot of positive things and it’s a shame that they didn’t have more things go their way.”
The injuries, combined with inconsistency from the pitching staff and the lineup, came at wrong times for the Buckeyes, ultimately costing them a chance at postseason play.
“It kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” center fielder Michael Stephens said.
The staff and players said they felt as if there was a dark cloud over the team for the final few weeks of the season.
And in coach Todd’s final season, his team will not play for the Big Ten title.
