COLUMBUS, Ohio – Four Ohio State baseball players were honored today as the Big Ten Conference released its 2008 all-conference teams. Selected by the league’s 10 head coaches, Ohio State placed two individuals – starting pitchers Jake Hale and Dean Wolosiansky – on the all-Big Ten second team with J.B. Shuck making the third team as both a pitcher and an outfielder. Dan DeLucia was named Ohio State’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
- Hale, a junior from Albany, Ohio and Alexander H.S., is 5-3 with a 4.50 earned run average (ERA). He ranks fourth in the Big Ten with a conference ERA of 4.02. He averages 7.1 innings per start, including a 10-inning stint in a win over Michigan State April 11.
- Wolosiansky, a red-shirt freshman from Uniontown, Ohio and Green H.S., leads the staff with seven wins and three complete games. His 4.38 ERA is seventh in the Big Ten and he is tied for third in wins. His five Big Ten wins includes one over 22nd-ranked Michigan.
- Shuck, a junior from Galion and Galion H.S., is 5-3 with a 4.29 ERA who ranks second in the Big Ten with 76 strikeouts and third with an opponents’ batting average of .216. Offensively, he is the team’s second-leading hitter with a .371 average and he leads with 46 runs scored and 22 stolen bases.
- DeLucia, from Columbus and Bishop Watterson H.S., has come back from Tommy John surgery to post a 3-3 record and a 4.91 ERA. The first three-time captain in school history, DeLucia has exited with Ohio State in the lead in eight of his 10 starts.
This was the first year since 1990 that Ohio State did not place at least one student-athlete on the all-Big Ten first team. Also surprising, junior first baseman Justin Miller was completely left off the all-Big Ten teams as there was a glut of outstanding players at first base, including Big Ten Player of the Year and first-team pick Nate Recknagle of Michigan and 2007 Big Ten batting champion Ryne White of Purdue, who was the second-team choice of the coaches.
Miller, a junior co-captain from Dayton, Va. and Turner Ashby H.S., leads the Buckeyes in virtually every offensive category with a .406 average and 62 RBI (both rank fourth in the Big Ten). Miller is on a 14-game hitting streak with a .500 average (28-for-56), 24 RBI and 11 runs scored.
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