The Ohio State baseball team has been to every NCAA tournament in an odd numbered year for the past 18 years. Dating back to the 1991 season, the Buckeyes competed in the NCAA tournament every odd year since – 1993-95-97-99-01-03-05-07 – for a total of nine odd year appearances. The 2009 season is upon us. Hopefully the odd year run will continue for Coach Bob Todd's troops.

Seven position player starters along with six pitchers are a part of 21 returning lettermen for the 22nd-year head coach Todd. The entire starting infield – C Dan Burkhart, 1B Justin Miller, 2B Cory Kovanda, 3B Cory Rupert and SS Tyler Engle – returns intact.

The pitching corps' experience is headlined by senior Jake Hale, who has made 26 starts among his 52 appearances, and junior Eric Best (46 appearances with eight saves). A quartet of sophomores also returns. All gained valuable playing time last season as either a starter (Dean Wolosiansky and Andrew Armstrong) or as a reliever (Alex Wimmers and Drew Rucinski).

Additionally, three outfielders return who have combined for 161 starts: senior Michael Arp and juniors Zach Hurley and Ryan Dew.

Miller is the team's most accomplished hitter. A .348 career hitter, he's coming off a junior season in which he led the team in eight offensive categories including batting (.395 overall average), hits (79), home runs (four) and RBI (61). A two-time team captain, he'll lead at the plate and in the field, where he is flexible enough to play first base, catcher and third.

Kovanda is solid at second base, with 104 starts behind him and a plate presence that continues to improve. He increased his average last season 35 points over his freshman numbers, and enters the season a career .304 hitter. Rupert, a shortstop as a freshman in 2007, adjusted nicely to a move to third base, hitting better than 50 percentage points above his freshman year numbers with a .313 average and 39 RBI, which ranked second on the team.

Burkhart is a terrific talent…defensively as well as offensively. He hit .308 overall and .284 in the Big Ten and did so while handling the responsibility of starting 48 times.
In the outfield, Hurley hit .302 with 18 RBI in 35 starts last year and Dew hit .261 with 27 RBI in 34 starts. Arp made 20 starts in the outfield and hit .367 overall and .419 in 18 Big Ten games. Juco transfer Michael Stephens was an All-American last year and he will make an impact in the outfield.

Wolosiansky is coming off a freshman All-America season last year with