When the Ohio State baseball team takes to the field tomorrow afternoon at Bill Davis Stadium, they won’t just be playing their first home game of the year, they’ll be lending support to some fellow and fallen players of the game.

Bluffton University in the small town of Bluffton, Ohio was catapulted into national headlines earlier this month when a bus carrying the university’s baseball team flipped over a highway overpass in Atlanta, Georgia, killing six people, four students along with the driver and his wife, and injuring dozens more. A fifth student also died as a result of sustained injuries. The team had been traveling all night and was headed to Florida for the first games of their 2007 season.

Gate proceeds from tomorrow’s OSU game will go towards two funds set up the Bluffton University team. One fund will benefit the student athletes involved in the accident directly, the other fund has been established to establish a lasting memorial on Bluffton’s campus. More information about the funds can be found on Bluffton University’s website.

“It’s such a tragedy,” Bob Todd, Ohio State head coach, said in a news release yesterday. “I’ve been in the front seat of a bus many times and it easily could have been me and Ohio State. Anything we can do at all to try and help ease the pain is the right thing to do. Our thoughts and prayers are with those young men and their families.”

Bluffton itself will play their first game on March 30th. The team unanimously decided to continue the season, despite the deaths of five players and at least six others who sustained significant injuries. Coach James Grandey will also miss at least some of the season, as he recovers a leg injury and breaking every bone in his face. The team will wear black uniforms in remembrance of the five fallen players.

The Buckeyes take on the Toledo Rockets at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium. Tickets are $10 for adults, $3 for students.

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