In the comic strip Peanuts, Lucy Van Pelt will recite an endless stream of negative baseball statistics to manager Charlie Brown until the time bomb inside him explodes.
“Tell your statistics to shut up,’’ Charlie will reply.
Ohio State senior third baseman Nick Sergakis of Columbus Academy feels the same way about the Rating Percentage Index that weighs so heavily in the selection of teams for the NCAA tournament.
Until the Buckeyes defeated 16th-ranked Florida Atlantic and swept No. 19 Michigan last week, their RPI was an astronomical 103.
They have since risen to 74th in the Boyd’s World ratings, but Sergakis still thinks that is an insult to Ohio State (36-16-1, 13-8) going into its final regular-season Big Ten series against first-place Minnesota (33-16, 15-5) at 7:30 tonight in Minneapolis.