Ohio State beat Nebraska in every aspect of the game of baseball today, yesterday, and the day before. The Buckeyes looked like the team that had a top-20 ranking and was sitting in second-place in the conference standings. The Cornhuskers now have a flight home and five days to feel the bile in their stomach to figure out if they are going to get this season back on track.
Like his fellow starters Gavin Kuzniewski and Chris Domke, righthander Pierce Herrenbruck made it look easy against one of the
top hitting teams in the league. They filled the strike zone with pitches, most of them off-speed or with some break. Nebraska batters were on their back foot all weekend, never showing the aggression at the plate that they have up to this point in the season.
For the third game in a row, Ohio State took an early lead, today in the bottom of the first inning. After Cooper Katskee got two outs, he served up a home run pitch to Noah Furcht. Katskee then found his groove for the next two innings. These first or early inning mental lapses should not be happening for an experienced pitcher like Katskee.
In the meantime, Nebraska stranded five runners in the first four innings. Jeter Worthley and Case Sanderson reached on back-to-back singles in the first, yet neither scored. In the second and third innings, three Cornhusker runners reached base after being hit by a pitch, yet no one could get a timely hit to take advantage of the gifts.
The Buckeyes exploded in the bottom of the fourth inning. Henry Kaczmar led the inning off with a double and advanced to third on a ground out by Furcht to Dylan Carey. Katskee then walked cleanup man Dane Harvey. Maddix Simpson then smashed a three-run homer over the centerfield wall to put Ohio State up 4-0.
Right after that, Mason Eckelman went yard with his second home run of the series. Going to the fifth inning, the Buckeyes were up 5-0.
Drew Grego led the top of the fifth inning off with a double, just Nebraska’s second extra base hit of the weekend. He was stranded as the next two Cornhuskers struck out and Jeter Worthley grounded out to end the inning.
Noah Furcht smashed his second home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth, this time off Ty Horn, to make it 6-0 Buckeyes. That was Ohio State’s fourth long ball of the game.
Mason Eckelman smacked his second homer of the game in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to seven runs.
The Cornhuskers saved themselves from a shutout in the top of the seventh when Joshua Overbeek hit a one out double and scored two batters later on a Rhett Stokes RBI single. At this point it was 7-1 Ohio State.
Since he hadn’t thrown all weekend, the Nebraska coaching staff brought in J’Shawn Unger to pitch the bottom of the seventh inning. He got off to a good start striking out lead-off man Alexis Bemis. However, it went quickly downhill from there.
Henry Kaczmar homered, Furcht singled, and Harvey homered all in a matter of minutes, putting the Buckeyes up 10-1. Now Nebraska faced being run-ruled. However, Jalen Worthley got them out of the inning. Ryan Harrahill and Colin Nowaczyk kept that eleventh run from showing up on the scoreboard in the eighth.
After Overbeek scored in the seventh on the Stokes single, five Cornhuskers struck out and no one reached base. Apparently, Nebraska has used up all of their late-game magic.
Over the course of the three games against the Buckeyes, Nebraska had a total of 13 hits. As mentioned, they had three doubles. The primary focus this week must be finding that mindset they had up to this weekend. This is a much better hitting ball team than what showed up in Columbus the last three days.
There’s an old saying from one of Aesop’s Fables that one should not count their chickens before they’re hatched. For those that believe in karma, this sweep can be easily explained by the athletic department’s decision to announce their ticket policy well before Nebraska was awarded a regional. Double-up on that karma when big money boosters are given priority over season ticket holders that have supported this team through thick and thin, and through weather this season that was far from great for baseball.
Nebraska does not have a midweek game this week due to finals at the university. On Friday, the hot Iowa Hawkeyes come to Lincoln, and after seeing what happened in Columbus this weekend, they will be anxiously waiting to pour salt in the wounds.
Every team in college baseball has a down weekend. Arguably it is better to have it early in the season rather than in May. USC came into Lincoln playing great baseball and left dragging their tails. They rebounded and have played good baseball since. Nebraska has to decide if they are going to learn from this, flush it, and move on, or let what has been a great season turn into one of great disappointment.
Carson Jasa will most likely take the mound on Friday night. He pitched well in a losing effort two days ago. Hopefully, his teammates show up with their bats.
Notes:
- Ohio State got three quality starts from their pitching staff this weekend. That’s the first time that has happened against Nebraska this season.
- Nebraska had three extra-base hits for the entire weekend, all doubles.
- Mac Moyer’s on-base streak ended at 46 games after going 0-4 today.
