Ohio State baseball’s home season has come to a close after the Buckeyes hosted Michigan State for a three-game series over the weekend, followed by a game on Tuesday night against Wright State.
After taking two of three from their Big Ten foe, Ohio State didn’t have quite as much fun when they took on the Raiders in the final game of the season at Bill Davis Stadium, falling 8-4.
To kick off the three-game set against the Spartans, Ohio State headed a few miles down the road, as Friday’s game was
played at Huntington Park, home of the Columbus Clippers.
The Buckeyes didn’t take long to get comfortable in their new digs, exploding for five runs in the second inning, Maddix Simpson opened up the scoring with an RBI double, followed by a Lee Ellis sacrifice fly and a three-run double from Henry Kaczmar.
After Michigan State got on the scoreboard with their first run of the game, Ohio State tacked on to their lead with three runs in the fifth inning. The Spartans responded with a three-run home run in the next inning, but Dane Harvey hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning, his 16th big fly of the season.
The Buckeyes actually were able to close out the game in the eighth inning when they scored three runs, with two coming when Michigan State pitchers hit Ohio State batters with the bases loaded, pushing the lead to 15-5, resulting in a run rule victory.
Gavin Kuzniewski pitched six innings and struck out four batters, one of which was the 100th strikeout of his career.
On Saturday the Buckeyes returned to their regular stomping grounds at Bill Davis Stadium. Lee Ellis scored Ohio State’s first run of the day with a solo home run in the third inning, followed by a Maddix Simpson sacrifice fly in the fourth to give the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead.
The advantage wouldn’t last long, as a three-run home run from Parker Picot gave the Spartans a 5-2 lead.
Ohio State would score two more runs in the game on a Grant Mangrum solo shot in the fifth, and a Mason Eckelman RBI single in the next inning, but it wouldn’t be enough, as Michigan State went on to record a 7-4 victory.
Chris Domke had a rough start, allowing 10 hits and five runs over five innings. Jake Michalak did his best to keep the game close in relief of Domke, tossing four innings of one-hit ball.
Sunday’s game saw the Buckeyes start a bit sleepy, trailing 2-0 after Michigan State plated a run in the first, followed by a Picot homer in the fourth. Ohio State started chipping away at the lead with a Mason Eckelman RBI double in the seventh, followed by one from Noah Furcht in the next inning to tie the game 2-2.
After the game went to extra innings, Ohio State would secure the series win when Maddix Simpson drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Pierce Herrenbruck started the series finale and allowed five hits over five innings, striking out four Michigan State batters. The Buckeye bullpen was instrumental in the victory, as Nick Sawyer, Lincoln McVicker, and Luke Carrell didn’t allow a run in the five innings they pitched. Carrell was credited with the win, his first of the season.
After the series win over Michigan State, Ohio State hosted Wright State in their final home game of the regular season. With the game against the Raiders sandwiched between series against conference foes, the Buckeyes had a hard time getting up for Tuesday night’s contest.
Wright State opened up a 5-0 lead in their first two innings. Ohio State was able to close the gap to 5-3 by the end of the third, but weren’t able to truly threaten the Raiders the rest of the way in the 8-4 loss.
The highlights of the game for the Buckeyes came from Dane Harvey and Henry Kaczmar, who each hit home runs in the game. Harvey collected on his team-leading 17th homer of the season, while Kaczmar’s blast was his 10th home run.
Sahil Patel started his second game of the season, but struggled, allowing six runs, four of which were earned runs, in the four innings he tossed.
Along with battling Michigan this weekend, Dane Harvey will be looking to tie a school record. Harvey enters the three-game series against the Wolverines with 17 home runs this season, two shy of tying Zach DeZenzo and Dan Seimetz for the single-season school record.
Harvey leads the team with a .327 average and 53 runs batted in on the season, and his 112 total bases are six shy of tying Henry Kaczmar for the team lead. Kaczmar has posted a .322 batting average this year and a team-high 23 doubles.
Mason Eckelman is the third Buckeye with over 100 total bases and an average over .300 on the season, entering this weekend with 101 total bases and a .320 average.
Three other Ohio State batters who are having a strong season are Noah Furcht, Lee Ellis, and Alex Bemis, who each have accumulated at least 70 total bases. Furcht has nine home runs and 34 RBIs to go along with his 93 total bases.
Lee Ellis leads the team with 16 stolen bases and his four triples are tied with Eckleman for the team lead, while Bemis has eight home runs and 31 runs batted in.
Now the Buckeyes will travel to Ann Arbor to take on a Michigan team who is 32-19 on the season. After winning two of three at Minnesota last weekend, the Wolverines fell at home to Kent State 5-3 on Tuesday. Michigan is in sixth in the Big Ten with a 17-10 conference record, two games ahead of the Buckeyes.
Leading the offensive attack for Michigan is Colby Turner, who is batting .382 with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in. Turner has 24 games with at least two hits this season, and three games with four hits. Joining Turner as batters with at least a .300 average for the Wolverines are Brayden Jefferis and Evan Haeger.
Michigan has outscored their opponents 305-254 on the season.
The ace of the Michigan staff is Kurt Barr, who is 5-3 on the season with 85 strikeouts over 69 innings pitched. Joining Barr is David Lally Jr., who has thrown 59.1 innings and posted a 1.26 WHIP.
Aside from those two pitchers, the rest of the rotation has been by committee, as 10 Wolverines have started at least one game so far this season. Gavin DeVooght has done a great job at closing out games, registering a team-high nine saves, while Cade Montgomery has added six saves.
The final series of the regular season for Ohio State starts on Thursday night in Ann Arbor and concludes on Saturday. After the three games against the Wolverines the Big Ten tournament will kick off on Tuesday in Omaha.
Brackets for the conference tournament will be revealed following the conclusion of regular season play.
