It was a cold Friday night in May in Columbus, Ohio. Nebraska which despite its great season, has been woeful on the mound in Friday nights in conference play. Enter new Friday night starter Carson Jasa. He was tasked with turning around the Husker’s fortunes against Ohio States number one pitcher since about halfway through his freshman season last year, Gavin Kunzniewski.
It was obvious the pitchers were dealing early. The lone blemish in the first few innings came in the 2nd. Mammoth Ohio State
first baseman Dane Harvey led off the inning with a solid single into center field that center fielder Mac Moyer couldn’t quite get to as he was playing deep because of Harvey’s power. Maddix Simpson then hit a ball head high to Case Sanderson at first that hit his glove but was just able to trickle out because of the speed it came off the bat. A potential double play snuck out to right field and runners were on the corners.
Carson Jasa pitched the next batter to a full count, but ended up walking him to load the bases with no outs. A mound visit refocused Jasa and he recorded the first out on a 3 pitch strikeout. A quick second out came on a sac fly to right center field, scoring Harvey. Another strikeout ended the inning. A potential disaster was limited to just a single run, something the powerful Husker offense should have no trouble overcoming.
That onslaught never arrived though. Kunzniewski was living off his changeup, keeping Nebraska hitters completely off balance and allowing them to barely get any barrels on the ball.
It took until the 5th inning for Nebraska to really put any pressure on the Buckeye starter. Third baseman Josh Overbeek absorbed a 1 out hit-by-pitch, something this OSU staff gives out rather often. Freshman right fielder Drew Grego then sent the first pitch he saw to center field for a single, marking the first time Nebraska had 2 baserunners. Catcher Trey Fikes pulled a ball down the line to first base, moving the runner over on a productive out for Tuesday night’s hero, Rhett Stokes. Stokes went after the first ball he saw, something Nebraska hitters did all too often on the evening, and grounded out to short to end the inning. Still 1-0 Buckeyes after 5.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Simpson led off for Ohio State and laced a double to the right center gap. A ground ball to first moved him over to third, and a sac fly to Moyer in center brought him in to widen the lead to 2-0 for the Buckeyes.
Nebraska threatened again in the 7th. A Jett Buck walk, and Grego getting hit by a pitch put 2 on with 2 out. Nebraska pinch hit the recovering Will Jesske who put the barrel to the ball for one of the rare times on the night, but flew out in front of the warning track in left field to end the threat.
Jasa exited the game after the 6th, giving the team its first quality start on a Friday since Ty Horn against Michigan State on March 6th. Jasa threw 103 pitches, gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, striking out only 3 batters, his lowest other than the 1 in 1 inning of work at Auburn.
The aforementioned Ty Horn took over for Jasa in the 7th and finished the game for Nebraska, keeping OSU off the board with 3 strikeouts in his 2 perfect innings.
Nebraska finally knocked Kunzniewski out of the game in the 9th, after he walked the first two Huskers in Dylan Carey and Jett Buck. Ohio State turned it over to their reliever Ryan Zamora, who has the best pitch in their bullpen, a hard downward breaking slurve. Overbeek hit a ball up the middle that the short stop was just able to keep from going into center field, and toss to the covering second baseman, leaving runners at the corners.
Drew Grego hit a ball right out in front of the pitcher that the catcher ran out and grabbed and threw to first, beating Grego by a step. Overbeek advanced to second on the play. Nebraska sent left handed batter Preston Freeman in to pinch hit for Jesske. Zamora threw a ball to the backstop, and Overbeek advanced to third. Freeman couldn’t bring him in striking out looking on Zamora’s big breaking ball on the inside corner. Ohio State claims game 1, 2-1.
It was about as even as you could get offensively. Both teams had 4 hits, and both had 3 walks. The Simpson double was the lone extra base hit of the game and proved to be the difference. Even when Nebraska fixes its pitching issues that has been plaguing it each Friday, it can’t seem to find the same success it does on Saturdays and Sundays.
The good thing? They are right back at it tomorrow, which just so happens to not be a Friday! The 2nd game of the series will be shown on BTN, so it will be a rare Saturday night baseball game for the teams. First pitch in Columbus will be at 6pm CDT.
