Brett Ludwiczak
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Ohio State baseball closes out regular season with three games at Rutgers
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Buckeyes will look to enter next week’s Big Ten Tournament with some momentum.
The Ohio State baseball team closes out their regular season schedule this weekend with a series at Rutgers, which begins Thursday night in Piscataway. The Buckeyes enter the three-game set with the Scarlet Knights coming off their final home games of the season, taking two of three from the Northwestern Wildcats.
Following the three games against Rutgers, Ohio State will have a better idea of who they’ll be facing in the Big Ten Tournament, which begins on Tuesday in Omaha.
After stepping out of conference to beat Youngstown State 13-9 last Wednesday in Columbus, the Buckeyes opened their three-game series against Northwestern with a 7-2 win on Friday night. Ohio State jumped out 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning when a fielder’s choice from Trey Lipsey scored Tyler Pettorini from third base.
Northwestern would tie the score in the top of the sixth inning before Ohio State reeled off four runs in the bottom of the seventh to give them the lead for good. Matthew Graveline’s two-run triple ended up being the game-winning hit in the opener.
Lipsey added a two-run RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to finish the game with a team-high three runs batted in.
Landon Biedelschies pitched seven strong innings for the Buckeyes on Friday night, striking out five batters as he pushed his record to 5-7 on the season. Biedelschies has started a team-high 13 games this season, posting a 4.33 ERA while striking out 76 batters in 72 innings. The sophomore from Canfield is projected to get the start in Thursday night’s series opener against Rutgers.
The Buckeyes followed up Friday night’s victory with a dominating performance on Saturday. Henry Kaczmar’s solo home run in the first inning opened up the scoring, and by the end of the third inning Ohio State was already up 8-0.
Along with Kaczmar’s homer, Issac Cadena hit a three-run home run in the second inning, followed by long balls from Ryan Miller in the third and fourth innings. Miller’s homer in the third was a solo shot, and he followed it up with a three-run tater the next innings. The first baseman finished the game with three hits and four runs batted in.
Colin Purcell was solid on the bump for the Buckeyes, tossing six innings to earn his third win of the season.
Ohio State was unfortunately unable to earn the sweep of the Wildcats, falling 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Josh Stevenson drove in Miller, but it would be the only run Ohio State would put across the plate in the game.
Northwestern would respond with two runs in the third inning, followed by an insurance solo home run in the fourth inning to avoid losing all three in Columbus. Gavin DeVooght was the hard luck loser in the game, allowing three runs over five innings. DeVooght is now 2-3 on the season with a 4.22 ERA in 17 appearances, with seven of those being starts.
The Buckeyes will take on a Rutgers squad that enters Thursday’s contest with a 27-23 record, but just a 5-16 mark in Big Ten play. Last week the Scarlet Knights lost two of three games at Penn State. Their lone win in the three-game series was a 7-1 victory on Saturday that was sandwiched by a 7-6 loss Friday and a 11-10 setback on Sunday.
In their victory on Saturday, Rutgers scored all seven of their runs in the eighth inning. Pete Durocher hit a two-run single to break a 1-1 tie. After Donovan Zsak allowed just two hits over six innings, Jordan Falco earned the win by closing out the game with three innings of scoreless pitching.
Even though Rutgers has struggled in conference play, the Scarlet Knights have a couple batters who will make life difficult for Ohio State pitchers this weekend. Josh Kuroda-Grauer is leading the Big Ten in batting, hitting at a .433 clip. The junior infielder has 125 total bases so far this season, which is just three shy of tying Purdue’s Luke Gaffney for most in the conference. Kuroda-Grauer is also a menace on the basepaths, swiping 23 bases this year, which is tied for second-most in the conference.
While Kuroda-Grauer records a hit nearly every other at-bat, Tony Santa Maria can launch a baseball when needed. So far this season the redshirt sophomore has 12 home runs and 49 runs batted in. Santa Maria is also a threat to steal when he does reach base, entering tonight’s contest with 13 steals. Currently Santa Maria’s average sits at .323, and he has racked up 112 total bases on the season. Joining Kuroda-Grauer and Santa Maria in the 40 RBI club for Rutgers this season is Ty Doucette, who has 47 runs batted in.
The ace of the Rutgers pitching staff is Justin Sinibaldi. The senior lefty is 4-3 with a 3.33 ERA this season, and has the team’s only complete game shutout this season. Christian Coppola is Rutgers pitcher to start 12 games this year, but he hasn’t fared nearly as well as Sinibaldi, posting a 4-5 record with a 7.63 ERA.
Sinibaldi is expected to start the middle game of the series opposite Colin Purcell, while Sonny Fauci is projected to start tonight’s game for Rutgers, and Donovan Zsak will close out the series for the Scarlet Knights.
Thursday’s game will start at 6:00 p.m. ET, Friday’s will get underway at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday’s regular season finale with be an 11:00 a.m. ET start. All three games can be seen on BIG+.
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Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Buckeyes will look to enter next week’s Big Ten Tournament with some momentum.
The Ohio State baseball team closes out their regular season schedule this weekend with a series at Rutgers, which begins Thursday night in Piscataway. The Buckeyes enter the three-game set with the Scarlet Knights coming off their final home games of the season, taking two of three from the Northwestern Wildcats.
Following the three games against Rutgers, Ohio State will have a better idea of who they’ll be facing in the Big Ten Tournament, which begins on Tuesday in Omaha.
Where Ohio State stands
After stepping out of conference to beat Youngstown State 13-9 last Wednesday in Columbus, the Buckeyes opened their three-game series against Northwestern with a 7-2 win on Friday night. Ohio State jumped out 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning when a fielder’s choice from Trey Lipsey scored Tyler Pettorini from third base.
Northwestern would tie the score in the top of the sixth inning before Ohio State reeled off four runs in the bottom of the seventh to give them the lead for good. Matthew Graveline’s two-run triple ended up being the game-winning hit in the opener.
Lipsey added a two-run RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to finish the game with a team-high three runs batted in.
Landon Biedelschies pitched seven strong innings for the Buckeyes on Friday night, striking out five batters as he pushed his record to 5-7 on the season. Biedelschies has started a team-high 13 games this season, posting a 4.33 ERA while striking out 76 batters in 72 innings. The sophomore from Canfield is projected to get the start in Thursday night’s series opener against Rutgers.
The Buckeyes followed up Friday night’s victory with a dominating performance on Saturday. Henry Kaczmar’s solo home run in the first inning opened up the scoring, and by the end of the third inning Ohio State was already up 8-0.
Along with Kaczmar’s homer, Issac Cadena hit a three-run home run in the second inning, followed by long balls from Ryan Miller in the third and fourth innings. Miller’s homer in the third was a solo shot, and he followed it up with a three-run tater the next innings. The first baseman finished the game with three hits and four runs batted in.
Colin Purcell was solid on the bump for the Buckeyes, tossing six innings to earn his third win of the season.
Ohio State was unfortunately unable to earn the sweep of the Wildcats, falling 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Josh Stevenson drove in Miller, but it would be the only run Ohio State would put across the plate in the game.
Northwestern would respond with two runs in the third inning, followed by an insurance solo home run in the fourth inning to avoid losing all three in Columbus. Gavin DeVooght was the hard luck loser in the game, allowing three runs over five innings. DeVooght is now 2-3 on the season with a 4.22 ERA in 17 appearances, with seven of those being starts.
How Rutgers enters this series
The Buckeyes will take on a Rutgers squad that enters Thursday’s contest with a 27-23 record, but just a 5-16 mark in Big Ten play. Last week the Scarlet Knights lost two of three games at Penn State. Their lone win in the three-game series was a 7-1 victory on Saturday that was sandwiched by a 7-6 loss Friday and a 11-10 setback on Sunday.
In their victory on Saturday, Rutgers scored all seven of their runs in the eighth inning. Pete Durocher hit a two-run single to break a 1-1 tie. After Donovan Zsak allowed just two hits over six innings, Jordan Falco earned the win by closing out the game with three innings of scoreless pitching.
Even though Rutgers has struggled in conference play, the Scarlet Knights have a couple batters who will make life difficult for Ohio State pitchers this weekend. Josh Kuroda-Grauer is leading the Big Ten in batting, hitting at a .433 clip. The junior infielder has 125 total bases so far this season, which is just three shy of tying Purdue’s Luke Gaffney for most in the conference. Kuroda-Grauer is also a menace on the basepaths, swiping 23 bases this year, which is tied for second-most in the conference.
While Kuroda-Grauer records a hit nearly every other at-bat, Tony Santa Maria can launch a baseball when needed. So far this season the redshirt sophomore has 12 home runs and 49 runs batted in. Santa Maria is also a threat to steal when he does reach base, entering tonight’s contest with 13 steals. Currently Santa Maria’s average sits at .323, and he has racked up 112 total bases on the season. Joining Kuroda-Grauer and Santa Maria in the 40 RBI club for Rutgers this season is Ty Doucette, who has 47 runs batted in.
The ace of the Rutgers pitching staff is Justin Sinibaldi. The senior lefty is 4-3 with a 3.33 ERA this season, and has the team’s only complete game shutout this season. Christian Coppola is Rutgers pitcher to start 12 games this year, but he hasn’t fared nearly as well as Sinibaldi, posting a 4-5 record with a 7.63 ERA.
Sinibaldi is expected to start the middle game of the series opposite Colin Purcell, while Sonny Fauci is projected to start tonight’s game for Rutgers, and Donovan Zsak will close out the series for the Scarlet Knights.
Thursday’s game will start at 6:00 p.m. ET, Friday’s will get underway at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday’s regular season finale with be an 11:00 a.m. ET start. All three games can be seen on BIG+.
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