Brett Ludwiczak
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Ohio State baseball hits the road this weekend for three games at Nebraska
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 build off taking two of three from Purdue last weekend.
With the calendar now reading April, eyes are starting to turn towards the baseball diamond. Not only have the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians kicked their seasons off recently, Ohio State baseball is hitting the heart of their schedule.
Last weekend the Buckeyes opened up their Big Ten schedule by taking two of three games from Purdue in Columbus. This weekend, Ohio State hits the road to take on Nebraska in Lincoln. There was supposed to be a home-and-home series with Kent State on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the bi-polar weather in Ohio resulted in those games being pushed to later dates.
So far this season, Ohio State has had a hard time stringing wins together, with their longest winning streak so far being just two games. On the plus side, they haven’t had too many slumps so far, as their longest losing streak is three games. While hovering around .500 isn’t terrible, it also isn’t going to get the Buckeyes into the NCAA Tournament.
At some point Ohio State is going to have to start reeling off some more wins if the program has any hopes of making its first NCAA Tournament since 2019.
The Buckeyes started off conference play strong by taking two of three games from Purdue over the weekend at Bill Davis Stadium. The series opened up with an impressive outing from Landon Beidelschies, who went seven innings, striking out seven Boilermakers and only giving up five hits to improve his record to 3-4 on the season.
Beidelschies got off to a rough start, allowing a two-run home run to Connor Caskette in the first inning, but those would be the only runs Purdue would score off the Ohio State starter. Josh Stevenson gave the Buckeyes the lead with an RBI single in the fourth inning to kick off a three-run inning for Ohio State. Nick Giamarusti cracked a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and finished the game with four hits, while Stevenson had three knocks in the win.
Saturday’s game between the Buckeyes and Boilermakers was a wild one, with each team finishing the game with 14 hits. Ohio State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Henry Kaczmar scored on a wild pitch, followed by Joseph Mershon mashing an RBI double. The lead wouldn’t last long though, as Purdue scored six runs in the third inning to go up 7-3. The Buckeyes would score three runs in the fourth to try and cut into the lead, but Purdue would score in the sixth and eighth innings to extend their lead to 10-7.
Things would get really interesting in the bottom of the eighth, when Tyler Pettorini’s home run closed the gap to 10-9. Then in the bottom of the ninth inning Trey Lipsey’s walk-off three-run home run gave Ohio State the series win in their first conference series of the season. Pettorini finished with four hits and three RBIs in the game, while Jacob Morin was credited with the win after recording the final four outs of the game for the Buckeyes.
The victory on Saturday took some of the sting away from the series finale, which saw Purdue easily avoid the sweep. The Boilermakers put five runs on the board in the third inning, and only allowed three hits in the game. Hunter Shaw was saddled with the loss after giving up five runs in just a third of an inning.
The setback kept the Buckeyes from winning three-straight games for the first time this season.
Now Ohio State will turn their attention to Nebraska, who enters this weekend’s series in Lincoln with a 20-6 record. Prior to Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Creighton, the Cornhuskers had won 10-straight games.
Josh Caron currently leads the team with six homers, 32 runs batted in, and 54 total bases this season. Tyler Stone is hitting .308 with four home runs and 17 RBIs, while Riley Silva has been a terror on the basepaths for opponents this year, already swiping 17 bases.
When it comes to their pitching staff, Brett Sears has been Nebraska’s best pitcher so far this season. The senior has started seven games this year, winning five of those starts. Over 46.1 innings this year, Sears has struck out 47 opposing batters, and given up just 22 hits.
Recently, sophomore Mason McConnaughey has joined the rotation and been solid, striking out 15 batters in his last two appearances, which have totaled 10.2 innings. Casey Daiss and Kyle Perry have been the Nebraska hurlers closing out games, with the duo combining for seven saves this season.
While Caron leads Nebraska in total bases, Ohio State counters with Matthew Graveline, who has a .330 average and 51 total bases this year. The sophomore catcher enters this weekend with three home runs, nine doubles, 13 RBIs, and eight stolen bases. Joining Graveline with three taters is Tyler Pettorini, Nick Giamarusti, and Trey Lipsey. Giamarusti and Joseph Mershon are tied with Graveline for the team-lead with eight stolen bases.
Friday’s game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. ET start, Saturday’s game gets started at 3:00 p.m. ET and the three-game series wraps up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET in Lincoln. All three games of the series can be seen on B1G+.
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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 build off taking two of three from Purdue last weekend.
With the calendar now reading April, eyes are starting to turn towards the baseball diamond. Not only have the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians kicked their seasons off recently, Ohio State baseball is hitting the heart of their schedule.
Last weekend the Buckeyes opened up their Big Ten schedule by taking two of three games from Purdue in Columbus. This weekend, Ohio State hits the road to take on Nebraska in Lincoln. There was supposed to be a home-and-home series with Kent State on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the bi-polar weather in Ohio resulted in those games being pushed to later dates.
So far this season, Ohio State has had a hard time stringing wins together, with their longest winning streak so far being just two games. On the plus side, they haven’t had too many slumps so far, as their longest losing streak is three games. While hovering around .500 isn’t terrible, it also isn’t going to get the Buckeyes into the NCAA Tournament.
At some point Ohio State is going to have to start reeling off some more wins if the program has any hopes of making its first NCAA Tournament since 2019.
Recapping the series with Purdue
The Buckeyes started off conference play strong by taking two of three games from Purdue over the weekend at Bill Davis Stadium. The series opened up with an impressive outing from Landon Beidelschies, who went seven innings, striking out seven Boilermakers and only giving up five hits to improve his record to 3-4 on the season.
Beidelschies got off to a rough start, allowing a two-run home run to Connor Caskette in the first inning, but those would be the only runs Purdue would score off the Ohio State starter. Josh Stevenson gave the Buckeyes the lead with an RBI single in the fourth inning to kick off a three-run inning for Ohio State. Nick Giamarusti cracked a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and finished the game with four hits, while Stevenson had three knocks in the win.
Saturday’s game between the Buckeyes and Boilermakers was a wild one, with each team finishing the game with 14 hits. Ohio State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Henry Kaczmar scored on a wild pitch, followed by Joseph Mershon mashing an RBI double. The lead wouldn’t last long though, as Purdue scored six runs in the third inning to go up 7-3. The Buckeyes would score three runs in the fourth to try and cut into the lead, but Purdue would score in the sixth and eighth innings to extend their lead to 10-7.
Things would get really interesting in the bottom of the eighth, when Tyler Pettorini’s home run closed the gap to 10-9. Then in the bottom of the ninth inning Trey Lipsey’s walk-off three-run home run gave Ohio State the series win in their first conference series of the season. Pettorini finished with four hits and three RBIs in the game, while Jacob Morin was credited with the win after recording the final four outs of the game for the Buckeyes.
The victory on Saturday took some of the sting away from the series finale, which saw Purdue easily avoid the sweep. The Boilermakers put five runs on the board in the third inning, and only allowed three hits in the game. Hunter Shaw was saddled with the loss after giving up five runs in just a third of an inning.
The setback kept the Buckeyes from winning three-straight games for the first time this season.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s series at Nebraska
Now Ohio State will turn their attention to Nebraska, who enters this weekend’s series in Lincoln with a 20-6 record. Prior to Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Creighton, the Cornhuskers had won 10-straight games.
Josh Caron currently leads the team with six homers, 32 runs batted in, and 54 total bases this season. Tyler Stone is hitting .308 with four home runs and 17 RBIs, while Riley Silva has been a terror on the basepaths for opponents this year, already swiping 17 bases.
When it comes to their pitching staff, Brett Sears has been Nebraska’s best pitcher so far this season. The senior has started seven games this year, winning five of those starts. Over 46.1 innings this year, Sears has struck out 47 opposing batters, and given up just 22 hits.
Recently, sophomore Mason McConnaughey has joined the rotation and been solid, striking out 15 batters in his last two appearances, which have totaled 10.2 innings. Casey Daiss and Kyle Perry have been the Nebraska hurlers closing out games, with the duo combining for seven saves this season.
While Caron leads Nebraska in total bases, Ohio State counters with Matthew Graveline, who has a .330 average and 51 total bases this year. The sophomore catcher enters this weekend with three home runs, nine doubles, 13 RBIs, and eight stolen bases. Joining Graveline with three taters is Tyler Pettorini, Nick Giamarusti, and Trey Lipsey. Giamarusti and Joseph Mershon are tied with Graveline for the team-lead with eight stolen bases.
Friday’s game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. ET start, Saturday’s game gets started at 3:00 p.m. ET and the three-game series wraps up on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET in Lincoln. All three games of the series can be seen on B1G+.
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