Ohio State baseball (21-22, 10-8 Big Ten) was looking to rebound from a series loss to Illinois going into their non-conference game against No. 19 Oklahoma State (32-15,12-8 Big 12), but instead were handed a 16-3 defeat behind the Cowboys’ offensive explosion.

OSU went into the game hoping to improve above .500 behind senior starting pitcher Dean Wolosiansky. The captain could not get it going however and after giving up six runs in 4.1 innings was pulled out of the game.

The pitching troubles did not stop there however, junior reliever Brian Bobinski let Wolosiansky’s two left-over runners score and then gave up five of his own runs in 1.2 innings.

“We were up in the strike zone all night tonight and we made it easier on their hitters,” said coach Greg Beals. “They are good hitters, not taking anything away from them, but the quality of our pitches weren’t quite there tonight.”

It took the Buckeyes offense until the seventh inning to get to Cowboys starter Andrew Heck. Through six Heck held OSU scoreless, but after loading the bases in the seventh, he hit junior David Corna to score a run. A following RBI ground out by junior outfielder Joe Ciamacco and throwing error produced the only three runs of the game for OSU.

“It was a mixture between just as a team having a bad game, offensively and defensively,” said senior outfielder Brian DeLucia. “It’s definitely a lesson learned and we’re just going to have the mentality to come back and fight tomorrow.”

Game two will be Wednesday with a 6:35 p.m. starting time. Freshman John Kuchno (1-4, 7.62 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Buckeyes.

No pitching zone

The bats for Oklahoma State came ready and Buckeye pitchers could do little to cool them. OSU pitching as a whole gave up 16 runs on 20 hits and only one was unearned. They have given up 41 runs in the past four games

 

Wolosiansky’s woes

The pitching struggles have continued for Wolosiansky with an outing that saw the captain starter give up 8 runs and 11 hits in only 4.1 innings of work. He went to 2-7 on the year and his overall ERA rose to 6.48.

“This year hasn’t been his year but if we just stay together as a team and he keeps leading, that leadership reflects everything, so he’ll do alright and bounce back,” DeLucia said.

Change in the bullpen

After Wolosiansky was pulled in the fifth inning, Beals went with a different bullpen than usual, giving the ball to Bobinski and then letting junior Paul Geuy finish the last three innings. His usual bullpen rotation includes junior Andrew Armstrong, sophomore David Fathalikhani, senior Jared Strayer, and freshman two-way playerJosh Dezse.

“We have to manage our personnel a little bit with conference being priority number one,” Beals said. “You’re not going to go to an Armstrong or Strayer or Dezse at that point in the ballgame.”