Fueled by some early hitting and a strong performance from freshman right-hander Jake Post, the Ohio State baseball team defeated Marshall, 5-0, on Wednesday.
“All (the offense) need to do is support this pitching staff and crunch out a few runs,” said OSU head coach Greg Beals. “You give that group of pitchers a four-run lead right off the bat, it’s going to be a tough ball game.”
The Buckeyes wasted no time to take the lead, scoring four runs in the first inning. Redshirt senior center fielder Joe Ciamacco started the top of the first by singling to center field. After he stole second, redshirt senior infielder Ryan Cypret followed with a base hit to right center, scoring Ciamacco.
After senior infielder Kirby Pellant was retired on a pop up, sophomore right fielder Pat Porter reached on an error when Marshall sophomore shortstop Sergio Leon slipped trying to field a groundball. In the next at bat, freshman infielder Jacob Bosiokovic scorched a double to deep left center to score the runners and put OSU up, 3-0.
Marshall redshirt sophomore pitcher Kyle Kessler was then replaced by senior right-hander Matt Hummel. A wild pitch by Hummel allowed Bosiokovic to cross the plate for the Buckeyes’ fourth run of the inning.
The Buckeyes threatened again in the bottom half of the second by putting three runners on base, but they were unable to get them home.
A lightning delay in the middle of the third halted action for 40 minutes before play was resumed at 8:05 p.m. The delay did not seem to slow the OSU offense down, however, as they were able to tack on another run in the bottom of the fourth.

Leading off, freshman infielder Troy Kuhn narrowly beat out a groundball that deflected off of Marshall senior first baseman Nathan Gomez’s glove for a single.

A stolen base advanced Kuhn to second before redshirt senior first baseman Brad Hallberg was able to knock him in with a base hit up the middle.
Ciamacco said that the offense is starting to realize what it does best.
“Our coaches always talk about our identity as a team, and I mean, for a lot of us, we’re a whole bunch of speed guys,” Ciamacco said. “We just need to put the ball in play and let our wheels do the talking for us.”
Post (2-0), tossed five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four batters. Despite a solid outing, the right-hander thought he had more gas left in the tank.
“I felt like I could have went longer,” Post said. “Either way the coaches were just concerned with the gap, you know sit down for a while and pick it up. They just wanted me to take it easy.”
In relief, the quartet of sophomore Ryan Riga, redshirt senior David Fathalikhani, redshirt junior Tyler Giannonatti and sophomore Trace Dempsey sustained the shutout for the Buckeyes.
With the win, OSU improves to 21-10 on the season while Marshall, which used eight pitchers in the game, dropped to 13-19.
The Buckeyes are set to travel to Lincoln, Neb., over the weekend for a three-game series against the Cornhuskers. The first game is scheduled to begin at 5:05 p.m. on Friday.