The Big Ten race is tighter than it has been in years for baseball.

First and last place are separated by only two games with only two Big Ten series remaining.

The Buckeyes sit in the middle of the crowded field, tied for fifth at 9-9, trailing Big Ten-leading Purdue by one-and-a-half games.

Co-captain and second baseman Cory Kovanda acknowledged that this is not a typical conference race.

“Ever since I’ve been here there’s always been like one or two teams that just kind of take it away within these past couple weeks,” Kovanda said. “But this year … every team is just fighting for that one spot.”

That includes some unlikely contenders.

Northwestern is 10-8 and in a four-way tie for first place in the conference. Last year, the Wildcats finished 5-17, one game out of last place.

Michigan is also part of that first-place tie. The Wolverines finished a mere 9-15 last year, good for seventh place.

The Buckeyes finished 18-6 last year and won the conference, an outcome they still feel they can replicate.

“The goal is still there and it’s still a very realistic goal,” coach Bob Todd said. “We’re one game out of first and we’re one game out of last and this late in the season — that’s very unusual.”

This bunching of teams might be due to the move from a four-game Big Ten series in past years to a three-game series this year, Todd said.

Center fielder Michael Stephens attributes the cluster of teams to a lack of a killer instinct.

“There’s not that one team in the Big Ten who just wants to bury everyone else,” Stephens said.

OSU hopes to bury Iowa (8-10) this weekend and do the same when they close conference play the following weekend against Minnesota (10-8).

“You don’t win a championship in one game. You’ve got to do it over a series of games,” Todd said.

The Buckeyes will need to do that, as they have dropped four of their last six Big Ten games.

“I know for sure we had a chance to kind of take over the Big Ten, but we kind of just dropped the ball on one or two weekends,” Kovanda said.

The team is finding inspiration from their subpar play.

“We haven’t played one game this whole entire season together or even solid and that gives us tons of confidence knowing that we can come out and play our best baseball,” Stephens said. “We still haven’t done that yet, and we’re still in the race.”

If the first five series are any indication, that race will come down to the final pitch.