Ohio State then-redshirt freshman pitcher Seth Lonsway (11) throws a pitch in the Buckeyes’ game against Hawaii on March 23, 2019. Ohio State won 7-5. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Former Multimedia Editor
The Buckeyes entered the weekend in a position to remain in the top-five in the Big Ten but have not done themselves any favors in the 44-game season, falling to seventh place after this weekend.
Ohio State (6-5) dropped the first two games to Rutgers (7-5) before claiming the series finale in Piscataway, New Jersey, despite getting three quality starts from redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Seth Lonsway and junior right-handed pitchers Garrett Burhenn and Jack Neely. Lonsway said the starting rotation’s relationship contributes to their success.
“I try to communicate with Garrett after his starts and see what their approaches were, what they were swinging at, swinging and missing at,” Lonsway said. “We’re constantly pushing each other, so I love working with those guys and love pushing and seeing them all succeed on the weekends.”
Game 1:
Rutgers redshirt sophomore outfielder Victor Valderamma entered defensively for redshirt freshman outfielder Evan Sleight, and he certainly made the most of his play time.
In the top of the ninth, the Buckeyes took a 5-4 lead and looked to tack on more runs on a line drive to left field, but Valderamma made a run-saving grab, crashing into the outfield wall. Then his first at-bat on the day came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, singling home the tying run to send the game to extra innings.
His second and final plate appearance was the difference in the game, as he hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to win the game for Rutgers 6-5 in 11 innings Saturday after back-and-forth scoring from the seventh inning on.
Head coach Greg Beals was not pleased with the Buckeyes’ performance, turning to the high walk rates and poor plate appearances for the loss.
“The free bases fueled them significantly, our offensive execution was not very good,” Beals said. “We had five innings in the middle of a ballgame where we did basically nothing offensively, so that was tough.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Rutgers redshirt sophomore third baseman Chris Brito hit a home run to give the Scarlet Knights a one-run advantage. Brito was 2-for-12 in the series, but his two hits were long balls for three RBIs.
The Buckeyes answered quickly, tying the game just a half inning later on redshirt senior first baseman Conner Pohl’s solo moonshot — his third of the season, tying him with sophomore outfielder Mitchell Okuley for the team lead.
The Scarlet Knights regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a double to the gap in left center from redshirt freshman infielder Grant Shulman who recorded his first multi-hit game of the season Saturday.
In the top of the ninth, Ohio State had two hits down the left field line, as a game-tying RBI double by junior third baseman Nick Erwin was followed by senior designated hitter Sam Wilson’s blooped RBI single that found some grass to give the Buckeyes a one-run advantage.
In the 11th inning, Rutgers freshman infielder Cameron Love led off with a double that tipped off the outstretched glove of freshman outfielder Kade Kern.
Burhenn was not the pitcher of record, exiting the ballgame tied 2-2, but struck out eight Scarlet Knights in five innings pitched.
Rutgers redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Harry Rutkowski struck out 11 Buckeyes in six innings of work, something that Beals said is something the lineup needs to get better at.
“We were flying out on the slider out in front and got jammed a few times on the fastball, so that means we’re stuck in-between and that’s a failure in an offensive approach,” Beals said. “Eleven strikeouts versus that guy in six innings is a poor performance on our side.”
Game 2:
It took all of one hit to beat the Buckeyes in Game 2 of the three-game series, and it came in the first inning.
Brito’s two-run home run in the first was all the damage the Scarlet Knights needed to take down Ohio State 2-0 Sunday in Piscataway. Lonsway said he simply missed his target with the pitch and paid the price for it against Brito who extended his conference-leading home run total to eight.
“It was supposed to be a fastball away, I just left it over the plate and good hitters capitalize,” Lonsway said. “Just one mistake and I’ve got to live with it and learn from it.”
Lonsway gave up just two runs on Rutgers’ only hit of the game, walking four and striking out eight in seven innings.
Beals said he was pleased with what he saw from his starter.
“Seth’s good. As you guys know, the breaking ball is electric,” Beals said. “He did a really good job of mixing and getting some fastballs here and there, hitting with his offspeed in the middle counts and then getting some punchouts with that breaking ball as well.”
Rutgers graduate left-handed pitcher Ben Wereski cruised through his first six innings, only allowing one hit and throwing a manageable 71 pitches. The Buckeyes led off the eighth with two of the first three hitters reaching base, ending Wereski’s day.
Ohio State could not come through against Scarlet Knights redshirt sophomore left-handed reliever Dale Stanavich, as he stranded the two runners he inherited. Stanavich allowed two hits in the top of the ninth, but stranded them both as well.
This was an issue for the Buckeyes who stranded all eight runners who reached, going 3-for-13 with runners on and not recording a single hit with a runner in scoring position.
Despite the 5-for-31 at the plate for Ohio State, Beals said he was more pleased with his offense than the day before in which they scored five runs.
“I know we didn’t score any runs, but we’ve talked about our quality at-bat and hard hits, we were much better today,” Beals said. “I think we had four or five lineouts, couple balls to the warning track at least. We just didn’t hit with some luck today; we needed a couple to go through and just weren’t able to get it.”
Game 3:
With the game tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, Rutgers head coach Steve Owens turned to graduate right-handed pitcher Kyle Muller, whose ominous entrance song “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC set the scene for his matchup against Buckeyes freshman outfielder Kade Kern.
Kern stepped into the box, took a strike, then turned around Muller’s pitch, singling home two runs and giving the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead. That turned the tide as Ohio State took down Rutgers 4-1 Monday, rounding out its three-game weekend with a little momentum.
Kern had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the dish with a walk and two RBIs, extending his active hitting streak to six games.
The way the offense started out for Ohio State, collecting only one hit through five innings, it looked like its offensive struggles on the weekend were going to continue.
However, Ohio State’s sixth-inning rally started with Wilson getting clipped by a pitch, and he later came around to score on a game-tying RBI double down the right field line off the bat of junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo — his fourth RBI of the season.
The Buckeyes tacked on another run on a good hustle play by Okuley who beat out a 5-4-3 double play attempt at first that would have ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, junior right-handed pitcher Bayden Root came on and allowed a pair of singles before loading the bases hitting redshirt junior utility player Mike Nyisztor in the arm with a fastball.
However, Root struck out the next two Scarlet Knight hitters to retire the side and end the threat. He had a similar outing in the 12th inning against Illinois March 5 in which he loaded the bases, but did not allow a run.
Neely gave Ohio State a strong 4.1-inning start, allowing the only earned run of the ballgame while striking out five.
Winning next weekend’s series is crucial for Ohio State because only the best team in the Big Ten at the end of the regular season gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament since there is no conference tournament this year. Indiana and Michigan are both 9-2 and tied atop the Big Ten.
Beals said the offense needs to improve for this team to reach its maximum potential.
“Sky’s the limit, I mean really the talent on our club, we’ve been executing on a pretty high level,” Beals said. “I think if we get this offense going, we got a chance to be pretty good.”
The Buckeyes have yet to lose this season following a win and look to keep the victories coming in their home-opening series at Bill Davis Stadium, where they will host Iowa and Maryland Friday through Monday.
