Ohio State senior utility Sam Wilson (33) rounds third base during the Ohio State-Iowa game on March 26. Ohio State won 8-2. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The Buckeyes entered play Friday coming off an up-and-down series against Iowa and Maryland, but rose to the occasion against the conference leaders.
Ohio State (9-7) defeated Indiana (11-4) 3-2 Friday behind an impressive effort from senior designated hitter Sam Wilson who excelled at the plate, bouncing back from a dismal 1-for-11 effort in his previous four games. Head coach Greg Beals said Wilson getting taken out of the starting lineup Sunday helped him mentally.
“I think Sammy was scuffling a little bit last week,” Beals said. “Maybe that day, just enough to ‘let me sit back and watch,’ so he was able to restart for today.”
Ohio State jumped out to an early lead, grabbing runs in each of the first two innings thanks to productive at-bats out of both Wilson and redshirt senior catcher Brent Todys.
Wilson led off the game with a double that rattled around at the wall in left, and he later came around to score on a sacrifice fly from freshman outfielder Kade Kern.
Wilson finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Todys led off the second by getting down in the count 0-2, fouling off tough pitches and battling back to draw a walk. He came around to score on a smart baserunning play, reading that Wilson’s bloop single was going to fall in for a hit off the bat.
“Toady’s going to compete. He’s going to play, there’s no doubt about that,” Beals said. “He’s not the fastest guy on the team by any means, but he got a great read on the blooper and saw that it was down, got a good jump and was able to score off of it.”
Ohio State got a strong start from junior right-hander Garrett Burhenn, who went six innings with two earned runs allowed on three hits while striking out five batters. This followed his start last weekend against Iowa in which he dealt seven innings of shutout ball.
Indiana junior southpaw Tommy Sommer entered play with the second-best ERA in the Big Ten, but was touched up for his standards. He allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.
Walks hurt Sommer as he allowed five of Ohio State’s seven free passes.
“We knew the guy was a strike-thrower, but he wasn’t laying in a couple pitches early on,” Wilson said. “We were kind of just limited down to his fastball and it ended up helping out for us pretty well.”
The Hoosiers scored a pair of runs in the fourth and six innings, respectively, on redshirt senior infielder Jordan Fucci’s RBI double and junior infielder Cole Barr’s solo home run.
Ohio State’s final run came in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single to right field by junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo, plating Wilson for the second time.
Dezenzo finished Friday 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk, and is hitting .555 with three RBI and three walks in his last three games.
“I love to see it,” Burhenn said. “It’s going to continue and I think it’s only going to get better.”
The Buckeyes will look to ride their success into Saturday’s doubleheader with the opening game’s first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. The Buckeyes will trot out redshirt junior lefty Seth Lonsway to start on the mound against sophomore right-hander McCade Brown — the Big Ten strikeout leader.
Game 2’s probable starters are junior righty Jack Neely for Ohio State and redshirt freshman southpaw Ty Bothwell. The time of first pitch is still to be determined. Both games will be streamed live on BTN+.
