Ohio State junior left-handed pitcher Seth Lonsway (11) pitches during the Ohio State-Indiana game on April 3. Ohio State won 6-0. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Entering the Michigan series April 9-11, Ohio State pitchers had a collective 3.70 ERA — good for second best in the Big Ten.
Since then, that number has skyrocketed to 4.82 — seventh in the conference — and the Buckeyes are on the heels of a five-game losing streak. The pitching staff has surrendered 47 runs in five games — 9.4 runs per game — but they have only surrendered 8.6 hits per game.
Walks, hit-by-pitches, wild pitches and passed balls have significantly hurt the Buckeyes during the losing streak.
“The number of free bases, it’s been an issue for us of late,” head coach Greg Beals said. “I think we need to make sure that our pitching staff is attacking the hitters and attacking their stuff and not pitching away their bat and making sure.”
Ohio State pitchers have walked 36 opposing hitters in the past five games for an astronomical 7.2 walks per game. The lowest number of walks in the three-game series against Maryland was five on Sunday — almost one per inning — walking nine in the opener and seven Saturday.
The Buckeyes have struggled with this all season, as their 121 walks are tied for the second most in the Big Ten. Their 4.98 walks per nine innings rank 207th out of 286 Division I teams; only five Power Five teams have worse rates.
Redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Seth Lonsway said entering the season he wanted to work on the number of walks, but in his previous two starts he has struggled with commanding his pitches.
Against Michigan April 10 and Maryland Saturday, Lonsway walked nine of the 49 hitters he faced in 10.2 innings.
He is not alone though, as junior right-handed pitcher TJ Brock ran into the same issues in the 10th inning of Saturday’s 5-4 loss.
Brock shut down the Terrapins’ bottom of the order in their game-winning chance in the ninth, and only needed nine pitches to do so. However, the 10th frame was a completely different story.
He walked the leadoff batter on four pitches, hit the next, then fielded a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with one out.
Beals elected to intentionally walk Maryland junior first baseman Maxwell Costes, bringing freshman designated hitter Luke Shliger to the plate — who Brock then walked on seven pitches for a Terrapins walk-off victory.
That was a more clear-cut example of how walks have cost the Buckeyes games during the five-game losing streak, but much of the damage has been spread throughout the games.
Junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo said the free passes add more pressure to the offense to produce.
“That’s certainly something I think we feel offensively, a little bit of frustration,” Dezenzo said. “From an offensive standpoint, we can’t let that impact how we go about our business. We have to be able to separate, and we have to be able to take care of our business.
Hit batters have also been an issue for Ohio State’s hurlers.
During the losing streak, the pitching staff has hit 10 opposing hitters — six of which scored.
Junior righties Jack Neely and Garrett Burhenn and senior lefty Griffan Smith all hit two batters each.
Ohio State has plunked 48 batters in 2021, which is the highest in the Big Ten — eight more than Penn State in second. On a national scale, only four Division I teams have hit more opposing hitters in less innings pitched than the Buckeyes.
The inefficiency doesn’t stop there, though.
In the five games the Buckeyes have lost, there have been a combined 14 wild pitches and passed balls.
Lonsway — who leads the Big Ten with 10 wild pitches — had four in his two starts during the losing streak.
He’s not alone, though, as the staff leads the conference with 42 wild pitches.
All the weight hasn’t been on the pitchers, however, as redshirt senior catcher Brent Todys and senior catcher Archer Brookman have combined for a conference-high 12 passed balls.
Five of the runs scored during the losing streak have come on wild pitches or passed balls.
All in all, 27 of the 47 runners that scored against the Buckeyes during the losing streak reached base by a walk, hit-by-pitch or scored on a wild pitch or passed ball.
“All of our pitchers have an execution plan,” Beals said. “They have their stuff, they have a repertoire, and they have an attack plan. We need to attack that plan with trust and confidence.”
