The Ohio State baseball team continues its season with matchups against Grand Canyon and Gonzaga. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
By the end of this weekend, Ohio State will have traveled over 6,000 miles over its first two series.
The Buckeyes (2-2) head west to Phoenix for a four-game series against former assistant coach Gregg Wallis and Grand Canyon (2-2) and two games versus Gonzaga (0-4), alternating opponents each day starting Thursday.
Ohio State enters its second series of the season after splitting the four-game opening series against preseason Big East favorite UConn, taking game one and four 3-0 and 10-5, respectively.
“The two games we won, we flat-out beat them and then the two games we lose, we had a lead past the sixth inning twice,” head coach Bill Mosiello said.
The Buckeyes erased multiple deficits against the Huskies, including seven-unanswered runs in the game four win.
“It shows you they’re resilient. They’re great kids,” Mosiello said. “I think it shows you one thing about our program is that we’re not going to ever panic.”
Senior infielder Nick Erwin went 7-for-13 in his first regular season action in 364 days after missing all but one game last year due to an injury. Erwin said the team’s competitiveness stuck out in the series.
“Even when we were down in the Saturday and Sunday games, I felt like we were never really out of the game,” Erwin said. “I think the last three games, we’ve worked a lot of walks and made things really difficult for pitchers. If we play clean defense, it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
Graduate infielder Marcus Ernst, who drove in four runs during the series, said the team made strides and progressed throughout the weekend against good competition.
“It was good for us, and we’re happy, content, but there’s a lot of room to grow and a lot of room to get better for this team,” Ernst said.
Thursday’s series opener will be the first time Ohio State takes on Wallis, who was an assistant coach for three weeks on Mosiello’s staff in the summer of 2022. Wallis — who coached with Mosiello at Tennessee from 2012-13, took the head coaching job at Grand Canyon when Andy Stankiewicz became head coach at USC.
“No one’s more proud of him than me,” Mosiello said. “I have such great respect, and the job he’s done over there already recruiting and getting all those players.”
The Antelopes are led by junior shortstop Jacob Wilson, a preseason All-American and MLB.com’s No. 9 draft prospect. Wilson, who is the son of former MLB All-Star shortstop and current Grand Canyon assistant coach Jack Wilson, is hitting .267 with a pair of triples and four RBIs.
Grand Canyon has six players whose fathers played in the MLB, including junior outfielder Homer Bush Jr. whose father is former infielder Homer Bush and freshman utility Isaac Lyon whose father is former right-handed pitcher Brandon Lyon.
Pacing the pitching staff early in the season is junior left-hander Zach Thornton, who was named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after tossing 5 2/3 scoreless innings and getting the win in his college debut on opening day against UC San Diego.
Gonzaga enters the weekend after getting swept in four games by No. 24 Texas Tech, losing 9-8 on a walk-off walk in the series finale Monday. Led by head coach Mark Machtolf in his 20th year, the Bulldogs entered the season picked to repeat as West Coast Conference champions after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since the reformat.
Reigning WCC Freshman of the Year sophomore third baseman Cade McGee has started where he left off, batting .375 with one home run and six RBIs, five of which were in the game four loss against Texas Tech.
Preseason All-WCC selection junior right-handed pitcher Owen Wild leads a Gonzaga staff that lost four pitchers to the MLB Draft in 2022. Wild is 0-1 this year with five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
After throwing 75 pitches in the 10-5 win Monday over UConn, Ohio State graduate right-hander Jonah Jenkins said recovery is his main focus in getting ready for the series.
“The first four-game series is a long weekend, especially with the heat and humidity against a really good team,” Jenkins said. “[The next day] is just totally focused on trying to recover and get ourselves in the best position to go out and play baseball, be safe and have a good time.”
Mosiello said preparing for a four-game series against two teams is different, especially after a quick turnaround from the previous series against UConn.
“It’s really tough prep time because we just got home [Monday night] and we’ll leave [Tuesday],” Mosiello said. “You just alternate teams every other day, so that’s pretty interesting.”
With Grand Canyon and Gonzaga ahead, the Buckeyes begin their season with three-straight series against teams picked to win their respective conferences.
“I love challenging schedules,” Mosiello said. “In order to become a great team, you’re going to have to beat great teams, so that’s part of the plan.”
Ernst said it is exciting to continue the stretch of eight games in 10 days, getting the chance to go back out and compete.
“We don’t like sitting around and waiting to go and play,” Ernst said. “It’s a quick turnaround, and we’re trying to carry the momentum built on [Monday] and into this weekend.”
Game one against Grand Canyon is Thursday at 8 p.m., game two against Gonzaga is Friday at 4 p.m., game three against Grand Canyon is Saturday at 9 p.m. and the series finale against Gonzaga is Sunday at 2 p.m. Games one and three against the Antelopes can be streamed on ESPN+.
