Ohio State baseball defeated Minnesota Saturday for its first Big Ten win of the season. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
After allowing three runs in the ninth inning in a 3-2 loss versus Minnesota Friday, Ohio State responded with a dominant pitching performance Saturday at Bill Davis Stadium.
Sophomore left-hander Gavin Bruni and graduate righty Jonah Jenkins combined for 17 strikeouts on the mound to help the Buckeyes beat the Gophers 6-2 and earn their first Big Ten win of the year.
“I felt like I didn’t have as great stuff as I did last week,” Bruni said. “But I felt like mentally, I prepared myself a lot better and got into a couple jams, but it ultimately worked out in the end, and I worked out of them.”
Bruni allowed two runs and struck out a career-high 11 batters in six innings, earning his first collegiate win in 15 career appearances and 10 starts.
“I’ve worked so hard to get here,” Bruni said. “I think preparation has been really well, and just overall going out there and competing.”
San Francisco transfer Jenkins struck out a season-high six batters over three scoreless innings, securing the win that snapped Ohio State’s (13-12, 1-4 Big Ten) five-game losing streak.
“I was fired up because this win means a lot,” Jenkins said. “Tying the series up, tomorrow’s going to be a rubber match, and guys are going to have to step up.”
Through two games in the series, Ohio State pitchers surrendered just five runs with 32 strikeouts and eight walks.
“I’ll take pitching great last night with our starting pitching,” head coach Bill Mosiello said. “And then obviously those two guys were awesome today.”
Offensively, the Buckeyes notched seven hits with five doubles. Three of those came in the bottom of the second inning, when the Buckeyes jumped out to a 2-0 lead on an RBI double by redshirt junior designated hitter Hank Thomas and freshman shortstop Henry Kaczmar.
Minnesota (6-20, 1-1 Big Ten) answered in the third and fourth innings with a one-run single by freshman first baseman Weber Neels — his second RBI of the series — and a game-tying double by redshirt freshman utilityman Sam Hunt.
In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas drove in his second run of the game, a sacrifice fly to left field that scored graduate catcher Cole Andrews. Two batters later, sophomore left fielder Trey Lipsey grounded out to redshirt sophomore right-hander George Klassen that scored redshirt junior first baseman Caden Kaiser, as the Buckeyes led 4-2 after four innings.
The final scoring of the day came off the bat of Kaczmar in the bottom of the eighth.
With the wind howling at 30 miles per hour towards the right field corner, Kaczmar pulled a deep drive to right-center field for his first-career home run. The freshman from Bath, Ohio, finished the game with a career-high three hits, three runs batted in and was a triple away from the cycle.
“Any time a guy plays well, it’s fun to watch him,” Mosiello said. “Henry’s doing a really good job of coming to play.”
With the series tied at one game apiece, the Buckeyes and Gophers meet Sunday at 1 p.m. for the rubber match.
“We have a huge one tomorrow,” Mosiello said. “We got to go win a series.”
