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Buckeyes embrace hands in their 9-2 loss against Boston College on Feb. 16 at the Salt River Fields in Phoenix, Arizona. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

The Buckeyes’ difficult schedule is set to continue this weekend against three offensive juggernauts, each of which boasts a record above .500.

Ohio State (4-4, 0-0 Big Ten) will face the universities of California, Berkeley (7-1, 0-0 PAC-12), Pittsburgh (6-1, 0-0 ACC) and Oklahoma (5-3, 0-0 Big 12) at Las Vegas Ballpark in Las Vegas.

On Friday, the Buckeyes start the tournament against California at 9 p.m. The Golden Bears are riding a five-game winning streak and are 5-0 for the first time since 2018 at their home field in Stu Gordon Stadium.

The most dangerous aspect of California is its offense. The Golden Bears’ cumulative batting average is .321 with eight or more hits in seven of their eight games.

Cal is led by two powerful righties, freshman infielder PJ Moutzouridis and junior catcher Caleb Lomavita. Moutzouridis is hitting a whopping .545 with a 1.450 on-base plus slugging, while Lomavita is trailing a bit behind him with a batting average of .424 and 1.288 on-base plus slugging. 

Unfortunately for Ohio State, California’s bats are not the only strong unit of the team. The Golden Bears pitching unit owns a 4.25 earned run average and has only given up four runs in two of their games. In comparison, the Buckeyes have given up nine-plus runs in four of their eight games. 

Cal has also struck out 10 or more in seven of their eight games. The projected starter for the Golden Bears against the Buckeyes is freshman righty Trey Newman. The 6-foot-6 pitcher has a 4.26 earned run average and has yet to receive a win or a loss. 

Luckily, Ohio State has a lineup that contains a swarm of left-handed hitters and hit right-handers much better. So, the Buckeyes will look to get out to an early start against Newman.

Ohio State will likely send sophomore ace Landon Beidelschies to the mound to fend off the Golden Bears. Friday will be the seventh time Cal and Ohio State have squared off. The Golden Bears own the all-time competition with a 5-1 record against the Buckeyes.  

Ohio State will play the University of Pittsburgh at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Panthers have also had a quick start with a 6-1 record, with the loss coming from Ohio State Big Ten foe Maryland.

Even so, the Panthers seem to be the Buckeyes’ easiest game this weekend. The averages for Pittsburgh are slightly lower than California’s, with a team earned run average of 4.65 and batting average of .293, but this does not mean it is not a well-built team.

The Panthers are very strong defensively, with only three errors in seven games, in comparison to the Buckeyes’ 16 errors in eight games, which means they average two errors per game.

Pittsburgh beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi twice on Sunday and Monday. Coincidently, former Islander pitcher Colin Purcell is the projected starter for the Buckeyes against the Panthers.

Purcell will look to sneak past the top of the Panthers lineup with their first four players owning a .350 average or above.

Pittsburgh’s probable starter is sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Reed, who struggled in his last outing, only going three innings and giving up seven runs. He has also totaled eight walks in seven innings pitched, something that the Buckeyes will look to take advantage of as they are known for working counts.

The Buckeyes successfully tamed the Panthers in six of their nine all-time games against each other. To close out the Las Vegas Baseball Classic, the Buckeyes face the Sooners at 2 p.m.

Oklahoma will be the final boss for Ohio State, as it is the best offensively between the three Buckeye opponents.

Oklahoma is led by junior outfielder John Spikerman and redshirt senior Michael Snyder, who are both hitting over .425. Spikerman is second in the Big 12 in batting average, hitting .517, while Snyder owns a near-impossible 1.419 on-base plus slugging and is fourth in the Big 12 in slugging percentage.

While the demolishing 20-0 victory against Wright State might inflate these numbers, they are hitting .343 as a team with nine home runs and 96 hits with eight games played. Resulting in an average of 12 hits per game, sophomore pitcher Gavin Bruni will try to prevent the damage of the powerful Sooner bats.

Oklahoma’s probable starter for Sunday is junior James Hitt. Another pitcher the Buckeyes will face with an earned run average over 10, as they will look to capitalize with their own juggernaut offense.

The Sooners are another team that throws lots of strikeouts, averaging over 10 a game. This is one of Ohio State’s weaknesses as it has totaled 98 strikeouts in eight games. Oklahoma also beat a top-10 opponent in Tennessee earlier in the season.

The Sooners and Buckeyes have only met three times, with Ohio State coming on top two out of the three.

All games are available to stream on D1 Baseball.