Members of the Ohio State baseball team run off the field after huddling up before the Ohio State-Indiana game on April 3. Ohio State won 6-0. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Given the uncertainties of living in a pandemic, many college athletic programs have had to work on the fly and under different circumstances to schedule and play games in safe and logistically-sound ways.
Ohio State baseball has done so twice in the last week.
The Buckeyes were idle and remained at home following the postponement of last weekend’s series at Minnesota due to COVID-19-related issues within the Golden Gophers’ program, leaving Ohio State with nearly a two-week gap in play. So, Ohio State announced Friday it added a game with the same opponent it played last — only this time on the road.
Ohio State will travel to Purdue on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. contest against the Boilermakers, from whom the Buckeyes took two of three games during the series in Columbus April 30-May 2. It will be the first midweek game of the season for either program as the original Big Ten schedule planned weekend-only matchups.
Head coach Greg Beals has described his Buckeyes ballclub as one that has been “trending,” and that certainly has been the case as Ohio State has won back-to-back series after snapping a 5-game losing streak in mid-April.
“From the offensive side, I feel like we’re swinging the bat well and we’ve been pretty offensive for the last two weeks,” Beals said. “That’s a trend that I want to continue. We’ve had good weeks of preparation and we need to continue that. We build the confidence off of our preparation.”
Purdue enters Tuesday’s ballgame after a weekend off, too, as its road series at Northwestern was postponed due to health and safety concerns within the Wildcats’ program. The Boilermakers hold an 11-20 record, and they outlasted the Buckeyes 16-15 for their last win May 2.
Offense was abundant when these two teams last met, as both combined to score 59 runs and bash 78 hits in the series. However, both offenses rank in the bottom-half of the conference with the Buckeyes owning a .253 team batting average versus the Boilermakers’ .247.
Although it was held to just five runs over the first two games, Purdue broke free in the finale for 18 hits and three innings in which it scored four runs. Fifth-year catcher Zac Fascia led the Boilermakers with six hits in the series and joined senior outfielders Ben Nisle and Miles Simington with home runs.
None of Purdue’s three starting pitchers went five innings, but the back-end of its bullpen held Ohio State from completing its comeback bid and sweep.
Sophomore right-hander Jett Jackson tossed two innings of two-run ball, striking out a pair while allowing as many hits.
Redshirt-sophomore lefty Jackson Smeltz finished the game by retiring the final three Buckeyes batters and leaving the tying run at third base after allowing back-to-back hits to begin the ninth inning.
Sitting at 17-14 and in fifth place in the Big Ten Conference, Ohio State will have ground to make up at the cost of a lost weekend. The Buckeyes are two games back of Iowa and Maryland, which are tied for fourth place, and five games behind first-place Indiana, which has won 12 of its last 15 since getting swept in four games by Ohio State April 2-4.
Ohio State scored at least 11 runs in all three ball games versus Purdue, recording at least 13 hits in each. Juniors shortstop Zach Dezenzo and third baseman Nick Erwin both had eight hits in the series, and the former blasted a pair of home runs while driving in 10 runs.
“I think as a whole, as a team, our approach has been to try and get on base to give ourselves a chance to score runs,” redshirt senior first baseman Conner Pohl said. “I mean, our pitching is as good as it is. We just knew that we had to score runs in any way possible, and getting on base is key for that.”
The breakout bat of the weekend was senior catcher Archer Brookman, who finished the series 5-for-8 with five RBIs and the first three home runs of his Buckeyes career.
The Buckeyes pitching staff was effective over the first two games against the Boilermakers. Junior right-hander Garrett Burhenn and redshirt-junior lefty Seth Lonsway each pitched at least six innings and allowed three runs while striking out nine in their starts, helping boost the Buckeyes’ strikeout totals to 331, second-most in the Big Ten this season.
Late-inning relievers juniors TJ Brock and Bayden Root each tossed scoreless innings last time out, picking up two strikeouts in the process. Freshman left-hander Isaiah Coupet lowered his earned-run average to 2.92, second-lowest on the roster among pitchers with more than five appearances.
Things weren’t as smooth for several of Ohio State’s veteran relievers. Graduate lefty Patrick Murphy was tagged for the loss May 2 after surrendering four runs on as many hits in 1 ⅓ innings, and senior left-hander Griffan Smith preceded Murphy with four runs on five hits across two innings.
The last time Ohio State and Purdue met in West Lafayette, Indiana, came May 16-18, 2019 when the Buckeyes swept the three-game series.
“It’s very crucial that we continue to take care of business with the teams that we know we can take care of business with, and that’s what we’ve been doing, that’s what we’ve been showing so far,” Dezenzo said. “All we can control is how we play, that’s all we can control. We just got to keep controlling us moving forward and taking care of our business.”
First pitch is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on BTN+.
