The Ohio State Baseball team watches from the dugout during the Ohio State-Purdue game on May 2. Ohio State lost 15-16. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Head coach Greg Beals continues to use the word “trending” to describe his team.
After the four-game sweep of Indiana, the Buckeyes were trending upward before taking a swan dive and losing five in a row.
Ohio State then won five of seven against Penn State and Purdue, and most recently lost two of three against Michigan State. The Buckeyes (19-16) have shown inconsistency since the beginning of April, making it difficult to sustain a climb in the Big Ten standings as they slot in at sixth.
The next stop on Ohio State’s rollercoaster ride of a season is in a three-team pod in Bloomington, Indiana, against familiar foes in No. 21 Indiana (24-13) and Nebraska (25-11) — who it has already faced this season.
“We’ve already got pretty good scouting reports on them, but we’re gonna dig in and see what’s new and what’s changed and polish up those scouting reports,” Beals said. “Really, it’s more of a matter of us going out and playing Ohio State baseball.”
The first time Ohio State and Nebraska faced off was in another pod in Minneapolis March 12-14, in which the Buckeyes split the two-game set.
The Cornhuskers boast arguably the best offense in the conference, with the highest team batting average at .281 and the second-most runs scored at 264.
They enter play on a four-game winning streak — the fourth time this season they have carried such a stretch, outscoring opponents 45-18 in that time.
Their offense has hit everything in sight, knocking 61 base hits in their last four games and getting contributions from just about everybody in their lineup.
The man leading the charge during Nebraska’s streak is freshman infielder Max Anderson. He has a hit in four straight games, going 12-for-22 with six runs scored while raising his batting average to the team-high and eighth-best Big Ten clip of .340.
Right behind him in ninth is his teammate, senior utility Jaxon Hallmark.
The Midland, Texas, native is raking a .338 clip on the season thanks to him banging a hit in 29 of his 35 games this season, including each of the last six.
He is also a threat to steal when on the basepaths, swiping a Big Ten second-best 15 bags, which could play a factor in the two-game mini-series. The Buckeyes have struggled at defending against the stolen base, as opponents have combined for a 73-for-86 success rate in that department.
As for Indiana, it makes its money on the mound.
The Hoosiers have consistently held the title for lowest ERA in the Big Ten, this week checking in with a 3.11 mark as a staff.
This is even with two of their three starters coming off their worst outings of the year from an earned runs standpoint, as junior left-hander Tommy Sommer gave up five in 2 1/3 innings Friday and sophomore righty Gabe Bierman spread out four runs across 7 1/3 innings.
Each of the three lead the Big Ten in a major pitching category — Bierman with a 2.57 ERA, sophomore righty McCade Brown with a .154 opponent batting average and Sommer with 72 innings pitched.
Brown and Sommer are fourth and fifth in the conference, respectively, in strikeouts, sitting down 84 and 80 opposing hitters.
Ohio State’s 2-0 loss Saturday marked the first time since April 7 that the offense failed to score four runs in a ballgame, so redshirt senior catcher Brent Todys said his approach to helping his teammates will be crucial to getting some offensive momentum against Indiana’s dominant rotation.
“Before their at-bats, after we come in from the field, the guys that are due up I just kind of give them a slap on the butt like, ‘Hey, drive something here, you got this,’” Todys said. “This game is a game failure, and I try to just instill that confidence in other guys. Got to keep the positivity going.”
This weekend presents a prime opportunity for the Buckeyes — who are vying for a bid to the NCAA Tournament — to redeem themselves after losing the Michigan State series. Nebraska and Indiana are first and second, respectively, in the conference standings, so winning the series will certainly look impressive in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee.
“We got to free ourselves up a little bit and attack the games and just, our backs are against the wall and we got to make sure we come out swinging,” Beals said. “We can’t be defensive; we got to be offensive in our total approach to competing.”
The Buckeyes will begin play Saturday at 1 p.m. against Nebraska on BTN+. They will then play Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. against the Huskers and Hoosiers, rounding out their four-game affair Monday at 6 p.m. against Indiana. The final three games will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
