Ohio State senior infielder Colton Bauer (8) prepares for the pitch during the Ohio State-Iowa game on March 26, 2021. Ohio State won 8-2. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Senior infielder Colton Bauer plowed a 434-foot home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the 10th inning for a walkoff 6-5 win against Youngstown State Tuesday.
Ohio State (9-16, 0-4 Big Ten) kicked off the bottom of the tenth with a pinch-hit walk by senior infielder Drew Reckart. Bauer came up to the plate with no outs, a 3-1 count and snapped the Buckeyes’ five-game losing streak in a dramatic fashion with his first ever walk-off home run.
“We just needed one and, you know, we didn’t know if we were going to play this game. It was raining. We really didn’t know,” Bauer said. “The coaches were like, ‘Just stay with us, stay with us,’ and the boys stayed with them and this is what happened.”
The matchup between Ohio State and Youngstown State (10-18, 3-3 Horizon League) started out as a questionable night for baseball with a rain delay at Bill Davis Stadium, pushing the first pitch back almost a full hour.
“It rained most of the afternoon and early evening,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We warned our guys and told our guys we wanted to play and the guys wanted to play and we found a way to get a ball game in.”
Freshman right-hander Jacob Gehring made his first collegiate start, throwing three innings of one-run ball and striking out five.
The Buckeyes jumped on the board first in the bottom of the second inning with an RBI single by senior catcher Brent Todys, recording his seventh RBI of the season.
Youngstown State benefitted from stout defense in the bottom of the second inning, including an unassisted double play by senior first baseman Padraig O’Shaughnessy to shift the momentum over to the Penguins.
Gehring gave up a leadoff triple in the top of the third inning to senior center fielder Lucas Nasonti, who later crossed the plate on a wild pitch, breaking Ohio State’s early lead.
Both teams struggled to deliver any offense until the seventh inning when Ohio State loaded the bases twice and scored two runs.
The Buckeyes did not retain the lead for long, though.
In the top of the ninth, Youngstown State scored two runs on base hits from brothers Padraig and junior infielder Braeden O’Shaughnessy, tying up the game at three.
Junior outfielder Mitchell Okuley led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left field, but the Buckeyes were unable to regain the lead, pushing the game into extra innings.
While the 10th inning started off slow, Youngstown State sophomore shortstop Seth Lucero came up to bat with two outs and delivered an RBI triple to right field, putting the Penguins ahead 4-3 going into the bottom of the inning.
Coming off a tough weekend against Nebraska, Beals said the team was ready to change the energy.
“We needed that bad and just so they have that feeling right there. We haven’t had that feeling very often,” Beals said. “The win is what creates that feeling but that feeling is what they need to get going to have those positive vibes and that idea that they can.”
Ohio State hosts Big Ten rival Michigan State in a three-game series this weekend, kicking off Friday at 6:05 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium.
