Ohio State senior right-handed pitcher Will Pfennig (31) pitches the ball during Ohio State’s 11-1 loss to Campbell May 10, 2022. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
In the last two years, six Ohio State pitchers were selected in the MLB Draft.
In 2021, Ohio State lost its top-three starters when Seth Lonsway, Jack Neely and Garrett Burhenn were selected in the first 11 rounds of the draft. One year later, the bullpen trio of TJ Brock, Ethan Hammerberg and Nate Karaffa were selected in the first 20.
After hiring former Texas pitching coach Sean Allen and former Clemson pitching coach Andrew See and bringing in seven transfers and three freshmen, Ohio State aims to reload its pitching staff in 2023.
“I think it’ll be a staff of numbers,” Allen said. “A lot of that will be dependent on how the starting rotation does.”
That rotation begins with junior left-hander Isaiah Coupet.
After one start and nine appearances in 2021, Coupet made a big leap in 2022 as the team’s No. 1 starter. The southpaw finished fourth in the Big Ten with 98 strikeouts, punching out over 13 batters per every nine innings, good for fourth in the country.
Like Coupet, senior right-hander Wyatt Loncar comes into the season after carving his own spot in the rotation last year.
In 2022, Loncar started 10 games with 73 strikeouts and a rotation-best 4.56 ERA. Standing at 6-foot-6, Loncar showed his longevity as a starter going five innings in all of his last four starts in 2022.
Coupet, Loncar and Nate Haberthier made up the usual weekend starting rotation in 2022. With Haberthier transferring to Big Ten foe Maryland, starting spots are wide open.
Two returning options to start could be sophomore right-hander Jacob Gehring and sophomore left-hander Gavin Bruni.
In 2022, Gehring was a versatile arm, making four starts and nine appearances. In 25 total innings, Gehring struck out 16 batters while walking only 11.
Bruni did not earn a decision in three starts and nine games last year but showed what he could bring to the pitching staff when he struck out all six batters he faced in the Buckeyes 5-4 win April 5, 2022, against Youngstown State.
“It was really eye-opening to me of what I could do,” Bruni said. “I’m just making sure that ability is there every time, so if I go out and pitch like that, I think I’ll have a lot of success.”
To help reload in 2023, the Buckeyes transferred in seven pitchers to contribute to the staff.
One of them is junior right-hander Justin Eckhardt, who came with Allen from Texas. Despite multiple injuries in Austin, Eckhardt went 1-1 with 23 strikeouts in 2022 for a Longhorns team that reached the College World Series.
“He’s competed for a weekend job there for three years in a row,” Allen said. “Hopefully, he can stay healthy and give us some quality innings, but he’s got to go out there and earn it as well.”
Joining Eckhardt are graduate right-handers Jonah Jenkins and Jameson Campbell, as well as sophomores right-hander George Eisenhardt and left-hander Jaylen Jones.
Jenkins pitched in 17 games as a reliever in two years at Dartmouth before making 16 appearances and four starts at San Francisco in 2022, earning a save and a 2-4 record.
Campbell had a stellar four-year career at Division III Washington & Jefferson, anchored by a 2022 season where he went 10-2 with a 3.10 ERA.
Eisenhardt comes to Columbus after one season at Xavier in which he struck out 30 batters over 14 games and eight starts. He earned his first college win March 6, 2022, against USC Upstate going over seven innings and striking out five batters.
Jones made four appearances his freshman year at Michigan. A highly touted left-hander from Thomasville, Georgia, Jones will now pitch from the other side of enemy territory.
Junior right-handers Logan Jones and Josh Timmerman are two junior college transfers also looking to make a big splash on the mound.
Last year at Lincoln Trail College, Jones went 3-3 in 12 games with 46 strikeouts and won three games in nine appearances at Ohio University in 2021.
In 2022 at Wabash Valley College, Timmerman went 8-1 with 85 strikeouts over 15 starts to help the Warriors reach the third round of the JUCO World Series.
Sophomore reliever Jake Johnson enters 2023 as one of the leaders of a bullpen that lost 10 pitchers. With a sharp fastball and wipeout slider, Johnson posted a stellar 4.71 ERA in a team-high 25 appearances, going at least one full inning in 12 of those contests.
The bullpen also returns junior right-hander Tim Baird, sophomore left-hander Drew Bachman and graduate right-handers Will Pfennig and Nolan Clegg.
Baird is 2-1 in 17-career appearances while Bachman looks to make his first college appearance in 2023.
Pfennig is a veteran of 48 games and over 117 innings while Clegg switched to pitcher from the outfield last year and earned a save in his fifth-ever appearance May 20, 2022, versus USC Upstate.
The Buckeyes bring in two of the four Ohio players of the year in freshman left-handers Landon Beidelschies and Landon Price.
Beidelschies tossed three no-hitters and one perfect game as a senior at Canfield High School while Price earned 35 wins and over 500 strikeouts in his last two years at Lincolnview High School.
Right-hander Cole Pauley rounds out the freshmen arms. As a senior at Lexington High School, Pauley posted a 1.60 earned run average and was a first team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference selection.
Allen said the great thing about opening the season with two consecutive four-game series is the need for many pitchers to go out and log innings.
“It’s an exciting group,” Allen said. “We just got to figure out what the role is going to be and that evolves over a quarter of the season.”
