A blast and a boost….Henry Kaczmar’s third inning home run tied the score and gave the Buckeyes an added boost. (Press Feature Photos by Julie McMaken Wright)
A day after playing one of their worst games of the season, the Buckeyes reversed their performance Sunday in an important finale win over Michigan State.
Columbus, OH – The sun shined on Sunday. In reality, a beautiful 82 degree day that bathed the 1,224 who showed up to watch the finale of the Michigan State series.
But figuratively, it bathed the Ohio State Buckeyes, highlighting a complete effort – offense, defense, and pitching – to beat Michigan State 10-6 and salvage the final game of three.
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The offense…10 runs on 12 hits, and OSU committed a pair of errors in a kick-it-around fifth inning.
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The defense…except for those two errors brought on by a freshman moment by pitcher Gavin DeVooght, they played flawlessly for 24 of the 27 outs.
But the pitching…another strong starting performance by DeVooght, bolstered by sterling relief work by Blaine Wynk and Zach Brown…flipped the script, and according to players asked, a flip in confidence, as well.
“What a difference in a day,” said Bill Mosiello. “Except for the third when Gavin makes a freshman mistake, plus he walked the leadoff hitter in that inning. Again, I keep telling you that this game gives you what you earn, especially when you walk so many people. And we’re not good enough to do that and prevent bad things from happening to us.
Tyler Pettorini ripped this second inning triple…the most exciting play in baseball.
“And I could sleep last night knowing that I had Wynk and Brown in the bullpen today.”
Impressive, though, was the fact of DeVooght coming back from a shaky second inning when he gave up back to back hits to open, then a three-run blast to center field by MSU’s Sam Busch…3-0, Sparty.
But not for long, as the Buckeyes struck for a single run in the second on a leadoff triple by Tyler Pettorini and an RBI single by Joe Mershon.
And inning later they tied it at 3-3 when Trey Lipsey double to right and Henry Kaczmar ignited his 6th home run of the season.
The fateful fifth previously referenced started with DeVooght walking the lead off hitter, then fielding a slug bunt and attempting a force out at second base. Except…his throw was offline, toward right center field, and when everyone stopped running MSU had parlayed a pair of errors and a base hit into a three-run inning…6-3.
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Blaine Wynk relieved DeVooght with one out in the fifth, his first action in a week after an oblique strain, and witnessed first-hand the Buckeyes’ worst three outs of the day. But then the Miamisburg transfer settled into 2.2 innings of what has become the accustomed, dependable Blaine Wynk out of the bullpen.
And the offense previously mentioned rewarded his effort with five huge runs in the bottom of the inning that saw Lipsey and Hunter Rosson both double, and four singles by Kaczmar, Matt Graveline, Mitchell Okuley and Mershon to score five times and reach a four-run cushion.
Trey Lipsey’s average rose to .271 with a 2 for 5 day against MSU in the finale.
An inning later, the suddenly unrelenting Hunter Rosson lit up reliever Nolan Higgins with his second home in as many days to make the margin 12-6.
With the bullpen rested and ready, Zach Brown came on to pitch the eighth and delivered his best, and most consistent, effort of the year. He retired the final six outs of the game on just 17 pitches.
Ohio State (20-20, 7-8 in Big Ten) won it with 10 runs on 12 hits and had 2 errors. Blaine Wynk earned his first win of the season (1-0).
Michigan State lost it with 6 runs on just 5 hits (a complete reversal from Saturday’s onslaught), and had 1 error. Starter Nick Ferazzi endured the loss to move his record to 0-4.
After 11-4 and 17-12 on the two previous days, limiting MSU to 6 runs on 5 hits may have been their most important win of the season, despite dropping the series.
“It rips your heart out every time you lose a series,” said Mo. “But I’m made for this. I’ve done it for 39 years and I know how to have my heart ripped out and come back the next day. The interviews are horrible after the losses, and my sleep is zero, but you’re always one day away from a ten-game win streak…or a nine-game losing streak.”
They may need a ten-game win streak now to assure themselves a post-season opportunity. After winning on Sunday the Buckeyes stand 7-8 in conference, tied with Michigan State for seven place. And with 13 games left to play, they have to win 11 of the 13 to at least equal last year’s record of 31 wins. So as much as Mosiello dislikes the mention of pressure, or urgency, there is no better time to play dominant baseball to ensure one of those eight seeds in the Big Ten Tournament.
And how important is it (again relative to Sunday’s win) to qualify for the tournament?
The consensus is from everyone with even a rooting stake in this team…paramount!
Game Notes:
Henry Kaczmar is quickly developing a sense of timing for making the big play, the routine play so it doesn’t become a big play, or collecting the big hit like he had in Sunday’s third inning.
“We know we have to win. Today we couldn’t afford to get swept, and this win is big for next weekend because it gives a chance for a little confidence going in.” – Henry Kaczmar
“Yeah, Kaczmar’s home run was huge for us,” said Mosiello with a smile. “Henry is Henry and we’re fortunate to have him, and that’s why he’s in the two hole every day. Henry has been terrific. But he’s not doing what Hunter Rosson is doing for us…has done for us the last two days. Hunter (5 for 9 with a home run and 8 RBIs in MSU series) is going to be in the lineup.”
“The first two games didn’t go our way,” said Kaczmar, post-game. “But we know we have to win. Today we couldn’t afford to get swept, and this win is big for next weekend because it gives a chance for a little win streak [going in]. For me, I just keep doing what I do, and think some momentum is important as an individual thing. One guys gets a hit, then another, then another like we had today.”
Rosson’s sudden turnabout is a shot in the arm when they could use every weapon at their disposal. He followed up Saturday’s game (three hits in four at bats, and 6 RBIs for the game.) with another home run on Sunday, part of a 2 for 5 day with 2 RBIs. Count ’em up, that’s 5 for his last 9 at bats with 8 RBIs. And, it’s not unlike some moments from 2023 when he seemed to suddenly ignite – in the Illinois series when he hit his first home run and went 4 for 9 against the Illini. In 24 games this year, and 31 at bats, he’s hitting .355 with a slugging percentage of .742 and 3 home runs.
Other streaking bats…Tyler Pettorini went 2 for 5 Sunday to raise his average to .319…Joe Mershon was 2 for 4 to raise average to .294…Trey Lipsey went 2 for 5 and is now hitting .271 (up 50 points in April)…and Henry Kaczmar, of course, went 2 for 3 to elevate his mark to .338.
Sunday’s attendance of 1,224 marked a total of 2,724 to show up in good weather to watch good baseball at Bill Davis this weekend. One can only imagine how many would show up, pay to watch, and enjoy good college baseball if the NCAA season were to start a month later, and conclude in July.
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