Sophomore shortstop Henry Kaczmar watches as he hits one over the wall…. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Who are you going to talk to after Ohio State and Akron combine for 33 runs, 32 hits and use 15 pitchers during the Buckeyes 18-13 win? Certainly you don’t talk to a pitcher, but in this case one stood out, Ohio State relief pitcher Colin Purcell.
Columbus, OH. — When there are 33 runs scored in a game, who are you going to talk to?
When there 32 hits in a game. who are you going to talk to?
When there are 16 walks issued in a game, who are you going to talk to?
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When there are 15 pitchers used in a nine-inning game, who are you going to talk to?
All those absurd and obscene numbers were part of Ohio State University’s 18-13 win over the University of Akron Wednesday night in Bill Davis Stadium.
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Ohio State (22-20) scored seven runs in the first inning and kept a step or three ahead of Akron (11-33) — 7-6, 10-6. 10-7, 11-7, 11-10, 15-10, 15-13. . .and finally, 18-13.
The adding machine in the press box spun and whirred like tires on an 18-wheeler humming across I-70.
So who do you talk to about this offensive morass during which Akron coach Bryan Fauldes used nine players disguised as pitchers.
Say hello to Ohio State relief pitcher Colin Purcell. For a game like this, talking to a pitcher is like walking into IHOP and ordering a Pop Tart instead of crepe suzette.
Purcell, though, is the one pitcher who got it done and prevented the Zips from turning Ohio State into an oh no state.
From the beginning. . .and pay close attention:
Senior right handed pitcher Colin Purcell’s time arrived in the second inning and he retired the two batters he faced and retired 11 of 12 batters faced.
OSU pitcher Noah Williamson began the game with a 10.80 earned run average and Akron pitcher Elijah Griffith began the game with an 11.91 earned run average.
So it was a near certainty there would be no perfect game, no no-hitter and no shutout.
All of it came true for both sides. . .in the first inning. The run tsunami began.
Williamson retired the first two Zips in the top of the first, then three straight singles and an error put two runs on the board.
Akron pitcher Griffith was not so fortunate. He struck out Buckeye leadoff hitter Trey Lipsey. . .and that was it for him.
The next eight hitters reached base, all hits, including home runs over the center field wall by Henry Kaczmar and Tyler Pettorini.
Given the 7-2 lead after one inning, OSU pitcher Williamson could coast, right? If he thought he could coast, he was doing it in neutral.
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He hit the first Zip, walked the second and soon Akron had four runs on the board, trailed by only 7-6, and like his fellow starter, Richardson was gone before completing two innings.
Pettorini homered again in the second and came up again in the third with a chance for three home runs in three innings and this time it would have been a grand slam.
Mitchell Oukley runs out a single on a bunt hit.
And he narrowly missed, pulling one foul on the wrong side of the foul pole, then he grounded to second. Almost.
“Yeah, almost,” said the junior infielder, a native of Wooster, a suburb of Akron. “I got the pitch I wanted and hit it, It was the best ball I hit today, better than the two home runs.
“And those two home runs were the first I’ve ever hit to center field,” he said after hitting numbers six and seven on the season.
When Trey Lipsey trudged to the plate in the fourth he was the only Buckeye in the lineup without a hit and he was 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts. The OSU left fielder and leadoff hitter took care of that shortcoming by pulling a two-run double into the right field corner for a 10-6 lead.
Colin Purcell’s time arrived in the second inning and he retired the two batters he faced and continued to pitch as if his 1-4 record and 7.35 earned run average came off a falsified document.
Tyler Pettorini dances to corral this popup in the infield.
The senior right-hander, a transfer from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi retired 11 of 12 Zips and the only batter to reach base circled them all, a home run in the fifth by Charlie Schebler.
And that’s why you talk to Purcell.
“It was definitely an offensive game today,” he said. “Pitching coach (Sean) Allen always preaches, ‘Who is to be the guy to go in there and throw the first zero and put an end to it.”
Purcell strung four of them, although his line has four runs. . .all during his fifth inning. Three he put on base and the next pitcher let them in.
“That was the kind of thing I had going, got into a rhythm early, throwing strikes, showing I have confidence out there and let the guys behind me make plays. I had the ability to throw all three of my pitches for strikes.”
After pitching three years at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Purcell put his name in the transfer portal.
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“I met with my old coaches at Corpus Christi last summer and I said, ‘Hey, I want to venture off to a bigger challenge for my last year.’ I entered my name in the portal and Ohio State was the first to reach out to me. Ohio State was my dream school and it easy for me to reach out and say yes.”
Purcell’s magic disappeared and his petrol tank flashed on ‘E’ in the seventh. He gave up a double and a walk to start the inning.
Last out of the game from 3rd baseman Tyler Pettorini.
With one out, Schebler struck again, a run-scoring bad-hop single past first base. That ended Purcell’s night.
His replacement, Blaine Wynk, gave up a two-run single to Fisher Pyatt before retiring the final two. But the Zips had crept back to within 11-10.
it didn’t last more than a mini-inning, a three-run answer by the Buckeyes.
Joseph Ross started the seventh for Akron and immediately hit a batter, walked a batter and gave up a run-scoring double to Mitchell Okuley.
For Ross, it was three-up and three-scored and he was gone. His replacement, Sean Perkins, immediately threw a wild pitch that scored a run and the Buckeyes were back in charge, 14-10.
And Perkins didn’t last, either. He was replaced by Emmett Gillies and his first pitch was a wild one as another run scored and it was 15-10.
Now it was Akron’s turn in this game of Tour de Bases. The Zips scored three again in the eighth against Jaylen Jones and Zack Brown and they were down two, 15-13.
And, of course, the Buckeyes quickly retaliated with three in the bottom of the eighth to give them a five-run cushion for the ninth. . .hoping it was enough.
It was, finally, more than enough.
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