Isaac Cadena unloads on his second home run of the season in third inning to get the Bucks on the board. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Running on fumes by weekend’s end, the Buckeyes’ pitching took a beating at the hands of Illinois’ veteran lineup Sunday, and along with it the window closed a bit on their post-season probabilities.
Champaign, IL – The final assessment of Sunday’s 12-2 beating by Illinois was little more complicated than this.
The Buckeyes’ young pitching ran aground again at the hands of a better, veteran Illinois lineup that feasts on mistakes left in the strike zone. And for the second weekend in a row they dropped a series when the Illini made them pay, much in the manner that Michigan State did.
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Buckeye pitching walked eight hitters, hit two others, and the Illinois bats cashed in on nearly every one of them…clubbing a pair of home runs, four doubles, and finishing the game in run-rule fashion with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to make the 9th inning unnecessary, and irrelevant. The cherry on top? Illinois finished the game with a slug percentage of just over .800.
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And it highlighted what has been feared for weeks about how well a pitching staff that relies on so much freshman contribution could hold up against veteran lineups the likes of Nebraska, Michigan State, and Illinois.
“We got beat today by a better club,” Bill Mosiello said, who never fails to call it like he sees it.
“They were 13-5 in the league, 19-1 at home coming into this weekend, they outclassed us, outcoached us, and kicked our tails. They had key hits all day and we only had a couple (a home run and double by Isaac Cadena). We had some hits early, but then their relievers came in and did what good relievers do. They had good stuff, made good pitches, and you fight an uphill battle in that situation when you get down by a lot of runs.”
Isaac Cadena tips his hat to teammates after his third inning home run.
One of those freshman, Gavin DeVooght got what’s become the customary Sunday start his sixth of the season, and had no issues at all in the bottom of the first, retiring the Illini in order.
But in the second it got wobbly…a leadoff double, a walk and pair of run-scoring hits put the first crooked number of the day on the board for Illinois…3-0.
Immediately the Buckeyes got on the board in the top of the third when catcher (yes, he caught Sunday) Isaac Cadena clubbed a home run to center field to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Illini got that run right back in the bottom of the inning with a monster home run to right field off the bat of first baseman Drake Westcott…4-1.
Ohio State scored again in the top of the fourth on a single by Josh Stevenson and another extra base hit by Cadena, a run-scoring double to the gap in right center…4-2.
But again, Illinois kept pecking away at DeVooght in their half of the fourth, scoring a single run on a two-out walk and a run-scoring double by catcher Camden Janik.
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And so it continued, Illinois scoring two more in the bottom of the fifth, and the final inning for DeVooght whose line read 7 runs on 7 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks…and too many mistakes in the strike zone.
He was replaced in the sixth by freshman Zach Brown, who yes, breezed through the inning on a pair of strikeouts and a ground ball to third base. But an inning later, Brown’s command and confidence took a beating with a leadoff single, a pair of walks, then another walk to force in a run, and another base hit to drive in two more runs…10-2, Illinois.
Starter Gavin DeVoogth labored through five innings, allowing 7 runs on 7 hits.
Ohio State would not score again after the fourth, and when Illinois came to bat in the bottom of the eighth they needed just two runs to close out the game by run rule.
Justin Eckhardt had come on to retire the final outs of the seventh, and immediately hit the leadoff man when Illinois came to bat in the eighth. He retired the next hitter on a fly ball to center, than walked a pair, bringing right fielder Ryan Moerman to the plate. Moerman lined a double to right center, drove in the final two runs needed, and Illinois walked off with a 12-2, seven and one-third inning win.
The final lines:
Ohio State (23-22, 8-10 in Big Ten) had 2 runs on 8 hits and no errors.
Illinois (28-16, 13-5 in Big Ten) won it with 12 runs on 10 hits and no errors.
Simply put, the young pitching has not held up under the stress of conference play against veteran competition…or for that matter, the pitching in general. And at issue is the number of walks, the Buckeyes having issued 273 compared to 353 strikeouts in 390 innings pitched (an average of just over 6 per game). And with eight games remaining that number is in jeopardy of eclipsing 300!
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There are more factors than that, of course, but the inarguable reality is of youth competing against hitters that are far better than the ones they faced in high school. It’s a learning process, the learning curve is severe, and not unlike the fight or flight response it becomes a survival mechanism. And in the meantime you’re fighting to secure the goal of making the Big Ten Tournament.
Someone else once wrote that “it’s not so much a matter of talent, but the maturation process of that talent.” And they’ve come a long, long way since those heartening wins out West over Southern Cal, Arizona State, Cal and Oklahoma. But how do you tell, except by record?
“We’ve got six big games left,” added Mosiello. “There’s nothing to prepare for, we’ve just got to play better baseball. We’re not going to change our offense and start running the ‘veer’ tomorrow, we’re going to have to pitch, and we’re going to have to hit. Friday night was exciting because we won – we had a chance to win a series, and that’s super exciting. But today it was just a tough, tough time.”
Before hosting bottom-dwelling Northwestern next weekend, the Buckeyes conclude the non-conference part of their schedule with Eastern Michigan on Tuesday (6 pm) and Youngstown State on Wednesday (6 pm).
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