Buckeyes third baseman Tyler Pettorini hit. 545 with a homer in the opening series with Arizona State. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Home from Phoenix, it didn’t take long to receive the news about what ex-Buckeyes now playing at other schools did on opening weekend. And…it is what it is.
By noon on Monday the Press Pros mailbox had been populated with emails from Ohio State baseball fans and followers…with the weekend stats for those who used to be Buckeyes, but played for different schools on opening weekend this year.
Landon Beidelschies – pitched 5 innings (1 run, 4 hits) in his first start for Arkansas, struck out seven and won the series finale over Washington State.
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Isaac Cadena – went 4 for 12 with a pair of home runs at TCU, who swept their opening series against San Diego.
Josh Stevenson – went 3 for 12 for South Alabama, sweeping that opening series against Kent State and Eastern Kentucky.
Zach Brown – gave up 6 runs on 5 hits in one-third of an inning pitching for Georgia in a series finale loss to UNC-Wilmington.
Henry Kaczmar – went 2 for 12 for South Carolina, who swept their series with Sacred Heart University.
Gavin Devooght – who pitched five shutout innings in his first start for Michigan, striking out 7 in a win over Stetson.
And yes, it is what it is. That ship has sailed.
Transfer Lee Ellis (South Carolina) played a solid second base and hit his first home run as a Buckeye in Phoenix.
And some even took time to compare transfers lost to transfers gained.
Reggie Bussey – 3 for 10 (.300) with a pair of RBIs in Phoenix.
Lee Ellis – 2 for 9 (.222) with a pair of RBIs against Arizona State.
Marc Stephens – 4 for 15 (.267) with a pair of RBIs, and scorched four other at bats when he hit line drives at waiting gloves.
The Buckeyes scored 24 runs in the three-game series, and as previously written, scoring runs will not be the issue in 2025. Tyler Pettorini hit .545 (6 for 11), walked three times, and went 3 for 3 in the series finale on Sunday.
No, the issue will be how to prevent runs from the mound, and therein lies the tale of tape with the three games in Phoenix. In 24.2 innings they pitched to a 10.20 ERA and walked 19 hitters, while striking out 14. Now you can maintain that it can happen to anyone, and indeed, it did happen to Zach Brown, evidently, who’s now pitching at Georgia.
Columnist Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and Ohio State baseball for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Justin Haire emphatically maintained following Friday’s start from Blaine Wynk that things will settle down and “I have a lot of faith”, said Haire. And yes, let’s hope that faith is soon rewarded this weekend in Jacksonville, and next in Arlington, Texas, in preparation for Big Ten play with Indiana on March 14, where the 30-day forecast is for weather in the low 50s.
And until then, two things….
You can’t do anything about rain in Indianapolis.
And you can’t do anything about Isaac Cadena. I wish him well.
You do what you can do…like throwing strikes.