Pettorini’s winning hit…a double to right that scored Nick Giamarusti and Trey Lipsey with the winning runs in the season finale win over Illinois. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It took ten innings and many of the same frustrations of a lost season. But in the end the Buckeyes and Tyler Pettorini send the Senior Day crowd home with a smile…11-10 over Illinois, in ten innings.
Columbus, OH – They won the season’s final game, 11-10, but in many ways it was a carbon copy of the forty nine previous games – carbon copy of a Gavin Kuzniewski start.
The Buckeyes most dependable freshman arm started the 50th game of the season Saturday against Illinois and rolled through the first two innings, commanding, untouched and impressive.
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In the meantime, a mammoth home run to the parking lot at Jack Nicklaus’s museum in right by Ryan Miller in the second inning, and following solo shot to left by Nick Giamarusti gave Kuzniewski a two-run cushion with which to work.
Prosperity, as it turned out, that he could not withstand.
In the top of the third inning his command and untouchability were gone with the wind…the gusts that were blowing the flag straight, and a home run jet stream to right field. A pair of Illini singles, a double, a two-run homer to right off the bat of shortstop Jack Zebig, and a three-run shot by catcher Jake Schroeder, his third in three games, erased the lead and left Kuzniewski wondering what hit him.
Just as quickly the Buckeyes answered in the bottom of the third, a two-out double by shortstop Maddix Simpson clearing the bases to bring them to within a run, 6-5.
Illinois scored a single run off Kuzniewski in the fourth on a home run by second baseman Coltn Quagliano.
OSU countered when Matt Graveline’s single drove in Trey Lipsey to regain that run …7-6, Illinois.
After a smooth start, Buckeye starter Gavin Kuzniewski was left to wonder what hit him in the third.
Illinois came back in the fifth to score two more, highlighted by a triple from third baseman Kyle Schupmann…9-6, Illinois…and that signaled the end of the day for Kuzniewski (5 innings, 9 runs on 8 hits (8 earned), and 5 strikeouts).
Likewise, Ohio State countered with a leadoff double from Ryan Miller in their half, and Nick Giamarusti’s second home run of the day to left field…9-8, Illinois.
Drew Hill came on to relieve Kuzniewski in the sixth, and quickly ran into trouble with throwing strikes…replaced after one out by lefthander Hunter Shaw, and from that point Shaw turned in for four of the most impressive innings of bullpen work all year – 4.1 innings, 1 run on 3 hits in that gale wind, with 3 strikeouts.
The Buckeyes had a chance to go ahead in eighth with two on and one out, but didn’t, Maddix Simpson’s sac fly to center driving in Tyler Pettorini from third to tie, 9-9, but Will Carpenter struck out to leave the potential go-ahead run, Ryan Miller on base, forcing extra innings.
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Shaw came back out for the 10 and quickly retired the first two out on a pop up to catcher Mason Eckelman and one to shortstop Maddix Simpson. But facing the #9 hitter, Schroeder, he left a pitch up in the zone and Schroeder drove it out to right for his second homer of the game…and a 10-9 Illinois lead.
Kaboom…Nick Giamarusti hit a pair of these, a home run in the second and one in the fifth on a memorable ‘Senior Day’.
Again, and on Senior Day, the Buckeyes came to the plate in the bottom of the tenth seemingly intent on atoning for the many late lost leads that have signified their season. Giamausti, who had already made his Senior Day finale memorable, led off with a walk from Illini reliever Zach Bates.
Reggie Bussey, attempting to advance him with a sac bunt, was called out on strikes, despite plate umpire Jason Harstick leaving everyone up in the air by not signaling a bunt attempt by Bussey, or a called third strike.
Trey Lipsey followed Bussey with another walk from Bates…runners at first and second with one out.
Graveline followed and you could have cut the anticipation for his hammering a fastball with a knife. In contrast, he struck out on three pitches.
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Now with two outs, fate smiled on the Buckeyes. Rolling the dice, Giamarusti and Lipsey pulled off a double steal, of second and third, on Bates’ first pitch to Tyler Pettorini. With your two fastest base runners on first and second if one or the other is thrown out the season is over. But Giamarusti beat the throw to third by half a step.
Pettorini was one for four on the day, and with a base open somehow Illinois coach Dan Hartleb decided to pitch to the Buckeyes’ most dangerous hitter, instead of Mason Eckelman, who was hitless.
“I was looking fastball,” Pettorini would say later. “And something away.”
Matt Graveline beats the tag attempt of Illini second baseman Coltin Quagliano in the fourth inning.
But instead Bates gave him the fastball on the inside half of the plate, and right in Pettorini’s wheelhouse. He drove it over the first baseman’s head, hooking toward the line in right field as it fell in for what would be a two-run double, driving in Giamarusti with the tying run, and Lipsey with the game winner.
“I saw it out of his hand (the pitch) right away,” said Pettorini. “And my only concern was not pulling off the ball. I’ve been doing that a lot, lately.”
A win from the jaws of defeat, as they say, his teammates surrounded Pettorini in short center field to celebrate his all-so-appreciated walk-off.
“This is a day, and a game, that I’m going to remember for a long, long time,” said a smiling Giamarusti of a winning finale and his role (two home runs) in pulling it off.
“It was the right way to finish,” added Pettorini, who rarely shows emotion, and doesn’t talk that much. “It’s good to go out with a win like that.”
Justin Haire was smiling, but the stress and frustration of the season was apparent as he talked about the game, the win, and its significance to a disappointing year.
“I’m happy for the seniors, to come out here today and win the way they did,” he said. “But it was a reflection of our season.”
And one could not mistake the focus in his voice, the look in his eyes, and his anticipation for the reset and rebuild to come for 2026 that will hopefully correct many of the deficiencies that cost them a final record of 13 wins and 37 losses.
He’s a proud man, and a competitive soul, having won 317 games in ten seasons at Campbell University, the living embodiment of the-little-engine-that-could metaphor.
He reached the NCAA regional tournament five times, won multiple Big South Conference titles, and his significant Campbell alumni include Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Cedric Mullins and Los Angeles Angels shortstop, Zach Neto.
And he’s committed, having moved his family, wife Lindsey and four small children, to Columbus last summer. His motivation for his family, his legacy, and the future of Buckeye baseball feels off the chart, beginning with post-season interviews with players beginning as soon as Sunday. It’s a challenge I’d expect him to meet with responsible swiftness.
Hunter Shaw entered in the sixth and pitch 4.1 innings of 1-run, three-hit baseball for the win.
Asked if he was eager to get started, he chose his words carefully.
“Obviously we have to recruit, do as much as we can, to ensure that we’re not standing here a year from today feeling like we do now,” he said Sunday. “I’m ready to get started.”
So there will be changes, and when you’re 13-37 everything is on the table.
“You can’t win if you can’t pitch,” he said Saturday, after another embarrassing 17-run performance donated to Illinois. “And that’s a recruiting priority.”
He showed painful patience at times in 2025, observing the roster and the talent as he gave repeated opportunities to those seeking to prove they can perform at this level. The numbers, despite the injuries, speak for themselves.
A team that led the conference in walks, hit batsmen, blown leads and walk-off losses, it’s hard to imagine how he got through it without being ejected at least once, what former Atlanta manager Bobby Cox once described this way: “I just gave the league a check for $10,000 (in fines) at the beginning of the season and wrote it off as frustration relief. I told them to let me know when the money runs out.”
“We have to recruit. You can’t win if you can’t pitch.” – Justin Haire
You’ll never see that from Haire, who would probably tell you he has better ways to spend his money and better use of his time. And ejections and outbursts of temper are frowned upon in modern college baseball culture, in deference to shows of sportsmanship and character. However, I’m convinced that both are over-rated when you’re 13-37. It feels a helluva’ lot better to win, than shake hands.
And in conclusion to a disappointing year, I’m also convinced that Justin Haire has a plan. You have to have a plan in order to win 317 games at Campbell, or anywhere else.
I’m asked frequently if he’s the right man for the job, and he feels right, in my opinion. But it’s going to take some time.
Does he have a proverbial card up his sleeve? I’m rooting that he does.
Lord knows…he needs a few aces.
End of season notes….
To Justin Haire’s comment about how the seniors went out on a winning note…Tre Lipsey concluded as a Buckeye with a 2 for 4 day…Tyler Pettorini went 2 for 5, and a game-winner…Ryan Miller finished going 3 for 4…and Nick Giamarusti went 2 for 4 (two home runs), and that stolen base in the tenth inning.
….
It’s obvious that conference coaches have little respect or faith in its umpires given the number of video review requests throughout the year and on Saturday. In fact, across college baseball officiating has become one constant huddle and a tiresome treck to the monitor behind home plate to validate a call, or reverse it…because players and coaches don’t believe they got it right.
Saturday they missed a fair ball call on a line drive to right by Mason Eckleman, and were asked to review three plays on the base paths that were nothing more than close calls. So why bother with umpires, at all? Donald Trump makes better decisions.
They’re paid $1,200 a game for their inefficiency in managing the pace of the game, and in some cases not mobile enough to get in good position for trapped-ball calls in the outfield. And they refuse to call borderline pitches for strikes because they’re afraid it will cost them a post-season assignment.
And no one has yet seen the interference call at second base in last year’s Big Ten Tournament that knocked Iowa out of the tournament.
There are some big egos in officiating, and there always have been. But the game, at this level, deserves better…much, much better for $1,200 a game!
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