Catcher Mason Eckelman crashed his second home run in as many weeks in the Buckeyes’ 12-5 win Friday evening against Memphis. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
In chilly Memphis, the Buckeyes’ bats suddenly turned icy as Louisiana Tech pitchers scattered four hits in shutting out the Bucks, 6-o.
If you’re Justin Haire there’s so much more you need to know about the 2026 Buckeyes apart from the magical beginning to the season last week in Florida and a sweep of the St. Louis Billikens.
You need to see as many pitching candidates as possible in this short three-week non-conference window before Big Ten play starts in March with UCLA.
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The day-to-day lineup is hardly a set thing, again with candidates who’ve yet to prove they belong, much less that they’re the day-to-day parts necessary to compete for a conference tournament bid.
And if there’s one word that describes the intent of this three-week overture, it’s most certainly ‘consistency’…and can the pitching, defense, and offense prove to be as reliable as it was in that short sample from Pensacola?
Friday a pair of Louisiana Tech pitchers, Declan Dahl and Riley Fisher showed that the 5-0 Bulldogs are a step ahead in the reliability race with a four-hit shutout of the Buckeyes, whose offense was limited to three singles (Mason Eckelman, Noah Furcht, and Jason Parr) and a double by Miles Vandenheuvel.
That said, the Buckeyes’ starting pitcher, Chris Domke, did show well through 4.1 innings, the Youngstown State transfer allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and 7 strikeouts before being lifted in the top of the fifth. His relief, righthander Zak Sigman, did not, struggling for the command he showed last weekend against St. Louis. Sigman (Grove City) allowed four runs on five hits over four innings before surrendering the ball to another transfer, Lincoln McVicker, from Centralia College, in Colorado.
Their best chance to score came in the opening inning when the Buckeyes loaded the bases with a pair of two-out singles by Eckelman and Furcht, and a walk to CJ Reid before Alex Bemis struck out to end the rally. The Buckeyes would not have another hit after Vandenheuvel’s second inning double, as Louisiana Tech pitching was nearly perfect from the third inning on…and retired the final thirteen Buckeye hitters to end the game.
The Bucks returned action later in the day Friday to pound out 13 hits in a 12-5 win over host Memphis. Tough as they found it against Louisiana Tech pitching, the bats awakened against Tiger pitching for 12 runs on 13 hits, including Mason Eckelman’s second home run of the season.
Gavin Kuzniewski got the starting assignment, pitched four innings of 4-run, 4-hit baseball, but lacked the command he showed in his first appearance and ultimately threw 84 pitches to complete those four innings.
Five other Buckeyes pitchers would come on in relief of Kuzniewski, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits. Jake Michalak pitched the fifth inning to earn his first win of the season.
The Buckeyes return to action on Saturday with a 5 pm rematch with Louisiana Tech.
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