JC transfer Dane Harvey has hit .313 with 13 homers and 47 RBIs for the 21-21 Buckeyes. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After losing a telling three-game series at Rutgers, the Buckeyes come home for alumni weekend to face second-place Nebraska and firm up both their place in the Big Ten standings, and their confidence.
Columbus, OH – It’s Alumni Weekend at Bill Davis Stadium this week, an annual time of fellowship and gathering to gauge the state of the union of the Ohio State baseball team.
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Currently 21-21, with twelve games remaining on their schedule, it’s what recently departed coach Bill Mosiello told me in 2023, the first of his two seasons as coach.
“Everyone’s had their chance to play,” said Mosiello. “Now we’ve got twelve games to determine to what extent where we go from here to next year.”
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And actually, those were kinder words than Mosiello used, a man known for his honesty when discussing his deficiencies.
There can be little question that the current record is an improvement over 2025 (13-37), the same as there can be little question over significant upgrades in the roster. Henry Kaczmar…Dane Harvey…Noah Furcht…Alex Bemis…Mason Eckelman…Lee Ellis and Maddix Simpson. This is a team that’s hit well enough, as written in February, to win 30 games.
And on the other side of the stats, the pitching has improved. There is a predictable weekend rotation now of Gavin Kuzniewski, Chris Domke, and Pierce Herrenbruck, with a combined earned run average of about 5 1/2 runs per game. And a bullpen that’s had its days, and on others, days better to be forgotten.
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But 90% of baseball is half pitching, as hall of fame Yankees’ manager Casey Stengel once said, and while it’s improved, it hasn’t been good enough to guarantee the Buckeyes a spot amongst the twelve-team field that will make up the Big Ten Tournament to be decided over the next twelve games. Currently in eighth place in the conference standings, the Buckeyes need wins to secure both a spot in the tournament, and for confidence – what smarter people call psyche.
Justin Haire has continually taken the high side of things.
“I’m proud of our guys because they just keep showing up every day and punching the time clock.” said Haire after a recent win over Maryland, a perennial winner in the Big Ten that’s mired in last place in 2026, largely due to lack of pitching.
“I circle back to this a lot,” adds Haire. “It begins with the people you have in the room. They have to buy into what we’re asking them to do as a program, and just being tough and being in the fight. They never quit, they work hard every day, they love the process and they love it when it’s hard, when it’s messy, and when it sucks. And we’ve had it all.”
Truer words were never spoken, which brings focus to this weekend, as well as their remaining two Big Ten series in May with Michigan State (below them in the standings), and Michigan (above them in the standings).
It happens in baseball, where the parts simply break down, and at the most unexpected times. Nothing’s guaranteed.
For sure, the New York Mets certainly expected more from Juan Soto a month into the season than one home run and missing fifteen games due to a leg injury.
Transfer Pierce Herrenbruck has led the Buckeye with a 4-3 record and an ERA of 4.72 in 55.1 innings of work.
And no one expected the Reds to be as good as they’ve been. However, like the Buckeyes, the Reds have feasted off teams that will not be a factor come tournament time (playoffs). They haven’t beaten the Dodgers, the Padres, or the Brewers yet.
And the Buckeyes will get a pretty good idea this weekend when they play the surprising Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team that has completely flipped its script in 2026. A team that finished eighth in the Big Ten standings in 2025, then actually won the Big Ten Tournamment as a lower seed. Nebraska is currently in second place in the conference standings (33-11), behind nation’s #1 UCLA, and own a conference record of 17-4.
“I’m proud of this team’s fortitude after being written off and told they were terrible last year – proud of the players for choosing a winning mentality over making excuses,” said Nebraska coach Will Bolt earlier in the year. “Pitching is always the backbone of your roster, but we’ve added more left-handed bats from the junior college ranks and we’ve had the potential to score more runs.”
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Which in capsule, is a bit of what Ohio State has done in 2026. Dane Harvey, Henry Kaczmar, Noah Furcht, and Alex Bemis has provided more dependable offense.
What remains to be seen this weekend, how will the pitching – the backbone of the roster – handle the powerful bats of Nebraska, currently hitting .317 with 145 extra base hits and a .487 slug percentage.
The Buckeyes are hitting .269 with 154 extra base hits and a slug % of .469.
Nebraska’s pitching has compiled a cumulative earned run average of 4.52, compared to the Buckeyes 6.10.
Does good pitching beat good hitting, and vice-versa, what Casey Stengel also said in one of his less-lucid moments with the New York Mets?
And is what the Buckeye alumni’s about to see just a checkpoint on the way to what Nebraska has done from last year ’til now?
“We just have to play a full nine innings,” Haire consistently contends. “Doesn’t matter how, or who it’s against. You learn from what happened yesterday and you course correct. That’s the game. It’s not the opponent.”
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