Big hits…Grant Mangrum’s tying home run in the fifth was the impetus for five Buckeye runs in the final four innings. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Pitching, defense, and timely hitting…and who’d a thunk it back in February? Gavin Kuzniewski wins his sixth, the defense was perfect, and the bats were timely and big in OSU’s 7-3 series win Friday over Michigan.
Ann Arbor, MI – At this point it’s becoming redundant to say. But the 2026 Justin Haire 2.0 version of Buckeyes baseball is frankly ahead of its time relative to logical baseball thinking.
Given the expectations….
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How can you pitch this well?
How can you play this kind of defense?
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
How can you have so many big bats emerge from a carload of off-season transfers, with such an uncanny sense of timing?
And, how can you handle success so quickly with the maturity of a team that plays like it’s been together for four years? Something that doesn’t happen in contemporary college baseball, anymore.
But it all emerged again on Friday afternoon for a 7-3 Ohio State win over a suddenly uninspired Michigan program that has the better cumulative numbers – hitting and pitching – but without the sense of timing.
The Buckeyes won it with runs on 10 hits and no errors.
Michigan lost for a second day in a row with 3 runs on just 5 hits, and no errors.
And in order of priority, credit sophomore starting pitcher Gavin Kuzniewski, who struggled over three innings Friday to find his comfort zone, giving up a pair of Michigan runs in the bottom of the second inning that negated an Ohio State 1-0 lead in the top of the inning.
“Not my best stuff to start,” said Gavin Kuzniewski. But.he lasted six innings, 98 pitches, and gave the Buckeyes a chance to win.
From there Kuzniewski found his consistency, his confidence, and rode through the Michigan batting order over the next three innings relatively unblemished…until the bottom of the sixth. Michigan third baseman Brayden Jeffris touched him for a solo home run in the wind to right field, to cut a 4-2 Ohio State lead to 4-3.
“What a thrill to come here and play like this,” said Kuzniewski, afterwards. “I didn’t come out with perfect stuff today, but once I settled in I pretty much coasted. I’d like to have that pitch back in the sixth…just didn’t get it in there where I wanted it, but we won. So its alright.”
Alright, indeed. Like so many of his other starts throughout the season, Kuzniewski kept things close and gave his team a chance to win.
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Trailing 2-1 to start the fifth, Ohio State quickly reverted to the now constant with Buckeye baseball…a one-out bomb by designated hitter Grant Mangrum, a rocket shot that cleared the 40-foot brick barrier in left field to tie the game at 2-2.
An inning later they took the lead for good, with a pair of singles by Henry Kaczmar and Noah Furcht, a Dane Harvey single to drive in Kaczmar, and a two-out walk to to Maddix Simpson that drove in Furcht…4-2, Buckeyes.
Defense to match…Maddix Simpson’s effort on a ground ball saved a run in the second inning.
Michigan’s home run in the bottom of the sixth cut the margin to 4-3, and while Kuzniewski survived the inning, he was done for the day having thrown 98 pitches, 63 of them for strikes.
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Enter reliever Lincoln McVickers, who of late has made his own bid for recognition and trust. The transfer from Centralia College easily swept through seventh, which seemed to prompt appreciation by the batting order in the top of the eighth.
Mason Eckelman worked a walk. Michigan reliever Gavin DeVooght, an ex-Buckeye, then hit both Lee Ellis and Mangrum to load the bases. Mile Vandenheuvel struck out, but that left an opportunity for Alex Bemis, who lined a single to left to score both Eckelman and Ellis. Furcht then lifted a 390 fly ball to center that scored Mangrum with the seventh run…7-3 Buckeyes.
A year ago you could have heard a pin drop over asking the Buckeyes’ bullpen to hold a four-run lead for two innings against Michigan with a series win at stake. But McVickers again came out in the eighth to retire the side.
And Justin Haire showed his faith one more time as McVickers came out for the ninth, and the final three outs.
But that wasn’t to be. After striking out catcher Noah Miller for the inning’s first out, he gave up a one-out hit. Then he struck out pinch-hitter Jack Lafitte, looking. Then he walked the next two hitters, and with the bases loaded and two outs reality kicked in for Haire and pitching coach Tyler Robinson. Robinson summoned veteran Luke Carrell, who enticed a ground ball to Henry Kaczmar at shortstop and he recorded the assist on the game’s final out.
Upon further review…Henry Kaczmar did get the tag on in time to knock off Michigan’s Drew Culbertson on a steal attempt. Originally called safe, it was overturned by review.
Big hits? None could have been bigger than Mangrum’s homer in the fifth…or Alex Bemis’s two-run single in the eighth.
“That at bat was unbelievable,” said Bemis, borrowing from the word of the day. “This series has meant so much to all of us, and I know it’s my first year in the program. But, I grew up a big Buckeye fan so this runs deep in me. To come out and do my job with my boys…well, it’s unbelievable.”
A win? Yes. But a win with an air of confidence, maturity, and expectation to win. This was no fluke, but a moment that literally oozed the experience of Henry Kaczmar, who has survived the full gamut of Ohio State baseball over the past four years.
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“It’s been awesome,” said Kaczmar. “A daily grind. We knew from day one that we had a special team. We’ve had a lot of close games, close calls, and tough games, but when we put it together in all three phases we’re a tough team to beat, for sure.”
The win improved their spot in the standings to 17-12, tied with Michigan for sixth place, and 28-23, overall. And, with a win Sunday they can change the order of things for next week’s Big Ten Tournament. And suddenly, the NCAA at-large prospects for Michigan are not as certain.
Lee Ellis scores an insurance run in the eighth, courtesy of Alex Bemis’ two-run single.
Justin Haire wasn’t concerned about any of that, only the here and now.
“Gavin gave us what we needed today,” said Haire. “I think that today made his 14th start, and in 13 of them he’s probably gotten us into the middle innings with a chance to win. He’s been tremendously consistent. He’s a bulldog. If he doesn’t feel good he figures things out and finds a way to compete. He’s a stud, man.”
So many good at bats up and down the lineup in the Friday win.
“Again, credit to these guys. It doesn’t feel like mid-May, it feels like mid-March. They want to work. They want to get better. They’re not tired of being at the ballpark, and it’s paid off over the course of time. They love being together and they excited to play. That’s not always true after fifty games. They want to do more and get better, and it’s a lot of fun to show up everyday and work with them.”
And of course, some irony. In February there were more questions than answers as to who might play, where. Suddenly, those same questions pertain not to who might play, but how much more can they do?
“Unbelievable,” said Alex Bemis, but in the positive context of doing more, and getting better. Justin Haire’s words.
And who’da thunk it? Misery in Michigan. The first Ohio State series win in Ann Arbor since 1999 – a quarter century.
A team not to be confused with UCLA, but one you might not want to play in the next week’s tournament.
Highly believable!
Reliever Lincoln McVicker delivered 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
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