Ohio State Baseball…Haire Looks For Another Silver Lining With The Conclusion Of Fall Practice

Justin Haire’s third fall practice as coach of the Buckeyes echoes his approach with last year’s…a lot of vacated positions to fill, a lot of new faces to fill them, and the risk that the portal giveth, and the portal taketh away.

Columbus, OH – Ohio State baseball coach Justin Haire talked comfortably last weekend at the conclusion of the two-game Scarlet and Gray series, capping six weeks of fall baseball workouts at Bill Davis Stadium.

And for those interested, and interested enough to read, the prevailing conversation with Haire concerned, of course, the Buckeyes taking the next steps following 2026’s 30-25 record, 18-12 mark in Big Ten play, and return to the Big Ten Conference Tournament as the sixth seed.  They were eliminated in three games, but gave a good account of themselves before being sent home in the double elimination format by Michigan, 3-0.

In the old days of pure developmental college baseball, before NIL and the transfer portal, fall baseball provided the answers for graduated seniors and those fortunate enough to sign with a major league organization as a professional.  You looked at incoming talent and projected where that talent might fit in a year, or two.  Or even farther down the road.  Again, the emphasis on college baseball at one time was on the developmental aspect.

That’s all changed, of course, as at least three significant contributors to last year’s turnaround from 13-37 in 2025 chose to pursue better opportunities elsewhere – second baseman Lee Ellis, third baseman Maddix Simpson, and centerfielder Miles Vondenhuevel.  In addition, shortstop Henry Kaczmar and catcher Mason Eckelman were drafted by the Seattle Mariners.  And right fielder Noah Furcht graduated and then signed a contract with the New Jersey Jackels of the independent Frontier League.

So if you’re still reading, and if you’re counting, that’s right…it leaves major questions about who replaces those positions – 7 at least – for the start of the 2027 in mid-February.  As much as 2026 represented starting over following the meltdown of ’25, 2027 has an even more poignant reminder of something different this way comes, come February.

“Fall is always a challenge,”  Haire said.  “You try to stretch the guys, tear ’em down and build them back up.  Point of emphasis…we want to build the engine the biggest that we can.  To be successful in the spring we have to take this four-month period and build the engine as big as we can.  We have to improve bodies, improve skills, and improve our competitive qualities.”

What he didn’t offer on his own was the elephant in the room…that the improvement from 13-37 to 30-25 and the sixth seed in the conference tournament was not enough for some of those who helped make it happen…no more so than third baseman Maddix Simpson (.283, 4 HRs, 31 RBIs) who took the portal opportunity to move to Vanderbilt for his junior season.

“We learned that we can be versatile from what we saw in fall baseball,”  Haire added.  “And we’ve got some guys who are injured that we expect to have back in time to contribute.  We expect to have some upgraded physicality and athleticism across the board.  And that will be important because guys get hurt, guys are going to under-perform, guys are going to over-perform, and you need that versatility.”

But to rephrase the elephant in the room question…does it feel more like starting over than he’d like, given the success of 2026?  Only first baseman Dane Harvey and outfielder Alex Bemis remain from the core that hit .262 with 78 home runs.  Harvey had 19 of them, along with a team-leading 57 runs batted in.

“Yeah, every year is going to be a different year,”  he concedes.  “And even when you have a bunch of returners you never have the same team twice.  You only get one ride with each team you have and you have to make the most of the ten months that you have with that team…to maximize every day we get with these guys.  To make the most impact in their lives and the most impact on our program.  Whether it’s 20 in and 2o out, or 2 in and 2 out, it doesn’t matter.  It’s not going to be the same group of guys for two years in a row like it used to be.”

That said, Haire is likely the rarest of rarities in the Big Ten next spring because he does return all of his weekend starting pitchers from 2026 – Gavin Kuzniewski (6-3, 4.66 ERA), Chris Domke (6-6. 5.55 ERA), and Pierce Herrenbruck (7-3, 3.72 ERA).  In addition, coaches and pro scouts give creds to Haire’s staff for their recruiting some of the state’s more desirable high school pitching prospects in this year’s class.

“Well, it doesn’t happen often, and I’m thankful they’re back, if for nothing else than their leadership qualities.”  says Haire.

But let’s be honest.  The trio of Kuzniewski, Herrenbruck and Domke eliminated one of the program worst deficiencies from 2025 last spring because they threw strikes, ate up innings, and gave a revamped bullpen a chance to have its own impact over the final three innings.  And the bullpen, for the most part, responded.

Harvey, himself, is happy to be back after playing over the summer for the Brewster White Caps in the Cape Cod League.

“I had a bit of a slow start, but things came around.  The first couple of weeks the pitchers were fresh and ready to go and it takes the hitters a little time to adjust to hitting with the wood bats.  But after that I did fine (5 home runs and 19 RBIs).

“I’m excited to be back and get started because a couple of our key pieces are going to be guys were hurt last year – Addison Binnie and Gavin West.  They know the culture, they worked their butts off all summer rehabbing, and they’re going to help us recreate the culture, along with Alex Bemis being Alex Bemis.”

Harvey wasn’t here for 2025, but he heard plenty, and appreciates the effort it took to affect the turnaround of 2026.

“Guys are excited that we did it,”  he says.  “And how we pushed each other to do it.  We have a very good balance of competition and team chemistry going on.  We expect to be fine.”

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and God forbid…nothing blue.  But get used to the contemporary culture of college baseball.  The old amounts to about 80% of the pitching staff, including the three starters.

The something new will again be the seven position players behind those pitchers, in addition to pitching recruits like Landon Thiel (Massillon Jackson), Mack Hieber (Patrick Henry), Logan Cole (Lakota East) and Nathan Bryant (Lake Center Christian)…all freshmen and ripe for the developmental challenge.

The borrowed part is perhaps the part that’s hardest to understand.  You don’t hear so much about players who come because they want to Buckeyes, anymore – to study engineering in Robinson Lab.   Like it or not, it’s a different culture.  You look for the silver lining.

In this case…Gavin Kuzniewski, Pierce Herrenbruck, and Chris Domke.  At least for now.