Henry Kaczmar celebrates his third inning double…After thunder and lightning in Morgantown, it proved to be one of the few offensive highlights of the weekend. (Press Pros Photos by Julie McMaken Wright)
Another day, and another offensive frustration. Good pitching goes for naught at the Buckeyes lose in extra innings – swept by Georgetown.
You’ve heard it for years. If you let a team hang around long enough…eventually they’re going to find a way to beat you.
In a nutshell that’s what happened to the Ohio State Buckeyes Sunday, on the wrong end of a 4-2 extra inning decision that saw the Georgetown Hoyas – yes, those Georgetown Hoyas – sweep the Buckeyes like they were Seton Hall.
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For a second day in a row the Buckeyes’ offense managed just six hits, and just 16 for the weekend – that brief era of good feeling from West Virginia suddenly as far from the present as east is from west. And like yesterday, when Bill Mosiello said “we’re not doing winning things at winning times”, they did less of it on Sunday.
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Granted there weren’t that many opportunities against Georgetown lefthander Everett Catlett, a 6’7″ lefthander clocked at 96 miles per hour. No less than 15 major league scouts and agents were on hand to catch his act.
But Gavin Bruni, for four innings, matched him pitch for pitch, striking out five during that time, and showing command of three pitches.
And, the Buckeyes were first to score. In the bottom of the third Josh Stevenson and Mason Eckelman led off the inning with back to back singles, and Stevenson subsequently scored on a shortstop-to-first double play. Henry Kaczmar followed with a double inside third base, thereby starting a new hitting streak, and he then scored on an infield base hit by Matt Graveline….2-0 Buckeyes.
In the fourth they had a chance to add on when Mitch Okuley walked and went to third base on back to back wild pitches. Joe Mershon walked, attempt to steal second and was call out for over-sliding second base. Trey Lipsey then hit a sharp grounder to first base and on contact Okuley broke for the plate. The first baseman made a perfect throw to the plate to knock off Okuley on a play that was at first ruled safe on the field, but reversed by video review (see OSU home page) – the convenient umpire’s safety net . As it turned out, it was an important run lost.
For the second weekend in a row starter Gavin Bruni could not survive the fifth inning.
Still, Bruni was cruising as he entered the fifth and after a leadoff single retired the first two hitters without issue. But then…three consecutive walks, a run forced in, and after 89 pitches Sean Allen came out to make a pitching change. For the second weekend in a row he couldn’t survive the fifth.
Blaine Wynk entered, retired Hoya power man Christian Ficca on the second pitch, and the Buckeyes still had a 2-1 lead.
Wynk pitched a scoreless sixth and the 2-1 lead remained into the seventh when Josh Stevenson hit a two-out double to left center that was lost in the sun. But Mason Eckelman, following, scalded a line drive right at the center fielder for the final out…as hard a hit ball as there was all day, and they came up empty.
Zach Brown came on in the seventh. He was steady, commanding the strike zone while giving up a pair of hits, and retired the final out in the eighth with men in scoring position. The Buckeyes still led, 2-1.
Justin Eckhardt, so dependable of late out of the bullpen, came on to close things down in the ninth. He struck out the leadoff hitter. Then gave up a hard-hit double to left center to shortstop Michael Eze…and balked Eze to third when he threw to second and appeared to stumble in the process. With Eze ninety feet from tying the game, right fielder Jack Hyde, who tortured the Buckeyes all weekend, singled to center to tie it at 2-2.
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In the bottom of the ninth the Buckeyes had their chance to win it…with a leadoff walk to Okuley followed by a sacrifice bunt by Joe Mershon. Trey Lipsey was intentionally walked. With runners at first and second Josh Stevenson struck out on a bad breaking ball in the dirt. And Eckelman, again, grounded out for the final out of the inning.
In the tenth Eckhardt was not so lucky. After retiring the first two outs on a routine fly ball and a ground out to second, Georgetown’s Marco Castillo lined a single to center. Pinch hitter Andrew Bergeron flaired a double to the corner in left field, scoring Castillo. Then another pinch hitter, Blake Schaaf hit another double to extend the lead to 4-2.
Bright spot…Freshman Zach Brown was good out of the bullpen, pitching a scoreless seventh and eighth.
The air out of the balloon, Ohio State went quietly in the 10th, despite a pair of runners aboard with two out. Reliever Kai Leckszas, relieved Andrew Citron to retire the final out…a line drive by Okuley that was caught, head-high, in center field.
Final lines: Georgetown won it with 4 runs on 9 hits and had one error.
The Buckeyes lost it with 2 runs on 6 hits and one error…but more importantly, left nine men on base, totaling 22 for the final two games of the series. Their record drops below .500 at 10-11.
“You could write a book on all the little things that we’re not doing that help you lose ballgames,” said Bill Mosiello in his post-game press conference.
“Bruni gets two strikeouts in a row in the fifth, then out of the blue he walks three in a row to give them their first run. The way we’re swinging the bat is so poor you can’t do that. We steal a base and get called out for sliding past the bag. Everything you can possibly do, we’re doing. We got our butts kicked. We got outplayed, out-coached and out-competed. The whole weekend was about hitting with runners in a scoring position.
“Your record shows who you are. But as bad as is it doesn’t dictate next weekend.” – Bill Mosiello
“Your record shows who you are, and this is where we’re at. Our pitchers have to be perfect because we’re not scoring any runs. We’re just giving teams chances over and over with walks (8 on Sunday). Today was our eighth balk of the season, so we do lead the country in something. We can hang our hat on that.”
Galling, for the fact that these 21 non-conference games were to set the competitive table for next weekend’s Big Ten opener with Purdue.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if we’d won three in a row,” he answered. “You’ve got to play good baseball from day one. There’s no such thing as momentum in baseball because momentum is about how you come out and play. It’s your next starting pitcher. That’s where it starts. Every day is its own entity. It’s one day at a time. You just have to come prepared to play well.
“This gets hard to swallow,” he added. “But as bad as it was [this weekend], it doesn’t dictate next weekend. We’ve just got to go out and play. I didn’t expect this team to be that fragile, but all teams are fragile when you don’t play well. The bright side is I’d rather it be this weekend than next, a conference weekend.”
They get one chance to wash and rinse, providing the weather cooperates on Tuesday. Kent State is due into the Bill Davis for a single game at 5 pm.
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