Graveline steals home…as part of a double steal in the third inning to give the Buckeyes an early 4-0 lead. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie Wright and Sonny Fulks)
Great pitching, timely hitting, and error-free defense helped the Buckeyes to an impressive Friday night game one win over Iowa.
Columbus, OH – It hasn’t happened often in Bill Mosiello’s brief tenure as coach of the Buckeyes.
But following Friday’s 8-5 win over Iowa in game one of this important weekend series he was already wearing a smile when he greeted the largest media gathering of the year, post-game.
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The question: Was tonight the script for the next six weeks of Big Ten baseball – pitching, hitting, defense and bullpen?
“It was a good game,” he began. “We were super aggressive, we did a good job of competing…we still have a few of those walks and hit batters, and that’s where teams are getting all their runs…but we’ve got to keep working to understand what winning baseball is.”
In capsule, this is what he meant.
It’s a good starting effort by lefthander Landon Beidelschies…5.2 innings of 4-run, 4-hit ball against one of the Big Ten’s most potent batting orders.
It was consistent, and timely hitting that produced 8 runs on 12 timely hits, including a 2-run home run in the second inning by Nick Giamarusti that gave Beidelschies and the Buckeyes the early cushion that every pitcher covets.
Henry Kaczmar reaches for the bag on his third inning triple that helped the Buckeyes tack on to a 2-0 lead.
It was tight, clean defense, including a brilliant sliding catch by Trey Lipsey in the fifth; and a equally brilliant play and throw by Mitchell Okuley in the seventh to knock off an Iowa runner trying to stretch a single off the wall in right…into a double!
And, it was the best Blaine Wynk out of the bullpen we’ve seen yet, a 3.1 inning performance that saw him confidently pick up Beidelschies after two were out in the sixth. Wynk came on to allow 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 4, to nail down the win and a save, his first of the season – his first as a Buckeye.
“Obviously, we’ll take days like today all the time,” added Mo, pleased that his team had played so well according to the script he teaches. Clean baseball wins games.
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“We needed the pitching we got tonight, but we’re going to need everything going forward,” said Mosiello. “We’re not one of those clubs that gets by on a couple of great players. It has to be a team effort because our parts are better than the sum. We’ve just got to focus on all facets…we ran the bases good today and we’ve got to keep bringing the fight to them, instead of them bringing the fight to us.”
Trey Lipsey’s sliding catch in left was a defensive highlight for the Buckeyes.
Giamarusti’s homer in the second followed a Joe Mershon single and gave the Buckeyes an early lead that they built upon throughout. But more, it was the beginning of Mershon’s best game as Buckeye, 4 for 5 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of RBIs. His best game as a collegiate?
“Definitely my best game as a Buckeye,” he smiled. “But I had some pretty good ones in Charleston (College of Charleston).
They added 2 more in the third on a Kaczmar triple to right, a Matt Graveline double, another Mershon single, and then a double steal that saw Mershon take second base while Graveline stole home…Bucks led 4-0.
Iowa would get on the board with a run in the top of the fourth, then two more in the fifth as Beidelschies walked the leadoff hitter and then hit the next batter to put runners on first and second. They eventually scored, but OSU still lead, 4-3.
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The Buckeyes got two of those runs back in the fifth on a Graveline walk, Pettorini got hit with a pitch, a fielder’s choice, a Mitch Okuley single, another hit batter (Giamarusti), and a wild pitch. No thunder and lightning, but they took advantage of an Iowa deficiency of late…walks and wild pitches from a pitching staff learning some of the same tough lessons that have plagued Ohio State through their 14 losses. Buckeyes led, 6-3.
Both Iowa and Ohio State added runs in the sixth, and the Buckeyes tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with more timely hitting…a Kaczmar leadoff single and a Mershon RBI double, his fourth hit of the night. Iowa then scratched their only run off Wynk in the top of the ninth to conclude the scoring, 8-5.
The best Blaine Wynk yet…a 3.1 inning performance, and 1 run on four hits.
The Buckeyes (16-14, 4-3 in conference) won it with 8 runs on 12 hits and had no errors, while stranding 10 men on base. Beidelchies took the win to go 4-5 on the season. Wynk, of course, earned a 3-plus inning save.
Iowa (17-16, 5-5 in conference) lost it with 5 runs on 7 hits and committed 2 errors. The Hawkeyes left 7 on base.
As good as Joe Mershon’s night was…as good as Matt Graveline going 2 for 4…Kaczmar going 2 for 5…Giamarusti 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs…perhaps the most relieving sight of the game was the relief effort of Blaine Wynk, his second against front line Big Ten competition in the span of a week.
“I really didn’t expect to go that long.” said Wynk afterwards. “I thought I’d be out there for an inning, maybe two before Eckhardt came on in the ninth.
“But they told me that I was going back out for the ninth and I said…alright.”
Pitching as a starter last year at the University of Findlay, he now pitches almost exclusively out of the bullpen, and it’s a different role that he seems to relish.
Joe Mershon collects one of his four hits in the Buckeyes’ opening win over Iowa.
“You throw a lot more pitches as a starter, where in the bullpen you don’t have to pace yourself. I can rely on my fastball until I develop other pitches. And tonight was a confidence boost for me that I can use the fastball like that to get guys out.”
And that fastball hunts, his best on the Nebraska scoreboard radar last week registering at 97 miles per hour.
“I like starting, but long relief is fine, three or four innings at a time,” he adds. “Better than an inning today and an inning tomorrow. I like it better.”
What Mosiello likes…is the reliability, and the efficiency of having the rest of his bullpen ready for Saturday and Sunday.
“Yeah, once he passes a threshold of about 30 pitches he’s not going to be able to pitch the rest of the weekend,” said Mo. “So we let him finish it out tonight without having to use other bullpen arms. Now we have everyone ready.”
They hope to get an equally good effort on Saturday from Gavin Bruni, who of late has struggled to pitch deeper into games.
“I’d love for Bruni to come out tomorrow and give us seven great ones,” added Mosiello. “Because as you’ve seen, we’ve been needing everybody.”
That’s been the script, but Friday represented a change of script more to Mo’s liking. Just clean baseball…enough pitching…and that same timely hitting.
We’ll see soon enough.
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