Ryan Butler gave them a chance to win…in his longest outing of the season (5 innings), Butler allowed 2 runs on 2 hits. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The Buckeyes began conference play in an all-too-familiar fashion…scrappy offense and unreliable bullpen…in cruel double-header loss to Indiana.
Bloomington, IN – It will go down as one of the longest days in Justin Haire’s coaching career…and one of the lowest.
Ohio State (5-11) was run-ruled in the first game of a Friday double-header with Indiana to begin conference play, 12-2, then squandered a 7-3 lead after seven innings in the nightcap as the bullpen collapsed over the final three innings to lose, 8-7.
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Indiana, who had struggled, themselves, over the first month of the season, improved to 10-9 on the season, 3-2 in conference play, and found the Buckeyes to be just the prescription they needed to get healthy…at least for one weekend.
They played two because of concerns of bad weather on Saturday, and coming off a three-game win streak the Buckeyes appeared to use that confidence to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the first game, thanks to a two-run homer to left field by Nick Giamarusti.
But Indiana came back to score in the bottom of the second off starter Chase Herrell, than added four more in the third on three hits and freshman Jake Hanley’s (Mason High School) first of two home runs in the game.
It would turn out to be the least of Harrell’s first starts this season, as he started the fourth by serving up another home run to IU’s Andrew Wiggins, and suddenly the 2-0 start had become a 7-2 deficit. Harrell’s issue was not control or bases on balls, but rather, mistakes in the strike zone…pitches up in the zone, left vulnerable. And Hanley took advantage for a second time with his second two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth, signaling the end of Harrell’s day. He would leave trailing 9-2, giving up 9 earned on 10 hits in 4.2 innings.
Nick Giamarusti lifted OSU early in the opening game with his two-run homer in the second inning.
Gavin Kuzniewski would pitch the next 2.1 innings, giving up a run on 2 hits; and Zak Sigman pitched the final two outs of the game in eighth that ended abruptly on a home run by IU’s Korbyn Dickerson. At 12-2 the run-rule kicked in handing the Hoosiers the win and the Buckeyes a reprieve from playing the ninth.
IU won it with 12 runs on 14 hits and no errors….Ohio State had the 2 runs in the second ininng, on 6 hits and committed 1 error.
After an hour between games, OSU began the nightcap with a bang in the second inning. Following a walk to Lee Ellis, Tyler Pettorini hammered his sixth home run of the season to left to give them another 2-0 lead.
Indiana answered with a run off starter Ryan Butler in the first, but Ohio State came back in the stop of the second to score two more on four consecutive hits off IU starter Ben Grable.
Trailing 4-1, the Hoosiers came back in the bottom of the second to score another run off Butler, making his third appearance and his second start after missing a month with mononucleosis. But those two runs would be all they would score off Butler, who seemed to find a second win after the first two innings and settled into an effective, reliable pattern for the next three.
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He would pitch scoreless baseball on 4 hits and a single walk in the third, fourth, and fifth, and left the game after five innings, leading 6-2…the Buckeyes having scored single runs in the fourth and the fifth.
“Ryan gave us a great start,” Justin Haire would acknowledge afterwards. “Our guys bounced back after the first game, and we challenged them [to do so]. We just weren’t able to close it out, unfortunately.”
Trey Lipsey made this diamond gem in the second game with a diving catch in right field.
Butler was relieved by Nik Copenhaver, who had been so reliable over the past three weeks. But on this day Copenhaver could not throw strikes. He lasted a third of an inning, long enough to load the bases, and gave the ball to Luke Carrell who pitched him out of trouble, retiring the final two outs, allowing just one Indiana run. Ohio State led, 7-3.
The Buckeyes replenished that lost run with Matt Graveline’s third home run in the seventh, and Carrell came back out in the bottom of the seventh, pitched well, and retired the side on a hit and a unassisted double play by Lee Ellis.
But the Buckeyes bats suddenly fell silent in the eighth. And tempting fate, perhaps, Carrell came back to pitch the bottom of the inning. It went badly, and quickly.
He hit the leadoff man in the back, then gave up a two-run home run to IU’s Cooper Malamazian…7-5. Still out there, he then gave up a double and a triple, cutting the lead to 7-6 before pitching coach Tyler Robinson could make the pitching change with Hunter Shaw. Shaw would retire the side, but allowed the tying run to score on a ground ball to second base. The game went to the ninth tied 7-7.
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“Nik Copenhaver had been nails for us all year,” added Haire. “Unfortunately today wasn’t his day. Luke Carrell came in and did a good job, but in retrospect I probably should have gotten Luke out earlier and gone to Hunter. But Luke was rolling….”, he paused, looking for the words. “It’s just unfortunate.”
Neither team would score in the ninth, forcing extra innings, and the Buckeyes hit some balls hard, including a 399 foot fly by by Matt Graveline in the top of the ninth, but it was a foot short of going out.
Lee Ellis is blocked from the catching the ball by Iindiana’s Devin Taylor on a pickoff attempt at second in game one.
In the Buckeyes’ tenth Will Carpenter reached base on a dropped third strike on which he beat the throw to first base. But he went no farther.
And as you might have guessed… in the bottom of the inning the Hoosiers immediately went to work on Hunter Shaw.
Malamazian led off with a line double to left. Then second baseman Denny Hogan hit a ball out of the ball park to left, but hugging the foul line, it was called foul…close enough for video review. But after affirming the foul call Hogan hit the next pitch into right field for a single, scoring Malamazian, and that ended it, 8-7.
Indiana won with 8 runs on 9 hits.
The Buckeyes lost with 7 runs on 11 hits.
Wasn’t his day…OSU’s Chase Herrell waits for a replacement baseball after IU’s Jake Hanley (background) scores on his second two-run homer off Herrell.
Hunter Shaw, who pitched well enough, absorbed his third loss of the year. Cumulatively, the bullpen (Copenhaver, Carrell and Hunter) allowed 6 runs on 7 hits over the final five innings!
“It was unfortunate for Ryan (Butler) because he gave us all he had,” said Haire. “80 pitches was as high as he’s been, and we’ve missed him. He’s been great and we’re looking forward to having him back.”
Butler smiled on the way to the bus and acknowledged that he was gassed by the time he left the game.
“But it was good to be out there and compete again,” he said. Unfortunately, it was just for the sake of conditioning.
“We’re just not finding ways to punch through,” added Haire, the frustration evident, and a tinge of ‘what can you do?’ in his voice. He can coach, but he can’t play.
“It’s certainly frustrating,” he admitted. “And Indiana’s a good team. But we’re looking forward to Ryan continuing to build…and we hope he can continue to give us good starts.”
The irony is…
They needed a better finish!
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Game Notes…
Lipsey (2 for 5), Pettorini (3 for 5), and Mason Eckelman (2 for 5) all had multi-hit games in the nightcap.
Nick Giamarusti went 2 for 3 in game one.
Matt Graveline celebrates his seventh inning home run in game two…that replenished the Buckeyes’ four-run lead.
They have Saturday off because of the forecast of rain, and the two teams will conclude the series with a 1 pm game on Sunday.
The umpires in the Big Ten routinely check pitchers as they leave the mound between innings for, apparently, some sticky substance that might give them an advantage. Another irony in this 2025 season so far.
In reality, the pitchers should be checking the umpires for a strike zone, because for the sake of strict adherence to the TrackMan software that grades umpires on their accuracy in calling balls and strikes, they’re terrified to call borderline pitches strikes for fear of being graded down and being excluded for assignment in the post-season tournaments.
More irony, TrackMan is akin to the technology used in the major leagues for baseball’s highest level of performance and professionalism…and they’re asking the same from 18 year-olds fresh out of high school.
It’s a lot to ask from umpires who sell hardware and insurance during the week, then make more for umpiring a three-game weekend series than the average laborer makes in a month.
It makes the game hard for all but a select few to play…and even harder for people to watch. And what an advantage for everyone if they would forget about finding something sticky, and just call strikes.
Little wonder that college baseball can’t pay for itself.
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