Jake Michalak could not reprise his performance of a week ago, throwing 98 pitches in four innings…9 runs on 7 hits against Indiana. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
No pitching, no luck, and no weather to play baseball in characterized the Buckeyes’ Sunday finale loss to the Hoosiers. The good news? They didn’t have to play nine.
Bloomington, IN – If you believe in omens the first inning of Sunday’s series finale had overtones of doom.
Trey Lipsey, Lee Ellis, and Tyler Pettorini all took a called third strike in the top of the inning.
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In the bottom of the inning starter Jake Michalak couldn’t find home plate, walked a pair, third baseman Maddix Simpson had a throwing error on a routine ground ball that would have gotten Michalak out of the inning unscathed…then a two-out single by IU’s Denny Hogan scored all three runs. It was the start of a cold, disturbing, and discouraging day for Michalak and the Buckeyes, suffering their second run-rule loss of the weekend, 14-3.
On a miserable, rainy Sunday the Buckeyes’ starter would go on to give up 4 runs in the second before recording shutout innings in the third and the fourth.
And in a show of offensive support, Tyler Pettorini (single) and Matt Graveline would provide a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on Graveline’s fifth home run of the season, a massive 440 shot to left field and into that wind, to give the Buckeyes at least a chance of getting back into the fight.
An additional run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Graveline raised hopes, and perhaps some body heat in the dugout as they narrowed the deficit to 7-3.
But Michalak’s pitch count was already at 84 pitches as he went out to pitch the fifth. And when the first two Hoosier batters reached base on a hit batsman and an infield error by Lee Simpson, Justin Haire went to the bullpen to bring on reliever Zev Salsberg. Salsberg served up a three-run home run to IU’s Korbyn Dickerson and a succeeding walk before he was lifted. Sahil Patel was summoned as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding…and he promptly gave up a two-run shot to Hogan Denny. In all, Indiana would score seven runs in the inning, take a 14-3 lead, and what life that was left out of the Buckeyes.
Mammoth shot…Matt Graveline’s fifth home run traveled 440 feet, scored two runs, and gave the Buckeyes some life in the fourth inning.
The Buckeyes would go quietly the sixth and seventh innings, and Indiana would get the sweep with a run-rule 14-3 win, dropping the Buckeyes to 5-12 overall, and 0-3 with their first experience in conference play.
Indiana won it with 14 runs on 10 hits, and they committed no errors.
Ohio State lost it with 3 runs on 7 hits and ended committing four costly errors.
It was a discouraging end to a weekend that needed to bode better for the Buckeyes with forty games remaining on the schedule. 5-12, given the talent on this roster, both proven and assumed, was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind just three weeks ago, or even three days ago given their short-lived three-game win streak.
“We played terrible, we just didn’t play well,” a frustrated Justin Haire said bluntly before boarding the bus for what had to be a tomb-like trip back to Columbus.
“We didn’t play well in the games on Friday, and got off to the bad start today. We had a chance to get a zero in the first, and we didn’t….and yeah, we just didn’t play well.”
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Typically, mid-week non-con games are developmental opportunities for young talent, and tune-ups for veterans looking to find a better groove before conference play on the weekend. But Tuesday’s game with Miami now becomes a pivotal one for the sake of gaining positive mindset before next weekend’s three-game series in Iowa City, another challenging Big Ten place to turn rain into a rainbow.
“We have to play better, it’s that simple,” Haire concluded. “We have to work harder to be more prepared…to be more engaged. And right now we’re just not playing real well and it’s disappointing. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Bright spot…Alonzo Paul got his first collegiate hit with this double to right in the sixth inning.
There were no excuses; and there are no excuses, even in the cold. Cold, miserable weather is as big a part of Big Ten baseball as the quality competition that’s coming.
But somehow between now sometime soon they have to pitch, and a hoped-for return of Blaine Wynk to the weekend rotation can salve what has become a gaping wound.
Sunday’s loss by Michalak proved to be a setback from his gem last week against Valparaiso. In four-plus inning Sunday he threw 98 pitches, gave up 9 runs on 7 hits, walked 4 and hit a pair.
The bullpen work of Salsberg and Patel amounted to two innings of 5 runs (all earned) on 3 hits, and a cumulative ERA of 12.50.
Iowa, 10-8, won two of three against Michigan State this weekend, including a 10-0 run-rule finale in seven innings on Sunday.
And against a team that hits like the Hawkeyes, it’s a tough place to resuscitate. In Justin Haire’s own words….
The Buckeyes have a lot of work to do.
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