The Ducks played long ball…belting back-to-back home runs off starter Drew Erdmann (above) in a three-run fourth. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The pitching was better, but the offense was stuffed by a dominating lefthander. The Buckeyes drop their seventh straight in the series opener to Oregon.
Columbus, OH – It was a step in the right direction.
Ohio State starter Drew Erdmann gave them four competitive innings, by far his best outing of the 2025 season.
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Reliever Sahil Patel came on in the fifth and pitched three scoreless before running out of gas in the eighth, by far his best showing of the year.
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But in a season of harsh realities, another came back to haunt in Friday night’s 7-0 loss to Oregon in the series opening game at Bill Davis Stadium. There’s more than one way to lose, or win, a baseball game.
The pitching was better. They didn’t walk ten, they struck out ten.
But Buckeyes didn’t hit, couldn’t score against Oregon lefthander Grayson Grinsell, who entered the game as one of the Big Ten’s most successful and efficient Friday starters.
No, the issue Friday was to be found between chapters four and five of the Spalding manual on how to play the game. It’s right there if you look for it. YOU HAVE TO EXECUTE…whether on the pitcher’s mound or in the batter’s box.
After giving up a run in the top of the first to Oregon, the Buckeyes came to the plate in the bottom of the inning and put the first two on with a pair of hit batsmen, Ryan Miller and Trey Lipsey.
But with men on first and second and no outs, Lee Ellis followed with a failed sac bunt attempt that went straight up in the air. Oregon catcher Chase Meggers snagged it for an out, then rifled a throw on one hop to second base to double off Miller. In the blink of an eye the Buckeyes had non-executed themselves out of a potential scoring inning, despite a following double by Tyler Pettorini. And in baseball you never know… just how big an inning it could have been.
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“We’ve got to execute,” said Justin Haire, afterwards, obviously distraught over a different kind of mistake costing them a chance to score…to put pressure on an opponent.
“We have good athletes and good players, and we had some opportunities tonight to score some guys. It’s the value of one run and getting something on the board. That’s huge. And we didn’t come through.”
OSU starter Drew Erdmann was a different Drew Erdmann on this night, throwing strikes, pitching ahead, and forcing the best offensive team in the Big Ten to chase and hit defensively when they were behind in the count.
Sahil Patel had his best outing…pitched a scoreless fifth, sixth, and seventh.
Walks had haunted Erdmann in his two previous starts and his 13 innings of work. But in the fourth he suffered a different kind of mistake. With two outs he missed on a couple of close pitches to Oregon’s Anson Aroz, pitches that would have been strike three. Plate umpire Daniel Jimenez, who’s never seen a borderline pitch yet he wanted to call a strike, thought differently in the name of umpires’ big brother…’Trackman’. Forced to throw a fastball on a 3-2 pitch, Erdmann left a ball in he middle of the plate and Aroz hit it out of sight.
Shaken by one home run, he promptly gave up another one to the next hitter, Maddox Moloney, who again benefited from a close pitch that would have gotten Erdmann out of the inning. Moloney hit one out to left, making the score 3-0. And before Erdmann could get the third out Oregon scored a fourth on back to back base hits….4-0.
Reliever Sahil Patel came on in the fifth to throw three scoreless, allowing 4 hits and striking out 5. But Patel ran aground in the eighth when he grooved one for the Ducks’ Dominic Hellman and he lost it in the Nicklaus Museum parking lot…5-0.
Grinsell was dealing, shutting out the Buckeyes through seven inning on just three hits, 5 strikeouts and a walk. And when Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski went to his bullpen in the eighth, he brought in fire and lightning. Reliever Jason Reitz came out firing 97 miles per hour and retired the Buckeyes quietly…except for one of those lightning bolts turned around by Tyler Pettorini for a single, his second hit of the game.
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Reliever Charlie Giese came on to relieve Patel in the eighth, was clean in retiring the side, but no such luck in the top of the ninth. After an error on a ground ball to first base, he grooved another fastball to Oregon’s Mason Neville who hit it over the scoreboard in right-center to score the final two runs of the game…7-0.
Oregon’s Kellen Knox came out to retire the final three outs in the ninth, sending the Buckeyes to their seventh straight Big Ten loss, and their 16th on the season.
Oregon won it with 7 runs on 12 hits.
The Buckeyes, and Drew Erdman (0-2) lost it with no runs on 4 hits.
Oregon starter Grayson Grinsell was electric, shutting out Ohio State for seven innings on 4 hits.
This is unfamiliar ground for Justin Haire, who credited the uptake in pitching post-game, but acknowledged that you have to play the entire game of baseball…both sides of the ball.
“That team is good,” he acknowledged of Oregon. “They’ve been a game away from Omaha, they’re #10 in the country, and they are as good as advertised. They have it all. They play hard, and they play smart. They’re well coached and they execute when it’s time to execute. And that’s the model for where we need to get to.
“And I commend our pitchers. They competed their butts off and that’s what we keep impressing on all our guys. We want to love the arena of competition. Don’t get caught up in the fear of losing, just love the competition because that’s where freedom comes from. That’s where you get a chance to play your best game. Our pitchers competed. Yeah, there were a couple of mistakes and Oregon did what good teams do. You change a couple of innings in the game and you never know how things turn out.”
The losing streak goes on, along with the stress on staff and roster alike to find a different way, something different, and something better.
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“Yeah, obviously what we’re doing is not working the way we want it, and we’re continuing to look for ways to improve. And that’s our job, whether we’re 6-16 or 16-6. That’s what we get paid for, it’s a long season, and tomorrow’s another opportunity. Another chance to take a step forward and find a way to break through.”
There weren’t many highlights. They only had four hits. And one of the lineup’s best, Matt Graveline, has been bitten by the strikeout bug in his last fifteen at bats.
But Tyler Pettorini continues to hit, his first inning double and an eighth inning single, raising his team-leading average to .344.
Like a lot of players at this level, Pettorini has not known many seven game losing streaks, or the frustration of searching each day for something different that works.
“We just have to find any way we can to stay positive,” he said before leaving the ballpark Friday. “You just have to keep working at it, everyday.
“We’re trying a lot of different things, and I feel like everything will come together at once. One day the pitching is good, the next day the hitting is good. We have to put that together. The pitching was good today so we’re making some strides.”
They conclude the brief series on Saturday with a doubleheader, avoiding the forecast of rain on Sunday.
“It’ll be the same story as we had at Indiana,” said Pettorini of eighteen innings of baseball. “It’s a lot of baseball, but we’ll work hard, stay locked in, and hope to come out with two good ones.”
With 34 games remaining in the season…they have no choice.
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