This past weekend the Ohio State baseball team learned it’s sometimes best to just let the bats do the talking.
After numerous questionable calls, brushback pitches and hit-batters resulted in both player and coach warnings, the Buckeyes maintained their composure to reel off three wins in their weekend series with Iowa.
Senior third baseman Tony Kennedy lined six hits with seven RBIs against the Hawkeyes (11-8, 1-3 Big Ten). His performance was a reflection of the success OSU had this weekend at the plate.
“It was a big weekend, especially being the Big Ten opener,” Kennedy said. “We took it upon ourselves to come out here and help our pitchers out some since we got guys down with injuries. We try to score 10 runs every game and were able to do that a couple times this weekend.”
Junior lefty Cory Luebke led the Buckeyes to their first win Friday night, tossing five-plus innings en route to his fourth victory of the season. Ohio State won the contest 12-7 behind its tremendous hitting barrage, which was anchored by senior shortstop Jason Zoeller’s third home run of the season and true freshman second baseman Cory Kovanda’s 3-for-4 performance at the plate.
Saturday’s twin-bill suffered a bit of a setback with the passing thunderstorms, but after a two-and-a-half hour rain delay, the Buckeyes picked up right where they left off. Sophomore Josh Barrera continued to solidify the starting rotation with 4.2 innings of solid work as the team held steadfast at the plate. The young left-hander held the Hawkeyes to two earned runs before giving way to sophomore Jake Hale, who held Iowa scoreless the rest of the way for a 6-2 win.
But as the storms departed deeper into the night, so did Ohio State’s bats. The Buckeyes struggled to get anything going offensively against Iowa starter Nick Erdman in the night cap, who promptly took advantage of the off night to hand OSU its first shutout of the season in an 8-0 blanking.
It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to return to form in the series finale, as they pummeled the Hawkeyes 16-7. The win not only improved their record to 17-4 on the season, but it also gave them a 3-1 record in their Big Ten series opener.
Streaking no longerAfter beginning the season 1-3, the Buckeye’s strung together 13-straight wins heading into the series with Iowa. But despite taking the first pair of games to extend that number to 15 games, the streak came to a screeching halt Saturday night in the 8-0 loss. The last time Ohio State put together a streak that long was in 2001 when they reeled off 17-straight wins.
“I felt like that game was a classic case of whoever woke up first was going to win that game,” coach Bob Todd said. “It was tied 0-0 going into the fourth or fifth inning and I really just didn’t like our mental approach that second game. As it turned out, we lost the ball game.”
J.B. Shuck saw a streak come to an end this weekend, as his 17-game hit streak ended with an 0-for-4 performance Sunday afternoon. He had previously hit safely in every game played this season, omitting those in which he only pitched.
Also coming to an end was the teams stretch of nine-consecutive games with 10 or more hits. That streak ended in the first game of the double header Saturday when Ohio State shelled out nine hits in the victory.
Bats remain hotThrough the season’s first 18 non-conference games, the Buckeyes compiled the Big Ten’s top offensive lineup. This weekend, they showed the Hawkeyes just why.
In its three wins alone, Ohio State lashed out 41 hits for 34 runs.
Known primarily for their speed and small ball, the Buckeyes hammered four home runs, two of which came from Zoeller. Freshman outfielder Ryan Dew and senior outfielder Jacob Howell smashed the other two round-trippers.
“We feel like [Dew] is going to give us some much needed power,” Todd said. “If you look at our lineup, it’s worked around speed. We have to be able to execute the small ball in order to be successful, so if we can get a guy like that in the lineup to hit 3-run home runs, it’s definitely a plus.”
On deckUp next for the Buckeyes is Cleveland State Wednesday. The game is set to begin at 6:35 p.m. at Bill Davis Stadium.
Matt Gottfried can be reached at [email protected].
