Ohio State sophomore right-hand pitcher Zak Sigman (47) pitches in his first collegiate game against West Virginia Tuesday. The Buckeyes fell to the Mountaineers 9-6. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
The Mountaineers came out on top in a battle of power conference foes.
Behind a four-run fourth inning, West Virginia defeated Ohio State, 9-6, Tuesday at Bill Davis Stadium.
The Mountaineers recorded 10 hits and batted 0.304 with runners on base. Ohio State, on the other hand, hit just 0.154 with runners on.
Head coach Justin Haire said the team’s energy level wasn’t where he wanted it to be.
“I felt like our energy level across the board just kind of ebbed and flowed throughout the game,” Haire said. “Which was disappointing after I felt all three games of the weekend we were in the fight, every single pitch and, you know, I felt we just ebbed and flowed.”
The Buckeyes got on the board in the first when shortstop Lee Ellis clobbered a solo home run.
The homer was Ellis’ first since the home opener against St. John’s March 4.
The Mountaineers answered in the second, scoring on a wild pitch. In the bottom half, Ohio State left fielder Matthew Graveline’s two-run home run gave the Buckeyes the lead right back.
West Virginia scored five runs over the next two innings to take a 6-2 lead.
Ohio State chipped away in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs on RBI groundouts to cut the lead in half, but left the bases loaded to end the inning.
Graveline pointed to the fourth inning as a turning point in the game.
“I think that fourth inning spot was they had one run, and then they just kept getting hits with two outs,” Graveline said. “That’s kind of what we didn’t do today.”
The Mountaineers continued to pour on runs, scoring three more between the fifth and sixth innings to take a 9-4 lead, their largest of the game.
The Buckeyes whittled the lead down to three over the next two frames on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Tyler Pettorini and an RBI groundout from designated hitter Sal Mineo, but that was as close as they got, as they fell, 9-6.
Haire said his team needs to continue improving its consistency during games.
“West Virginia is 23-4 for a reason, and that consistency and that ability to come through in some of those situations, you know, I just told our guys that’s an area we need to continue to work to get better at,” Haire said.
Ohio State (8-17, 2-7 Big Ten) will hit the road this weekend, heading to the West Coast to take on USC (16-11, 6-6 Pac-12) in a three-game series at Great Park in Irvine, California. Big Ten+ will stream the games.
