Baseball: Ohio State splits season series with Wright State after another offensive showdown

Mark Metz
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 23:10:22 +0000
Baseball, Instagram Page, News, Sports, Alonzo Paul Jr., Andrew Edrington, Andrew See, baseball, Ben Schechterman, Bill Mosiello, Blaine Wynk, Buck Taylor, Buckeyes, Chase Herrell, Christian Pownall, CJ Richard, Clay Burdette, Colin Purcell, college baseball, Damon Lessler, Gavin Bruni, Gavin DeVooght, George Eisenhardt, Hank Thomas, Henry Kaczmar, Hunter Rosson, Hunter Shaw, Isaac Cadena, Isaiah Leeth, Jacob Morin, Jake Michalak, Jaylen Jones [and 29 more]

The Ohio State baseball team fell 14-13 to Wright State Tuesday in Dayton, OH. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

A week ago, the Buckeyes beat the Raiders 14-13 at Bill Davis Stadium. A week later, the team’s finished with the same score, but this time, in favor of the Raiders.

Ohio State (19-18, 6-6 Big Ten) was stunned by Wright State (22-18, 11-7 Horizon League) on Tuesday after the Raiders came back from a 9-4 deficit.

Wright State freshman pitcher Griffen Paige quickly got two outs in the top of the first inning, but doubles from catcher Matthew Graveline and graduate Joseph Mershon plated a run to put the Buckeyes up by one.

Sophomore southpaw Hunter Shaw started the game for the Buckeyes, and the Raiders quickly jumped on him. A three-run home run to left field from junior Boston Smith gave Wright State a 3-1 lead. The Raiders added on one more in the bottom of the third inning after first baseman Jay Luikart hit an RBI single to extend the Raiders lead to three.

In the top of the fourth inning, Ohio State seemed to have nothing going with two outs on the board until third baseman Zach Fjelstad hit a double to left center followed by consecutive walks by junior outfielder Nick Giamarusti and catcher Mason Eckelman to load the bases. Senior outfielder Hunter Rosson came up to bat and smacked a grand slam over the left-field fence to put the Buckeyes back in the lead at 5-4.

Ohio State scored four more runs in the top of the fifth inning off of a bases-loaded walk by Mershon, an RBI hit-by-pitch from Fjelstad and two RBI groundouts from Giamarusti and Eckelman, giving the Buckeyes a 9-4 advantage.

In the bottom half of the inning, however, the Raiders scored eight straight runs to put them ahead. Senior Sammy Sass started off the inning with a two-run long ball, which was followed up by two bases-loaded walks and a sacrifice fly to even the score at 9-9. Outfielder Julian Greenwell then proceeded to smash a three-run dinger to put Wright State ahead by 3, 12-9.

In the top of the seventh, outfielder Trey Lipsey and shortstop Henry Kaczmar were both walked with the bases loaded to shrink the Raider lead to one, heading into the bottom half of the inning.

The Buckeyes were down to their last three outs in the ninth inning but a groundout from Lipsey scored on junior Ryan Miller and a sacrifice fly from Kaczmar brought in center fielder Josh Stevenson to flip the lead back to Ohio State at 13-12.

Captain and closer Justin Eckhardt entered the game looking to close out the Raiders, but a run off of a Buckeye error and an RBI single from Greenwell walked it off for Wright State as Ohio State earned the 14-13 loss.

The Buckeyes collected 13 runs on 12 hits that included four players: Kaczmar, Graveline, Mershon and Stevenson. They recorded two hits each.

In his first appearance since Feb. 23, junior reliever Jaylen Jones tossed two scoreless innings while collecting two strikeouts and giving up zero hits.

The Buckeyes will host the Michigan State Spartans Friday through Sunday at Bill Davis Stadium with the first game starting at 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m., start time on Saturday and a 1 p.m., start time on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.