Baseball: Xavier offense powers Musketeers past Ohio State 8-1

Tyler Danburg
Wed, 29 Mar 2023 02:51:32 +0000
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Ohio State sophomore right-handed pitcher George Eisenhardt (26) pitches the ball during the Ohio State-Xavier game Tuesday. Ohio State lost 8-1. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor

Xavier scored eight runs for the second-straight game to claim an 8-1 win over Ohio State, who lost for the fifth time in six games.

“Sometimes we’d get some counts with two strikes, and we make bad mistakes on pitches, and they did a great job of making us pay,” head coach Bill Mosiello said. “I give them all the credit in the world for that.”

Xavier put runners on base and made them count, going 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position, while Ohio State went 1-for-7 despite nine hits in the game.

Sophomore right-hander Luke Hoskins earned the win, tossing a career-high seven shutout innings and striking out six.

Sophomore righty George Eisenhardt, who transferred from Xavier, went 3 1/3 innings for the Buckeyes against his former team but allowed a two-run home run in the third inning to senior designated hitter Tyler DeMartino that opened the scoring.

The Musketeers scored three in the top of the fourth on a two-run single by junior third baseman Grant Stephenson and a bases-loaded walk by graduate left fielder Andrew Walker.

The Buckeyes loaded the bases in the bottom half off singles from graduate catcher Cole Andrews, freshman left fielder Matthew Graveline and redshirt junior right fielder Hank Thomas, but senior infielder Nick Erwin grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Four different Buckeye pitchers threw shutouts over the next four innings, but the Musketeers plated three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, including Carter Hendrickson’s two-run single into center off Ohio State freshman left-hander Landon Price, making his collegiate debut.

Ohio State finally got on the board one half inning later in the bottom of the eighth.

Sophomore pinch-hitter Tyler Pettorini scored on an errant throw to first.

Xavier freshman right-hander Nick Kolze got sophomore designated hitter Trey Lipsey to ground out to second base to end the game, earning the Musketeers their second-straight win.

“We just need to get back to basics, and it’s really a simple game,” Mosiello said. “It’s just going out, throwing strikes, playing good defense and having tougher at-bats.”

Ohio State continues its five-game homestand with a three-game series against Minnesota starting Friday.

“We just have to make a quick transformation, and we got to get this thing going,” Mosiello said. “We got to hope that we can come out and play a lot better baseball.”