Ohio State’s pitching staff delivered a dominant weekend performance, leading the Buckeyes to a three-game sweep of No. 16 Nebraska (34-14, 17-7 Big Ten) at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus. Ohio State opened with a 2-1 win on Friday, followed with a 7-3 victory on Saturday, and capped the series with a 10-1 rout on Sunday.
It was Buckeyes sophomore pitcher Gavin Kuzniewski (4-2) who was the hero for Ohio State in game one of the series. The right-hander threw a career-high 8.0 innings, striking out four batters, and giving up just one earned run.
After three straight three-up, three-down half innings, Ohio State got on the board first in the bottom of the second. First baseman Dane Harvey and third baseman Maddix Simpson singled, while designated hitter Mason Eckelman walked, loading the bases. Catcher Grant Mangrum then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Harvey and giving the Buckeyes a 1-0 advantage.
Following three more scoreless innings, Ohio State added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Simpson doubled to right-center field before Eckelman grounded out to first base, advancing the third baseman to third. Second baseman Lee Ellis then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Simpson to give the Buckeyes a two-run lead.
Nebraska answered in the bottom of the ninth inning following two walks from Kuzniewski. Though junior right-hander Ryan Zamora allowed just one run on a Cornhuskers sacrifice groundout, earning his third save of the season and closing out a 2-1 win for the Buckeyes.
Simpson led all hitters with two hits and one run scored.
In game two of the series, Ohio State retired Nebraska’s top of the order with a 1-2-3 top of the first before getting off to a hot start of its own in the bottom half of the inning.
Buckeyes left fielder Alex Bemis opened the inning with a single between first and second, before walks from shortstop Henry Kaczmar and Harvey loaded the bases for Ohio State. With bases loaded and a 3-2 count, Eckelman crushed a triple just out of the reach of Nebraska right fielder Drew Grego, giving the Buckeyes an early 3-0 lead.
After the Cornhuskers earned their first run in the top of the third to cut the advantage to 3-1, the Buckeyes answered in the bottom of the inning as Harvey crushed a home run to right-center field to extend Ohio State’s lead back to three.
Following three scoreless innings, Nebraska added a run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice groundout by Grego, which scored left fielder Jett Buck and cut Ohio State’s lead to 4-2.
Ohio State quickly answered in the bottom of the inning. Eckelman doubled, then a flyout from Mangrum advanced the designated hitter to third. Then a single to left-center field by center fielder Miles Vandenheuvel scored Eckelman, again pushing its lead back to three.
After a 1-2-3 the top of the eighth, Ohio State added two insurance runs as Eckelman smashed a two-run homer to right field, scoring Simpson, who had singled on the previous at-bat.
With both of Eckelman’s hits coming with two strikes and two outs, he said the difference has been trusting the process and maintaining confidence in those situations.
“The main thing has been just trusting the process. That’s something our coaches and our team preaches every day, is believing in ourselves. To be grateful for the opportunity to be in that spot and represent the team and the guys in the dugout,” Eckelman said. ” We know that those guys are going to have our backs, and that the plan is a good one, and so that’s really been the key points that they’ve been harping on recently, is just really trusting the process playing free and playing for each other.”
Zamora escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth inning, surrendering just one run on a walk while striking out two to seal a 7-3 win over Nebraska.
Junior right-hander Chris Domke (5-5) pitched seven innings and earned a win, allowing just four hits and one earned run, while striking two batters. Between Domke and right-handed reliever Lincoln McVicker, the Buckeyes did not walk a batter until the final inning.
Eckelman led all hitters with three hits and five RBI, coming just a single shy of the cycle. All seven of Ohio State’s runs came with two outs.
Ohio State head coach Justin Haire praised the team’s preparation and response after a 1-2 series loss to Rutgers last weekend.
“I can’t say enough about the week of preparation that our guys have had. Coming off of a tough Rutgers series last weekend, we regrouped and had a really good three days of practice, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Haire said. “Our coaching staff put together a really good plan. Some guys got a couple of days off and school is behind them now. So it’s the best time of year, and it’s the best time to be playing your best, so it’s been fun the first two days of the weekend.”
It was a home run parade for Ohio State in game three as the Buckeyes smashed seven bombs in a 10-1 beatdown of the Cornhuskers on Sunday.
Ohio State right fielder Noah Furcht hammered a homer to left field in the bottom of the first, giving the Buckeyes an early lead.
In the fourth inning, Ohio State added four more as Simpson sent a three-run shot to left field to score Harvey and Kaczmar before Eckelman homered to right-center to extend the lead to five.
In the fifth inning, Furcht launched his second home run of the day and Eckelman followed with his own second homer an inning later, adding to the Buckeyes’ lead at 7-0.
Nebraska scored its only run of the outing in the top of the seventh, but Ohio State answered in the bottom of the inning. Kaczmar sent a solo shot to right field and Harvey crushed a two-run homer to center field, extending the Buckeyes’ advantage to nine. With two more home runs over the weekend, Harvey is now tied for 11th on Ohio State’s single-season home run list with 15. He sits just four homers away from matching the program record of 19, held by Zach DeZenzo (2022) and Dan Seimetz (1997.
Ohio State junior Jake Michalak then struck out four batters in the final two innings without letting up a hit to solidify the Buckeyes’ 10-1 victory and series sweep.
Buckeye junior right-hander Pierce Herrenbruck (5-3) picked up the win, tossing seven innings while allowing just one run on five hits and striking out four Cornhuskers.
The win marked Ohio State’s fifth sweep of the season and the program’s first-ever sweep of Nebraska.
With the series sweep, the Buckeyes are now in seventh place in the Big Ten. Ohio State has two Big Ten series remaining, against Michigan State (May 8-10) and Michigan (May 14-16), as it looks to secure a spot in the conference’s top 12 and qualify for the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State (24-21, 13-11 Big Ten) will return to its home diamond at Bill Davis Stadium on Tuesday to take on Miami (Ohio) (32-15).
Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
