Baseball: Ohio State Drops Two To Louisiana Tech, Splits Weekend With Two Wins Over Memphis At The Grind City Classic
Ohio State (5-2) dropped a pair of games against Louisiana Tech (7-1) while defeating Memphis (2-5) twice over the weekend at the Grind City Classic in Memphis, Tenn., finishing 2-2 overall in the tournament.
The Buckeyes opened their weekend Friday afternoon with a 6-0 loss to Louisiana Tech, as the Bulldogs handed Ohio State its first loss of the season.
In the first inning, Ohio State threatened early as it loaded the bases with two outs after singles from catcher Mason Eckelman and outfielder Noah Furcht and a walk by first baseman CJ Reid, but the Buckeyes were unable to capitalize and ultimately left them stranded.
Freshman outfielder Jacob Parr opened the second inning for Ohio State with his first collegiate hit before third baseman Maddix Simpson followed with a walk. However, Parr was caught stealing, and Simpson was picked off, thereby erasing the opportunity.
Louisiana Tech broke through in the fifth with a leadoff solo home run from outfielder Zeb Ruddell, before an RBI groundout by infielder Trey Hawsey put the Bulldogs up 2-0. In the eighth inning, infielder Wesley Scott extended Louisiana Tech’s lead to four on a two-RBI double.
The Bulldogs then capped off their win with a 357-foot bomb from Hawsey, followed by a Sebastian Mexico RBI-triple in the ninth to finish off Ohio State 6-0.
Only Buckeye second baseman Henry Kaczmar reached base after the bottom of the third inning, getting to first base on a hit-by-pitch in the fifth.
Ohio State pitcher Chris Domke (1-1, 2.45 ERA) struck out seven Bulldog batters in the loss.
The Buckeyes bounced back from the loss against Louisiana Tech, putting on an offensive clinic on Friday night and defeating Memphis with a 12-5 thrashing.
Memphis surged to an early 3-0 lead over Ohio State following a two-run double by infielder Freddy Rodriguez and an RBI single from infielder Shane Cox that brought Rodriguez home.
Ohio State outfielders Alex Bemis and Noah Furcht teamed up to trim the Tigers’ advantage to one run. Bemis sparked the rally with an RBI double that scored Kaczmar in the second inning, then Furcht added a sacrifice fly in the third to bring home centerfielder Miles Vandenheuvel.
Cox doubled to left to score Rodriguez in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 4-2, before the Buckeyes reeled off three straight runs in the fifth inning on a throwing error that brought shortstop Lee Ellis home and RBI-singles from Furcht and Kaczmar.
Memphis Outfielder James Smith IV answered with an RBI single to tie the game at five, but it was all Buckeyes from there.
Mason Eckelman ended the stalemate in the top of the sixth, as with bases loaded, the Buckeye catcher smashed a grand slam to give Ohio State a 9-5 advantage.
Ohio State added two more insurance runs in the eighth inning on an RBI single from Ellis that brought home Simpson and a 401-foot two-run homer finalized the Buckeyes 12-5 win.
The Buckeye pitching staff combined for 21 strikeouts, as sophomore Gavin Kuzniewski (0-0, 3.38 ERA) fanned a career-high nine batters over 4.0 innings in a no-decision while allowing three runs on four hits. Junior right-hander Jake Michalak (1-0, 5.4 ERA) earned the win with one strikeout and one run allowed on two hits in just one inning. Freshman Owen Graf recorded four strikeouts again in his second career appearance.
In Ohio State’s second try against Louisiana Tech, the Buckeyes managed to get on the board, but yet again fell by six runs as the Bulldogs claimed a 9-3 victory.
Louisiana Tech jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first two innings that Ohio State could never recover from.
A Furcht RBI-single brought home Ellis in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to three, but Louisiana Tech added three more runs in the bottom of the inning to push the lead to 7-1. An RBI-double from Hawsey scored infielder Colton Coates, then a wild pitch from junior Jack Cecil (0-0, 13.5 ERA) scored Hawsey before outfielder Cade Patterson scored Mexico.
Although Ohio State trimmed the deficit by one run in both the sixth and seventh innings, Louisiana Tech responded with a run of its own each time. Two scoreless innings to close out the game secured a perfect 3-0 weekend for the Bulldogs.
Pitcher Jude Fisher (1-1, 7.56 ERA) took the loss on the mound, giving up six runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings pitched, despite the freshman striking out a career-high five batters.
Ohio State rebounded in its fourth game of the weekend, defeating Memphis 8-2 in the final clash of the tournament.
Memphis struck first with a run in each of the opening two innings, but Ohio State answered in the third when Ellis launched a 381-foot, two-run blast to knot the game at two.
The Buckeyes found their rhythm an inning later, as Simpson delivered a two-out RBI double before scoring on a Vandenheuvel single that was followed by a Memphis error to make it 4-2, a lead that Ohio State would never relinquish.
Furcht then continued the blows with his first career home run, a 355-foot solo shot, to extend the Buckeyes lead to three.
A sacrifice bunt from Vandenheuvel in the sixth scored freshman outfielder/ first baseman Steven Cavaco, who leads the team with a .400 batting average in five at-bats. Then Ellis cracked an RBI-double, which he took to third base, scoring Parr to give Ohio State a 7-2 advantage.
An RBI on a fielder’s choice from Simpson scored graduate catcher Grant Manangrum in the seventh to cap the scoring at 8-2.
Junior pitcher Pierce Herrenbruck (1-0, 2.70 ERA) earned his first win of the season after striking out three and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits over six innings.
The Buckeye pitching staff as a whole allowed just three hits and threw seven shutout innings overall against the Tigers.
Louisiana Tech defeated Memphis 8-5 on Saturday in the tournament’s only matchup that did not feature the Buckeyes.
Ohio State will embark on another road trip for the 26th annual Bruce Bolt College Classic at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas, where the Buckeyes will take on UTSA at 12 p.m. on Friday, Ole Miss at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Texas at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics