The first three weekends for Ohio State were spent on the road as they usually are when the season begins in February. But this year, the Buckeyes began with an extremely tough schedule.
They began with a three-game series against Arizona State and were swept, picked up their first win of the season against then-No.12 N.C. State on Feb. 21 before losing to Coastal Carolina and Alabama in the final half inning of each game, and followed that weekend off by going 0-3 in the College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field against Auburn, Baylor and Oregon State.
The 1-8 record they returned home with on March 4 wasn’t pretty, but they were able to compete more through that stretch than the record might show. Six of those eight losses were by one or two runs, and Ohio State was leading the No. 9-ranked Beavers through 7½ innings.
When the Buckeyes returned home to Bill Davis Stadium to take on St. John’s, they left with a 12-10 win, but a 10-7 loss to Valparaiso three days later was one that was hard to swallow for head coach Justin Haire and the rest of the team, the biggest issue being the free bases pitchers were giving up, something that had been an issue going back to the first game.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to stop creating innings for people,” Haire said after the game. “They had a couple of hard-hit balls in the early innings, we came out and scored three, then we hit the first two guys and walk the next two guys. It’s hard to keep people off the scoreboard when we’re putting people on base like that. It’s a challenge.”
In that game, Buckeye pitchers hit three batters and walked nine, not forcing the Beacons to have to do much to get runs across.
That game against the Beacons was a microcosm of what they had been dealing with the entire season. Even after getting three more wins (two to finish the series against Valpo and a midweek win over Eastern Michigan), the Buckeyes team ERA was still at 8.55, and it climbed nearly to 10 after the game on March 7.
Chase Herrell has been the best starter Ohio State has sent out so far with a 3.27 ERA through his first four starts, averaging more than five innings per start.
It doesn’t help that Friday starter Blaine Wynk has been injured since the first series against the Sun Devils, but Haire is hoping the righthander will be able to make a return sooner rather than later.
“He’s feeling OK and he’s working through some things,” Haire told BSB on March 10. “We’re hoping to get him back in the next couple of weeks. He threw a bullpen (March 7) and has been attacking the things he needs to attack to feel better and feel closer to 100 percent.”
The one thing the Buckeyes have going for them is they have also been scoring a lot of runs. Opposing pitcher’s ERA isn’t much better than OSU’s team mark, with other pitchers throwing to a 7.92 ERA. However, the Buckeyes are hoping they can find a way to keep up the offensive explosion while limiting the free bases.
“We just need to play more consistent baseball and fix our mistakes,” sophomore catcher Mason Eckelman said after the March 7 loss. “Most of the time it’s been us shooting ourselves in the foot. We just need to clean some things up and play more as a team.”
Jake Michalak, who has been getting the ball on Sundays had a good start to finish the weekend against the Beacons. He had struggled throughout the first few weekends against some tough competition but was able to go six innings and strike out 10 in the 8-3 series clincher.
“(That’s) my first start and outing in general in college that I’m confident in and feel good about,” Michalak told BSB. “The strikeouts came at the end when I tired down I settled in more. It felt really good.”
It’s Michalak’s second year with the Buckeyes, but his first as a starter, and he said it took some time to get comfortable in the new role after coming out of the bullpen last season.
“My first three starts were against some pretty good teams, but aside from that it was just getting comfortable, getting settled in and getting ahead in counts,” he said. “As a reliever, it doesn’t really matter how many pitches you’re at, just get the job done and sustain yourself. But as a starter, you want to put your bullpen in the best position and go as long as you can.”
Haire is hoping the start against Valparaiso was a sign of what’s to come for Michalak as the season goes on.
“We feel like his best opportunity to help us is at the beginning of games,” Haire said. “If he figures it out, it could be really elite stuff, so we felt like it was important to really give him this early-season opportunity to figure it out. He made the most of that on (March 9). Hopefully, that’s just another big step in the right direction for him. We know it won’t be all smooth sailing, but hopefully, that’s a big confidence boost for him and for our guys when he’s out there.”
The Buckeyes will begin Big Ten play this weekend, heading to Bloomington to take on Indiana for a three-game series.
