Ohio State baseball hosts Michigan State in final home series of regular season

Pierce Herrenbruck became the third Buckeye starter of the weekend to record a quality start, tossing seven innings of five-hit baseball. The seven home runs by Ohio State were the most since March 2019 when they mashed seven taters against UConn.

With home runs on Saturday and Sunday, Dane Harvey pushed his season total to 15 homers, which are the most on the team. Harvey also leads the Buckeyes with 50 RBIs, and his 99 total bases are only bested by the 108 total bases from Henry Kaczmar, whose .324 batting average is the best mark on the team.

Mason Eckelman is the third Ohio State batter with at least 90 total bases on the season, registering 94 bases heading into this weekend’s games. Eckelman is tied with Lee Ellis for the team lead with four triples, while Ellis has stolen a team-high 15 bases.

Starters Piece Herrenbruck and Chris Domke are tied with reliever Jake Michalak for the team lead with five wins each. Herrenbruck’s 4.33 ERA and 1.35 WHIP are the best marks among the three Ohio State pitchers with at least 10 starts this season.

Gavin Kuzniewski has struck out 56 batters in his 12 starts over 63.1 innings and is 4-2. Ryan Zamora has half of Ohio State’s saves this season, with his save in Friday night’s win being his third of the year.

After Tuesday’s scheduled game against Miami (OH) was scrapped because of rain in Columbus, now the Buckeyes will turn their attention to Michigan State, who enter this weekend with a 16-28 record.

Despite their losing record, the Spartans are a dangerous team. Just ask top-ranked UCLA, who had to fight for three wins in East Lansing last weekend.

UCLA entered the series with Michigan State perfect in Big Ten play. The Bruins won 4-1 on Friday, followed by a 4-3 win on Saturday.

The Spartans had the Bruins on the ropes in the series finale, leading 10-2 before UCLA scored six runs in the seventh inning, four runs in the eighth, and two runs in the ninth to earn the series sweep. Prior to the UCLA series, Michigan State had won two of three games against Maryland.

The main power source for the Spartans is Randy Seymour, who has 14 home runs and 44 RBIs so far this season. Khamaree Thomas and Isaac Sturgess have proven to be tough outs, with both Michigan State batters posting a batting average over .300.

The 72 total bases from Sturgess are second on the team, behind the 102 bases Seymour has recorded.

The ace of Michigan State’s pitching staff has been Aidan Donovan, who is 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA and 47 strikeouts over 69.2 innings. The other consistent starter from the Spartans has been Carter Monke, who is 4-4 and has been on the bump for 58.2 innings over 12 starts.

Six other Michigan State pitchers have started at least one game this year, as it looks like the Spartans have adopted more of an “opener” strategy in games not started by Donovan or Monke.

Friday’s game will be special for Ohio State since they’ll be heading downtown to host the Spartans at Huntington Park, home of the Columbus Clippers. The Buckeyes will return to Bill Davis Stadium for games on Saturday and Sunday.

Ohio State will close out their home schedule on Tuesday when they take on Wright State before heading to Ann Arbor next weekend for their final three games of the regular season.