Wow, what a weekend. What was supposed to be a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series turned into a Saturday-Sunday-Sunday series as the Friday night game got rained out, and the rescheduled double header on Saturday got delayed by lightning, and pushed to one game on Saturday, and a double header on Sunday.
The first game of the series saw Ohio State take a 3-0 lead in the T1 before lightning in the area caused nearly 2 hours of delays, but that didn't stop the bats when the game finally resumed as the Roadrunners scored 1 in the B1, and both teams each put up 4 in their respective half of the 2nd inning. 7-5 after 2 innings would be the closest the game was after that as Ohio State put up 3 in each of the T3 and T4 and then 4 more in the T9, leading to a 17-5 walloping. The high personal scorers were Marcus Ernst and Josh McAlister with 4 runs each, and the high team scorer was Ernst with 4 RBIs. Pitching was unspectacular early as Will Pfennig gave up 5 runs on 5 hits, but tightened up as the win was given to Jameson Campbell, his first of the season,
The bats didn't stop there, however, as in game 1 of Sunday's double header, Ohio State scored a season high 19 points - highlighted by a 7 run T9 - on 16 hits, winning 19-6. The high personal scorers were Marcus Ernst and Cole Andrews with 3 runs each, and the high team scorer was Cole Andrews with a whopping 7 RBIs. Pitching, again, was shaky early as the Buckeye defense gave up 3 in the B1 and 1 more in the B3, but stood firm the rest of the way, as the relievers only gave up 2 runs in the final 5 innings. The win was given to Wyatt Loncar, also his first of the season.
The second game of Sunday's double header, was a little more relaxed scoring-wise, relatively speaking, as the Buckeyes "only" scored 9 points on 12 hits, highlighted by a 5 run T7. The high personal scorer was Matthew Graveline with 3 runs, and there was a 3-way tie for high team scorer with Henry Kaczmar, Tyler Pettorini, and Mitchell Okuley each recording 2 RBIs. Pitching - and defense - was flipped from the previous two games, as starter Justin Eckhardt only gave up 1 run in 6.0 innings to give him his first win on the season as well, while the relievers gave up 4 runs in the B8, but stood strong to close out the win.
Ohio State improved to 8-6 on the season, while CSUB - now on a 6 game losing streak - fell to 7-8. Up next, Ohio State has a 1-off game at Marshall on Wednesday before the home opening series against Dayton over the weekend.
