In Columbus, baseball is the revenue sport that isn't. Ohio State baseball is overshadowed by football and basketball. Any good news is good news, like the Buckeyes starting the season 3-0 in the Snowbird Classic.
The Buckeyes opened the season on Friday against George Mason (playing in Port Charlotte, Fla., since the baseball season opens too early to play home games in Columbus), winning 4-3 on a walk-off wild pitch. They followed it up with a 6-5 win over Saint Louis in which OSU trailed 5-1. The Buckeyes scored five runs in its last three innings to pull off the comeback win.
The last game happened on Sunday against Pittsburgh, and this was the strongest result of the weekend. Ohio State beat Pitt 8-0, as senior Ryan Riga threw six shutout innings.
“It’s great to get off to a good start to the season and win all three games this weekend,” head coach Greg Beals said after the win against Pittsburgh.
“Our pitching staff was the story today with four different guys pitching a combined shutout. I liked how we approached our at-bats and played defensively too. It was a team win and I’m proud of the way our guys competed from start to finish.”
Another good sign for this season: some players already have a complex secret handshake.
The Buckeyes will play next on Feb. 20-22 at Florida Atlantic. If that secret handshake has another move or two by then, this will be an interesting team to watch.
