The final series of the 2023 season is here for the Ohio State baseball team, and it’s against a familiar foe, the Michigan Wolverines. OSU has no shot at any kind of postseason baseball, but it sure would like to finish things off the right way at home against its rival and ruin its seeding for the upcoming Big Ten baseball tournament.
So far so good for the Buckeyes, because they took Game 1 of the three-game series on Thursday night 7-3 to run their winning streak to seven straight.
The offense got going early for the scarlet and gray when Henry Kaczmar hit a two-run double to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead after one inning. Michigan answered back with one run in the top of the second inning, and it stayed that way until the Buckeyes put up three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 5-1. Joey Aden started things with a leadoff double before Marcus Ernst singled to bring him in. Cole Andrews kept things going with a double of his own and the Buckeyes plated two more to take control.
The Wolverines would close the gap to 5-3 with two runs in the top of the sixth inning, but OSU pitching held things at bay from there. Ohio State would tack on two more runs thanks to some pitching issues by Michigan and then Landon Beidelschies closed things out in the ninth to shut the door on the victory.
FINAL B1G win to open the series with TTUN‼️ Win streak now at 7⃣‼️#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/CrVXZHMydp
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) May 19, 2023
The win improved Ohio State’s overall record to 29-25 and to 7-15 in the Big Ten. The two will do battle again in Game 2 of the series at a rescheduled start time of 5 p.m. ET Friday because of some pending inclement weather.
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