Buckeyes Open 139th Season at Snowbird Classic
2/17/2022 3:45:59 PM | Baseball
Ohio State vs. Marshall
Date: Feb. 18, 2022 | Time: 4:00 | FloSports |
Probable Starters:
Ohio State – Isaiah Coupet (So. | LHP | 0-3 | 3.63 ERA | 17.1 IP | 29 K | 6 BB)
Marshall – Raymond Pacella (Sr. | LHP | 2-7 | 5.40 ERA | 60.0 IP | 69 K | 23 BB)
Ohio State vs. Indiana State
Date: Feb. 19, 2022 | Time: Noon | FloSports |
Ohio State – Nate Haberthier (So. | RHP | 0-1 | 14.04 ERA | 8.1 IP | 10 K | 3 BB)
Indiana State – Jack Parisi (Grad. | RHP | 8-3 | 1.67 ERA | 75.2 IP | 96 K | 29 BB) – at DIII Spalding
Ohio State vs. Indiana State
Date: Feb. 20, 2022 | Time: 3:30 | FloSports |
Ohio State – Griffan Smith (Sr. | LHP | 1-0 | 5.79 ERA | 18.2 IP | 16 K | 4 BB)
Indiana State – TBD
Ohio State vs. BYU
Date: Feb. 21, 2022 | Time: 12:30 | FloSports |
Ohio State – Aaron Funk (Grad. | RHP | 2-6 | 4.54 ERA | 71.1 IP | 83 K | 31 BB) – at Little Rock
BYU – Ryan Brady (So. | RHP | Did not pitch in 2021)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State is set to open the 2022 baseball season in a familiar locale, the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. This will be the 12th time the Buckeyes have played in the event dating back to 2011.
This year, the Buckeyes will open against Marshall on Friday at 4 p.m. The Buckeyes will then play Indiana State on Saturday at Noon and Sunday at 3:30 before closing the weekend against BYU on Monday at 12:30.
All four games will be streamed on FloSports Baseball (subscription required).
The Opponents
- Marshall was 10-35 last season. Infielder Luke Edwards returns as the team’s leading hitter, as he batted .331 with 16 doubles last year. Sophomore catcher Ryan Leitch led the team last year in home runs (10) and runs batted in (29) as a freshman.
- Indiana State is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. The Sycamores were 31-21 and finished runner-up to Dallas Baptist in the Missouri Valley Tournament. They then beat Presbyterian in the losers bracket of the NCAA Regional in Nashville before falling to Georgia Tech. They too return their top two hitters in All-MVC Preseason honorees Jordan Schaffer and Aaron Beck.
- BYU returns 22 players from the 2021 squad, including Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-American and WCC Co-Freshman of the Year Andrew Pintar, along with four other All-WCC honorees in centerfielder Mitch McIntyre, rightfielder Cole Gambill and right-handed pitchers Reid McLaughlin and Carter Smith. The Cougars were 23-27 last season.
Ohio State Quick Hitters
- The Buckeyes return seven positional starters and 21 letterwinners from last year’s team that went 22-20.
- Ohio State was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll. The poll was voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches.
- Senior Zach Dezenzo will be one of the top shortstops in the league this year. He hit .302 on the season with a team-high 11 doubles to go along with nine home runs. He played extremely well in the MLB Draft League over the summer and is poised for a big senior year.
- Kade Kern earned Freshman All-America honors last season after leading the team with a .325 batting average. He also made just one error while patrolling center field for the Buckeyes.
- The Buckeyes also return a pair of veteran catchers in Brent Todys and Archer Brookman. The due were two of the hottest hitters at seasons end in 2021.
- The bullpen will likely be the strength of the pitching staff this year and it will be anchor by senior closer TJ Brock. Brock was tied for the most saves in the Big Ten through the regular season last year with nine.
- Junior Ethan Hammerberg had a breakout summer in the Northwoods League and should make a formidable 1-2 punch with Brock at the back end of the bullpen.
- Dezenzo, Brock and Hammerberg were all named to the Big Ten preseason honors list
- Senior Griffan Smith will join Dezenzo as captains of this year’s team. Smith has pitched in a number of big games for the Buckeyes and will bring a veteran presence to the starting staff.
- Joining Smith on the mound as starters will be a pair of sophomores in Isaiah Coupet and Nate Haberthier as well as graduate transfer Aaron Funk. Both Coupet and Haberthier pitched primarily out of the bullpen last season, but both were lengthened out as starters this fall and both shined in the Scarlet & Gray fall series. Funk was a reliable every weekend starter at Little Rock last year and he logged more than 180 innings for the Trojans over the last four seasons.
#GoBucks
