Buckeyes Top Iowa, 7-4, Saturday in Minneapolis
3/13/2021 6:17:33 PM | Baseball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning with six runs, five of them unearned, and went on to defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes, 7-4, Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. The win improves Ohio State’s records to 4-3 overall and in the Big Ten while Iowa drops to 2-5 overall and in the Big Ten.
“We strung some hits together and hit the ball hard in the fifth,” Ohio State coach Greg Beals said. “They gave us a little help in the inning as well and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Mitchell Okuley had the big hit of the fifth inning for the Buckeyes, dropping a bases-loaded double near the left field foul line, and just beyond third base, that was out of the reach of the Iowa left fielder to score three runs. Nate Karaffa also had an RBI double in the inning.
Jack Neely started on the mound for the Buckeyes and did not allow a hit until the fifth inning. He exited in the inning after loading the bases and allowing one run. His final line read 4.1 innings pitched with seven strikeouts, four walks, just one hit allowed and one earned run allowed.
“I like how Jack pitched today,” Beals said. “He goes four-and-a-third innings and he punched out seven guys. He went over 75 pitches. He gave us four really good innings and we went to the bullpen early because of yesterday [two losses].”
Neely was replaced with one out in the fifth by graduate student Patrick Murphy, who went 1.2 innings and gave up four hits and three runs.
Bayden Root then gave the Buckeyes two much-needed solid innings with the Hawkeys having chipped away at the lead to make it a three-run game. Root came in to pitch for Murphy in the seventh with two on and nobody out. The junior got the Buckeyes out of the jam, though, with line out to short, a fly out to left and then a liner to right that Okuley snared on the run for the final out.
Root gave up a leadoff hit in the eighth, but then got the next three batters, including striking out the final two batters of the inning, to send the game to the ninth. Root’s line was terrific: 2.0 IP with no hits a walk and two strikeouts.
Junior T.J. Brock closed out the game for the Buckeyes, pitching the ninth, hitting a batter but otherwise retiring the other three. For the game, Ohio State’s pitchers combined to allow just five hits, four earned runs and seven walks, and they helped themselves by striking out 14 Hawkeyes.
Murphy picks up the win for Ohio State to improve to 1-0 on the season. Brock gets the save; his first of the year. Cam Baumann, who pitched 4.0 innings and allowed two runs and only one earned, drops to 0-2 with the loss.
Offensively, there were hits up and down the line-up as eight different players recorded at least one hit. Okuley led the way by going 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in. He now leads the team with seven RBI and he raised his average nearly .100 points to .333.
“Okuley doesn’t say a whole lot but he really competes,” Beals said of his sophomore outfielder who now has five RBI in three games this weekend. “I like the athlete that he is.”
Connor Pohl scored twice and got the Buckeyes’ offense going with a towering home run to deep right field in the fourth inning. In all, six Buckeyes scored runs and four had RBI on the day.
Ohio State completes its Minneapolis-series of four games tomorrow at 11 a.m. against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
#GoBuckeyes
