Buckeyes Pick Up Two Wins on Friday at East Carolina

Friday, March 17

Greenville, N.C.

Ohio State

14-7

East Carolina

19-8

Ohio State

East Carolina

Buckeyes Pick Up Two Wins on Friday at East Carolina

3/17/2023 8:00:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The second half of Ohio State's 12-game spring break trip began on a winning note Friday, as the Buckeyes defeated Cleveland State 10-0 in five inning and East Carolina, 7-0, on the first day of the Jolly Roger Invite at Max R. Joyce Stadium on the campus of East Carolina. With the wins, the Buckeyes have won eight consecutive games and improved their overall record to 14-7 on the season.

The Short Story
Ohio State's five-inning run-rule win over Cleveland State was highlighted by a six-run third inning that saw Meggie Otte hit a grand slam. The Buckeyes' other home run in the game came off the bat of Reagan Millikin, who also collected her first collegiate hit.

Emily Ruck started the game and struck out four over two innings before giving way to freshman Julia Miller, who worked the final three innings and did not allow a hit while striking out five.

In the second game of the day, Ohio State scored four times in the second inning and rode the hot pitching of Allison Smith in the middle inning before scoring three more times in the sixth inning to put the game away.

Kami Kortokrax hit a two-run home run in the second inning while the 1-2 duo of Melina Wilkison and Mariah Rodriguez combined the drove in five runs on the night. The Buckeyes scored seven runs and had eight hits off East Carolina starter Addy Bullis, who entered the weekend with an ERA below 2.00.

Game One: Ohio State 10, Cleveland State 0 (5 inn.) – Game Notes

Ohio State's 10-hit attack saw Wilkison go 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. She started off the scoring with a double in the top of the first inning that scored Rodriguez.
The Buckeyes' six-run third inning included five hits. In addition to Otte's grand slam, Wilkison, Sam Hackenbracht, Kaitlyn Farley and Rodriguez all collected hits.
Miller struck out three batters in the third inning and two in the fourth.
Seven different players drove in runs.
Otte's four RBI are a career high. It was also the first grand slam that she's hit in her career.

Game Two: Ohio State 7, East Carolina 0 – Game Notes

Key hits in Ohio State's four-run second inning were Kortokrax's home run – her second of the season – a bases loaded RBI single from Mariah Rodriguez and a Melina Wilkison sacrifice fly.
The score stayed 4-0 until the sixth inning when Rodriguez's double scored Jaycee Ruberti and Wilkson drove two more runs in with a single to right field.
Allison Smith improved to 7-3 on the season with her fourth double-figure strikeout game of the season.
She fanned 11 batters and scattered just four hits against the Pirates. She lowered her ERA on the season to 1.97 with 85 strikeouts in 67.2 innings.

Buckeye This and That

Jaycee Ruberti reached base in all five of her plate appearances today. She was 3-for-3 with three singles and also walked twice.
Melina Wilkson drove in a team-high four runs and has 11 RBI in nine games during Ohio State's spring break trip.
In the last 10 games, Ohio State is batting .343 as a team with 23 extra base hits, 10 home runs and 60 runs scored.
Allison Smith is 4-0 in her last four starts with a 0.85 ERA and has allowed just four earned runs in 33.0 innings.

What's Next
The Buckeyes continue their schedule at the Jolly Roger Invitational with two more games on Saturday. Ohio State faces Presbyterian at 12:30 p.m. and East Carolina immediately following at approximately 3 p.m.

The game against ECU will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats are also available on the schedule page of OhioStateBuckeyes.com.