Ohio State Edges FIU For Its Fourth Consecutive Win

Sunday, February 11

Miami, Fla.

11:30 AM

Ohio State

4-1

Florida International

2-3

FIU

Ohio State

Photo by: © Eric Espada/Ohio State Athlet

Ohio State Edges FIU For Its Fourth Consecutive Win

2/11/2024 2:28:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Buckeyes battle back from an early deficit to win 7-5 at the Felsberg Invitational

MIAMI – The opening weekend of the 2024 college softball season was a winning one for the Ohio State Buckeyes, capped off on Sunday with a 7-5 win over FIU in the final game of the Felsberg Invitational in Miami. Ohio State heads home with a 4-1 overall record and four-game winning streak. The Buckeyes were the only team in tournament to win four games this weekend.

After falling behind 2-0 early, the Buckeyes battled back and took the lead for good in the fourth inning. Freshman Jasmyn Burns provided two key insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning via a two-run home run. And those runs would prove pivotal one half inning later when FIU scored three times. But it couldn't get any closer than that, as Allison Smith recorded the final out of the game.

Smith finished the weekend with three wins and a 0.89 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched. Today, she struck out three batters over 6.1 innings.

FIU, who was the designated visiting team in the game despite playing in their home stadium, jumped out to a 2-0 lead before its defense had to take the field. That was thanks to a one-out, two-run single. The damage was minimized by Smith and the Buckeyes thanks to a pop up and fly out to left field.

In the home half of the first, Hannah Church stayed hot on the weekend and drove in a run with a two-out single to left center. The hit scored Melina Wilkison, who singled and then stole second and third base. Coming into the day, Church was batting .747 on the weekend with a home run and seven RBI.

One pitch into the bottom of the second inning, graduate student Sam Hackenbracht tied the game at 2-2 with her first home run of the season. It was the 39th round-tripper in her career, which ranks sixth on Ohio State's all-time list. With two outs in the inning, freshman Jasymn Burns doubled to left center and drove in Kaitlyn Farley, who had previously kept the inning alive with a two-out single. It was Burns' eighth RBI of the weekend.

The Buckeyes were able to hold their one-run lead through the third and fourth innings by getting out of two jams that included FIU stranding two base runners. That would lead to a two-run bottom of the fourth inning in which Taylor Cruse and Tegan Cortelletti scored and increased the Buckeyes' advantage to 5-2.

Burns' third home run of the weekend gave Ohio State a 7-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. She finished her first collegiate weekend with seven hits and nine RBI.

What's Next
Next weekend's road trip takes Ohio State to Leesburg, Fla. where they will participate in The Spring Games. Action gets underway on Friday with contests against Coastal Carolina (noon) and UC Riverside (2:30 p.m.).

All of Ohio State's game at The Spring Games will be streamed on FloSoftball. Live stats will be available on the schedule page of OhioStateBuckeyes.com and updates online at @OhioStateSB.