Buckeyes Clinch Series Win, Top Maryland 6-3 on Saturday

Saturday, April 20

Columbus, Ohio

2:00 PM

Ohio State

26-17, 0

Maryland

18-26, 0

Maryland

Ohio State

Buckeyes Clinch Series Win, Top Maryland 6-3 on Saturday

4/20/2024 4:48:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Emily Ruck strikes out seven and wins for the third time this week

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Emily Ruck took care of matters in the circle and Taylor Heckman provided the offensive lift on Saturday as Ohio State won its sixth consecutive game and clinched a series win over Maryland with a 6-3 victory in front of 1,424 fans at Buckeye Field.

Ohio State improved to 26-17 overall and 7-9 in Big Ten play while Maryland is now 18-26 overall (4-12 Big Ten). The Buckeyes have the Big Ten's second-longest active winning streak, behind only Michigan, which has won eight straight.

The Short Story
Ruck, who won for the third time this week, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and keep the Terrapins off balance with seven strikeouts. Her final line for the afternoon was 6.2 innings, four hits allowed and three walks. She left the game with two outs in the top of the seventh and Allison Smith picked up the save by recording the game's final out.

At the plate, Heckman hit a solo home run in the first inning and then drove in two runs in the fifth to give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead. Holding a 3-2 lead in the sixth, the Buckeyes scored three times in the bottom half of the inning to give themselves all the breathing room they would need.

How The Runs Were Scored

Heckman, the second batter in the Ohio State half of the first inning, blasted her fourth home run of the season over the right field fence.
In the fifth inning, Hannah Church started things out with a single to left field and three batters later, Heckman drove in Skylar Limon and Kaitlyn Farley with a single through the right side of the infield.
Maryland scored twice in the top of the sixth via a Jaeda McFarland RBI single and Sydney Lewis RBI single, but the Terrapins stranded two runners on Diamond Williams grounded out to second base.
Ohio State's three runs in the bottom of the sixth came on a Church triple that scored Bruns, who hit a one-out single off the right field wall. Maryland then committed an error that allowed Church to score and Cortelletti picked up an RBI with a single to center field.
Maryland would have the tying run in the on-deck circle in the seventh inning, but Smith got a lineout to third base as the final out of the afternoon.

Buckeye This and That

Saturday's crowd of 1,424 was a season high and the second time this season Buckeye Field has seen a crowd of 1,000 or more.
Head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly won her 150th career Big Ten game on Saturday. She is Ohio State's program leader in Big Ten winning percentage (.576).
Ruck is 3-0 this week with a 2.33 earned run average and 14 strikeouts in a team-high 18.0 innings.
During the current six-game winning streak, Ohio State pitchers have allowed just 11 earned runs in 41.0 innings (1.88 earned-run average).
Heckman's home run on Saturday was the fifth this week for the Buckeyes. All five of those homers have come from a different player (Kirsten Eppele, Sam Hackenbracht, Kami Kortokrax, McKenzie Bump and Heckman).
Ohio State is now 7-2 at home this season and have outscored their opposition by an aggregate score of 58-35.

What's Next
This weekend's series concludes tomorrow when the Buckeyes and Terrapins play for the third and final time beginning at 1 p.m. The game is sold out and fans who are not in attendance can watch live on BTN+ or follow via live stats on the softball schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

In-game updates will also be available on X (formally Twitter) by following @OhioStateSB. That is also the best place for the most up-to-date news and information, including schedule updates.