If the Ohio State baseball wants to get back in the race for a Big Ten title, it needs to take care of business against teams it should beat. You can check that box for game one of the weekend series against Penn State Friday.
The Buckeyes scored all but one inning and cruised to an 11-6 victory over the Nittany Lions at Bill Davis Stadium. OSU scored at least one run in each of the first six innings and clubbed three home runs to snap a five-game losing streak.
OSU got the scoring going early by jumping on the board first thanks to a Zach Dezenzo solo home run to put the Buckeyes up 1-0 after one inning of play. Sam Wilson matched that effort with a bomb of his own in the second inning to put Ohio State up 2-0 after just two innings.
After Penn State put a four-spot on the scoreboard to take a 4-2 lead, the Buckeyes got one back with another solo shot from Kade Kern in the bottom of the third inning to cut the Nittany Lion lead to 4-3. OSU then tied the game with an RBI single by Nick Erwin an inning later to tie the score at 4 runs each after four innings of play.
The Nittany Lions continued to battle, adding another run to take the lead again 5-4, but Ohio State answered right back in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie things up yet again 5-5 with a Connor Pohl RBI double.
OSU finally put more than one run on the board, grabbing the lead for good when it put up two because of a couple of bases-loaded RBI walks by Pohl and Brent Todys in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead 7-5. Penn State would add one more run, with the Buckeyes playing add-on with four more runs in the eighth to seal the victory.
Back in the win column!
Buckeyes take the series opener. #GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/PEAdhwN18H
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) April 24, 2021
With the win, Ohio State improves to 14-12 to take sole possession of fifth-place in the Big Ten. The Bucks will take on Penn State again on Saturday at 12:05 pm.
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