It was midweek baseball for Ohio State on Tuesday, and boy was it a wild one. The Buckeyes and Miami Redhawks were embattled in a back-and-forth affair, with OSU coming out on top, 12-11, in Oxford, Ohio.
It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to get on the board. Leadoff hitter Trey Lipsey was hit by a pitch, then stole second and advanced to third base on a flyout before Matthew Graveline singled him home to make 1-0. The Redhawks answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning to tie things up but OSU would be back at it again in the top of the third inning when Henry Kaczmar drove in two runs and put Ohio State back in the lead, 3-1.
Miami wasn’t done though and put the Buckeyes in a big hole with six runs in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single, a grand slam, and an RBI double to make it 7-3. Amazingly enough though, Ohio State came right back to reclaim the lead in the top of the fourth inning with six runs of their own.
Kade Kern drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball, before stealing third. Marcus Ernst sent Kern home with a single to close the gap at 7-4. The Buckeyes then loaded the bases before Josh McAlister walked to force in another run and leave the Buckeyes trailing by just two, 7-5. Mitchell Okuley kept things going with a two-run single to right field to make the score 7-7. Lipsey finished the scoring in the inning with another single to make the score 9-7.
Whew. Things weren’t done.
The Redhawks scored one more run in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull to within one run and then Ohio State struck again in the top of the seventh inning. Kern led off with a double followed by walks to Tyler Pettorini and Matthew Graveline to load the bases. After the RedHawks changed pitchers, Marcus Ernst singled up the middle to drive in two runs and extend the lead to 11-8.
FINAL | Buckeyes pick up a win in Oxford‼️#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/eKTYSCSWKx
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) April 19, 2023
Miami scored one more in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 11-9, but OSU again answered in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Lipsey to make things 12-9. The Redhawks made things interesting by scoring two more in the bottom of the eighth but were retired in order down by just one run in the bottom of the ninth to cap things at 12-11.
With the win, Ohio State moves to 19-17 and will take on the Dayton Flyers on Wednesday at Bill Davis Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.
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