The Ohio State baseball team is playing perhaps its best ball of the season as the campaign nears its end. The Buckeyes beat arch-rival Michigan on Friday and backed that up with another win on Saturday, 9-5, to take the first two games of the weekend series. The victory extended OSU’s winning streak to eight games — its longest since 2009.
It didn’t take long for Ohio State to jump out in front thanks to a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning by Marcus Ernst to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead. Tyler Pettorini liked Ernst’s blast so much he decided to duplicate the feat with a two-run bomb of his own in the bottom of the second inning to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Michigan would claw two runs back in the top of the third inning to close the gap to 4-2, but Trey Lipsey hit the third OSU homer of the game to make things 5-2 after five innings.
Mitchell Okuley kept the home run barrage going with a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning, and that was followed by a Lipsey two-run triple to stretch the OSU lead to 8-2 through six innings. The Buckeyes would add one more run in the bottom of the seventh, and Michigan would tack on three runs late for the final 9-5 margin.
FINAL Buckeyes pick up a SERIES WIN over TTUN and secure their longest win streak since 2009 with 8⃣ straight dubs‼️#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/GSHVaOIezA
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) May 19, 2023
With the victory, Ohio State improved to 30-25 overall, and 8-15 in the Big Ten. The season will conclude with the final game of the series with the Wolverines on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET.
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