Yeah the Buckeyes ran into Michigan State earlier in the year during early season conference play, but for all intents and purposes, the real start to Big Ten play started today. The Buckeyes hit the road for a weekend series against Rutgers and came away victorious in extra innings in game one 5-3.
The big hit was delivered by Matt Carpenter for the Buckeyes. In the top of the eleventh inning with two men on, he hit a bit of a bloop double to bring home two runs for the game-sealing hit.
Up until that point, it was a nip and tuck affair.
The Buckeyes got the scoring started in the top of the first thanks to two hits and a throwing error to make it 1-0. The Scarlet Knights came right back in the bottom of the inning on a triple and wild pitch to tie it up at one run a piece.
The Buckeyes counted quickly in the top of the second inning when a rare safety squeeze scored a run followed by run-scoring single by Dominic Canzone to make it 3-1.
That would be all the scoring for Ohio State through nine innings, and with Rutgers down one in the ninth with one out, the Buckeyes couldn’t complete a double play, allowing the tying run from third base to scurry home and send things into extra time.
From there pitcher Andrew Magno shut things down for his first win of the year. That set up the heroics for Matt Carpenter who had four hits on the day.
With the victory, the Buckeyes are now 15-11 overall, and 1-0 in the Big Ten. They’ll be back in action against Rutgers once again tomorrow as a part of a three-game series.
