Well, this weekend brought the season back to reality. While the team overall is certainly improved from last season, playing against three high-quality teams this weekend showed that there is still a long way to go before we are serious contenders.
On Friday, Ohio State faced perhaps its easiest opponent of the weekend in UTSA. Ohio State got off to an early 2-0 lead in the T1 as Lee Ellis hit an RBI-double, scoring Miles Vandenheuvel, and then was brought home on an RBI single by Henry Kazmar. UTSA got one back in the B1, but Noah Furcht hit a solo home run in the T5 to bring the lead back up to 3-1. Unfortunately from there, UTSA scored 2 in each of the B6 and B7 and 1 more in the B8 to take a late 6-3 lead. Ohio State made a last attempt at a rally in the T9 as Vandenheuvel and Ellis each scored on groundouts by Mason Eckelman and Furcht, respectively, but it was too little too late as UTSA held on for the 6-5 win. Relief pitcher Zak Sigman recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-1 on the season.
| 2/27/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Ohio State | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
| UTSA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | X | 6 | 7 | 0 |
TOP 5 | THAT BALL IS GONE
The first home run of the BRUCE BOLT College Classic belongs to @Noah_Furcht20!
OSU 3, UTSA 1#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/2sunkb6KSQ
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) February 27, 2026
Game 2 on Saturday was against #25 Ole Miss, and the result was about as expected. The Buckeye offense was limited to 6 hits in the entire game as Ole Miss slowly strangled the Buckeyes, building up a 3-0 lead by the T5, then finishing off the game with a 5-run T8 to win the game 8-0. Despite throwing a team-high 6 strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched, starter Chris Domke recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-2 on the season, but relievers Sahil Patel and Nik Copenhaver combined for 1 out and 4 ER in the 5-run Rebel T8.
| 2/28/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| #25 Ole Miss | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Game 3 on Sunday was against #3 Texas, and again, went pretty much as expected. Texas jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the T3, and limited the Buckeyes to 6 hits through the game. Ohio State did get on the board in the B5 as Grant Mangrum came home on a wild pitch, and Furcht hit another solo-homer in the B6 to cut the lead to 7-2. Texas got those two back in the T7, and Ellis tripled in the B7 to score Vandenheuvel and bring the score to 9-3, but Texas put the nail in the coffin with one more run in the T8 to win the game 10-3. Starter Pierce Herrenbruck recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-1 on the season, as he allowed 6 of the Texas runs in the T3.
| 3/1/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| #3 Texas | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
BOTTOM 6 | NO DOUBTER
Second home run of the weekend for @Noah_Furcht20! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/oJcPsG1Y8g
— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) March 1, 2026
After the sweep, Ohio State dropped to 5-5. UTSA improved to 10-1 and jumped up to #25 after a midweek loss to Texas State, but sweeping the weekend. Ole Miss dropped to 10-2 after their 1-2 weekend, and Texas improved to 11-0 after they earned their own sweep over the weekend.
Up Next, Ohio State opens their home schedule, but the task doesn't get any easier as 4-7 Xavier comes to town on Wednesday prior to a weekend visit from 9-2, #1 UCLA. All 4 games will be streamed on B1G+.
