Um, excuse me? What in the world?? This season started off looking fine, but everything has been crashing and burning since Memphis. Following a largely uncompetitive weekend in Houston, Ohio State came back home for a 5 game stretch, and lost all five including more uncompetitive games and blown leads.
On Wednesday, Ohio State opened the home slate with a one-off against Xavier. The game started off on a strong note as RBI singles by Maddix Simpson and Alex Bemis brought home Henry Kaczmar and Steven Cavaco to give the Buckeyes an early 2-0 lead in the B2. However, from there, Xavier scored in 6 straight innings to take a commanding lead. Noah Furcht hit an RBI-double in the B3 to bring Mason Eckelman home, and Bemis came home in the B4 after Lee Ellis was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but that was no match for Xavier's onslaught as the Musketeers took the 13-4 win. Starting Pitcher Jude Fisher recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-2, after allowing 5 runs on 2 hits through 3.1 innings.
| 3/4/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Xavier | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
After that embarrassment, Ohio State hosted #1 UCLA, and while a losing sweep wasn't totally unexpected, it was more uncompetitive than desired for a team seeking improvement.
Game 1 on Friday was over pretty much as soon as it began. UCLA scored 3 in the T1, 4 in the T2, and 1 more in the T4 to take an early 8-0 lead. Dane Harvey hit a solo home run in the B7 to get the Buckeyes on the board, but UCLA added three more through the T8 and T9 to take the game by double digits, winning 11-1. Starting pitcher Gavin Kuzniewski recorded the loss, his first decision of the year, as he allowed 8 runs - 5 earned - on 6 hits through 4.0 innings.
| 3/6/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| #1 UCLA | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 0 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Game 2 on Saturday was largely the same as Friday. UCLA again got off to an immediate lead with a 3-run T1, but this time, Ohio State responded quickly. A 2-run blast by Eckelman, bringing home Kazmar, put Ohio State on the board in the B1, but from there, UCLA scored 3 in the T2 and 4 in the T3 to take a commanding 10-2 lead early. In the B3, Eckelman hit a 2-RBI double, bringing home Ellis and Kazmar, and Harvey homered again, this time a 2-run dinger, bringing Bemis home, to cut the lead to 10-6, but UCLA scored the next 9 runs, including 6 in the T8 with 4 straight on bases loaded walks, to take the game 1 inning early, winning 19-6 in 8. Starter Chris Domke recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-3, as he allowed 9 earned runs on 8 hits through 2.1 innings, and relievers Cade Marcum and Zach Weber combined for the 7 walks that allowed 6 earned runs in the T8.
| 3/7/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
| #1 UCLA | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 14 | 3 |
| Ohio State | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Game 3 on Sunday at least started off better, but it ended the no different than the other 2 games. Ohio State got off to an early 5-0 lead in the B3 as Noah Furcht and Kaczmar both hit RBI singles, scoring CJ Reid and Miles Vandenheuvel. Then Ellis hit a sac-groundout to bring Furcht home and Harvey hit a 2-RBI double, scoring Eckelman and Kaczmar. However, UCLA responded with a 5-run T5, including a 3-RBI double with 2 outs, to tie the game. Simpson responded in the B5 with a sac-fly that brought Eckelman home. But UCLA scored 3 in the T8 and 2 in the T9 to take a late 10-6 lead. Ohio State got 1 more in the B9 as Bemis came home on an RBI double by Vandenheuvel, but it was too late as UCLA took the win 10-7 and the weekend sweep. Reliever Owen Graf recorded the loss, his first decision on the year as he allowed the 3 runs in the T8 without recording an out.
| 3/8/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| #1 UCLA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 2 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
After that, Ohio State had one more home game in the stretch, this time against 11-4 Kent State. The Golden Flashes got off to an immediate 2-0 lead in the T1, but the BaseBucks clawed their way ahead with a solo homer by Ellis in the B3, a sac fly by Harvey to bring Eckelman home in the B4 and a 2-run blast by Bemis to bring home Kaczmar home in the B6 as Ohio State took a 4-2 lead. Kent State added 1 in the T7, but Kaczmar responded in the B8 to give the Buckeyes a 5-3 late lead. However, it all went south from there as Sahil Patel and Andrew Edrington combined for 5 runs allowed through one out in the T9, allowing Kent State to steal the win 8-5. The aforementioned Edrington recorded the loss as he allowed the winning 3-RBI double.
| 3/10/26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kent State | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
After the absolutely brutal week, Ohio State fell below .500 to 5-10. Xavier fell to 5-11 after a 4-game sweep against Oregon State. UCLA improved to 13-2, and Kent State improved to 12-4.
Up Next, Ohio State travels to the PNW to take on the 5-10 Washington Huskies over the weekend.
