Well, the home side of the season is now finished, and there is one more all-important road series left to finish the season, but the BaseBucks have doubled their win total from last season. What an incredible turnaround, but still more work to do.

The penultimate week of the season started with the first game of the season permanently affected by weather as the midweek game against Miami (OH) was cancelled due to inclement weather, so the Buckeyes turned to the enemy of our enemy - Michigan State.

Game 1 on Friday featured as suffocating Buckeye offense. Ohio State took an early lead in the B2 as Maddix Simpson batted in Dane Harvey with a double. A couple batters later, Lee Ellis hit a sac-bunt to drive Simpson in and double the lead. Then, Henry Kaczmar hit a bases-clearing 3-RBI double, sending Ellis, Miles Vandenheuvel, and Alex Bemis home, and giving the Buckeyes a 5-0 lead after 2. The Spartans got 1 back in the T5, but Mason Eckelman took it right back, driving Noah Furcht in on an RBI single. Ellis followed that up by forcing a bases-loaded walk to send Dane Harvey home, and Grant Mangrum reached on a Spartan error as Simpson came home to extend the lead to 8-1 after 5. MSU got 3 more on a home run in the T6, but Harvey got 2 back immediately with his own 2-run blast, bringing Kaczmar home. Michigan State got 1 more run on a Buckeye error in the T7, but it was all Buckeyes from there.

A double by Furcht in the B7, plated Vandenheuvel and Kaczmar extended the lead back to 7, and then back-to-back batters hit by pitch in the B8 brought Eckelman and Mangrum home to put the game on the brink of a run rule. Furcht then wasted no time in ending the game as he singled on the first pitch of his at bat to send Vandenheuvel home and seal the 15-5 Buckeye win in 8 innings. Starting pitcher Gavin Kuzniewski earned the win, moving to 5-2 on the season, after he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits through 6.0 innings, and recorded 4 strikeouts to 2 walks.

In game 2 on Saturday, the Spartans limited the Buckeye scoring. Michigan State got the early lead this time, scoring 1 in the T3, but Ellis immediately tied it up with a leadoff home run in the B3, and Furcht took the lead as he came home on a Simpson sac-fly in the B4. However, the Spartans retook the lead, scoring 4 in the T5. Mangrum hit his own solo home run in the B5 to cut the lead to 5-3, but Michigan State responded with a 2-run blast to stretch their lead. An RBI single by Eckelman plated Simpson and cut the lead to 7-4, but the scoring stopped from there as the Spartans held on for the series equilizer. Starter Chris Domke recorded the loss, dropping him to 5-6, after he allowed 5 runs on 10 hits through 5.0 innings.

That left the series up to game 3 on Sunday, and it did not disappoint. MSU took the immediate lead with 1 in the T1 and doubled that lead with 1 more in the T4, and largely held the Buckeye offense in check, but the BaseBucks did not quit. Eckelman got Ohio State on the board in the B7 with an RBI single that plated Simpson, and Furcht tied the game in the B8 as he drove Alex Bemis home with an RBI double. Eckleman got to 3rd in the B9, but there was no other offense to speak of as the game went to extras.

In the T10, Michigan State loaded the bases with no outs, but Luke Carrell came in and got 2 of the next three batters out - combined with a heads up play by Harvey to get the lead runner out at home - to keep the score tied headed to the home half. A Spartan error allowed leadoff man Bemis to get on base, who then worked his way to 3rd, allowing Simpson to play hero and hit an RBI single to take the game 3-2 and the series. The aforementioned closer, Carrell, earned the win for his first decision of the season. 

After the Buckeyes' 5th conference series win, Ohio State turned their attention to one final midweek game, this time hosting a return visit from Wright State, and it played out very similarly to the game on Saturday. Wright State took an immediate lead - literally - as the leadoff man sent the very first pitch out of the yard, and then the Raiders extended their lead to 5-0 after the T2. Ohio State got on the board in the B2 as a single by Mangrum sent Eckelman home, followed up by Ellis coming home on a fielder's choice. Dane Harvey cut the lead to 5-3 with a solo home run in the B3, but the Raiders got 1 in each of the T5, T7, and T8 to extend their lead. Kaczmar homered in the B8 to cut the lead to 8-4, but Ohio State's next four batters all were put out as Wright State spoiled the Buckeyes' home finale. Starting Sahil Patel recorded the loss, dropping him to 1-1, after he allowed 6 runs on 8 hits through 4.0 innings. 

After the 2-2 week, Ohio State moved to 26-23 (15-12). Michigan State moved to 20-30 (11-19) after their midweek win against Eastern Michigan, and Wright State improved to 25-23. 

Up Next, Ohio State travels up north for a The Series against 32-19 (17-10) rival TTUN from Thursday through Saturday with big postseason implications.

Postseason watch: After the series win against Michigan State, the Buckeyes stayed put at #7 in the conference standings and locked themselves into the conference tournament, however, this weekend will determine the Buckeyes' placement in the tournament. A series sweep will push the Buckeyes ahead of TTUN to #6 in the standings. Merely a series win, while it would still be sweet, would hold the Buckeyes at #7. A series loss would likely keep the Buckeyes at #7 as well, but could knock them down to #8 if 13-14 Illinois earns series a sweep themselves this weekend at 7-20 Indiana, depending on tiebreakers (I'm not exactly sure who would win that as Ohio State did not play Illinois). Finally, a losing sweep would likely uphold the same situation as above, but opening the door wider for Illinois and maybe even 12-15 Iowa (vs. 18-9 Purdue) to jump ahead.