Pierce Herrenbruck pitched his second complete game victory in a week to push the Buckeyes to Thursday's winner of Michigan vs. Washington. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
It came down to big plays at big times by big names. And in the end, Dane Harvey and pitcher Pierce Herrenbruck delivered the biggest plays of all in a 3-2 win over Rutgers to stay alive in BIG Tournament.
Long before the age of Gen Z'ers, of cell phones, the internet and Tik-Tok, hall of fame Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was almost as famous as the legendary Casey Stengel for his malopropisms, which in layman terms means nothing more than talking in circles.
The called Durocher ‘The Lip', because he was competitive, pugnacious, and delighted in seeing his words in tomorrow's headlines. One of his best quotes, and long-lasting, turned out to be: “Baseball is a team game, but you better have some players, too.â€
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What he meant was…for the sake of keeping everybody happy in the clubhouse and the front office Durocher was fine with giving everyone on the roster credit for contributing, even if they seldom played. But when the game was on the line…he always turned to the players he trusted the most.
There was some Durocher in Ohio State's 3-2 win over Rutgers on Wednesday in the elimination round of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament at Charles Schwab Field, in Omaha. Yes, Justin Haire constantly pays tribute to the culture of his clubhouse and the closeness of his roster. One for all, and all for one.
But there was no denying it Wednesday that when the Buckeyes needed to strike the first blow offensively after Tuesday night's letdown loss to Washington, it was Henry Kaczmar who stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning and cracked a Zack Konstantinovsky pitch twenty rows deep in the right field bleacher for his 12th home run of the season and the game's first offensive blow.
There was little denying that after striking out in his first three trips to the plate Tuesday, and with the game on the line in the eighth and the go-ahead run standing at second base, the Buckeyes needed first baseman ‘Dane the Great' Harvey to attack the first pitch from reliever Joe Mazza and line it to the track in left center to drive in Alex Bemis with what turned out to be the winning run.
There was little denying that when a key two-out defensive play was needed, including the game's final out in the top of the ninth, it was Kaczmar who ranged behind second base and all in one motion collected and threw out Rutgers speedster Joey Erace by a step.
Durocher also said, “No one ever won a pennant without a star shortstop.â€
Not since Tanner Tully pitched the Buckeyes to the 2016 Big Ten Tournament championship…But Pierce Herrenbruck's performance Wendesday rivaled that storied memory.
And there was little denying that when a the biggest Ohio State Big Ten Tournament pitching performance since Tanner Tulley in 2016, and Andrew Magno in 2019, was needed it was transfer junior Pierce Herrenbruck who came through with his second complete game performance in a week – a six-hitter with 3 strikeouts, 4 walks, and a ton of groundouts – to give the Buckeyes' fairytale season of redemption at least one more chapter with which to resolve itself. The Buckeyes now wait to play the loser of Washington vs. Michigan in Tuesday's 9 pm game.
Team game? Of course. One cannot overlook that leadoff hitter Alex Bemis (Monroe High School) has a two-hit game and scored two of the team's three runs.
And seven of the nine players in the Buckeyes batting order had at least one hit in the game.
And there is that mystic culture that Haire talks about that seems to bond things back together after Rutgers scored their two unearned runs in the top of the six on a defensive lapse worthy of a Bengals comparison. But that's what they did.
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After losing the lead in the top of the inning, Alex Bemis started the bottom of the sixth with a base hit, then advanced to second base on a balk by Konstantinovsky. Reliever Joe Mazza replaced Konstantinovsky. Right fielder Noah Furcht lined a single to center to score Bemis and the culture loomed large.
To Durocher's point about having players you trust, there's no denying that Pierce Herrenbruck has EARNED the trust of Ohio State coaches Justin Haire and pitching coach Ty Robinson. Yes, his performance Wednesday was one of the most efficient of the entire Big Ten season. Entering the ninth inning he was sitting on just 90 pitches thrown. And in the old days (well, 2025, anyway) Haire and Robinson would have been shuffling through the bullpen looking for someone who could throw enough strikes to collect a final three outs. Not Wednesday. They had their man, and they stuck with him.
“He's kind of an old soul,â€Â Buckeyes radio analyst, and former Ohio State pitcher Bob Spears likes to say about Herrenbruck. “He doesn't strike out a lot of people, and he works fast. He likes to get outs as quickly as he can.â€
To Spears' point, Herrenbruck needed just six pitches to get three outs in the second inning…and four pitches to retire the side in the third.
So given the metrics of the thing, Haire trusted that he had enough left to trust him for the final three outs; and of course it wasn't easy. Rutgers strung together back top back singles with two outs, had runners on second and third. But when the television cameras panned on Haire in the Buckeyes dugout, his face had the expression of the judge in the Clint Eastwod movie, Hang ‘Em High. Herrenbruck quickly got ahead of Joey Erace before inducing the ground ball behind second base that Kaczmar consumed for the game's final out.
After striking out in his first three at bats, Dane Harvey delivered the game-winning blow to drive in Alex Bemis in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Buckeyes won with 3 runs on 8 hits and had 3 errors.
Rutgers lost it with 2 runs on 6 hits and had no errors. The Scarlet Knights proved to be a tough out on elimination day when nothing less than culture plus some Durocher would do to extend the Buckeyes' season.
But this is what we're learning about the now 30-24 Buckeyes and the season what no one could have imagined…even if they had a crystal ball the size of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Just like Durocher bled Dodger blue, and trusted Gil Hodges, Don Newcombe, and Pee Wee Reese, all hall of famers…Justin Haire covets the makeup of his roster, but counts his blessings over players like Kaczmar, Harvey, and Herrenbruck that define every admirable, even memorable, baseball team.
Yes, Durocher managed in the Golden Era of the 50s and 60s. And this is the progressive age.
But where baseball is concerned…..
You'd better have those players. And that's not talking in circles!
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