Baseball
Buckeyes Salvage Series Split Behind Strikeout Pitching from Shuck
By John Porentas

OSU junior pitcher J. B. Shuck struck out a career-high 13 hitters to shutout Penn State (7-14, 2-2) and give Ohio State (12-8, 2-2) a split of the four-game series in Columbus with a 2-0 win over the Lions. Shuck was able to get the Nittany Lions to chase his off speed pitches all day and took full advantage.

J.B. Shuck
Photo by Jim Davidson

"He mixed pitches but most importantly he was really able to spot his changeup," said OSU Head Coach Bob Todd. "I thought that was the most effective pitch. I felt like their hitters did not adjust to that at all. Of course he was still throwing 87, 88 and with that changeup really made that effective."

Shuck plays in the outfield for the Buckeyes when he is not pitching and is one of their leading hitters. Unlike last season however, Shuck is not in the batting order this season on the days on which he pitches. That change seems to have helped him on the days he is on the mound.

"We've experimented with that and he just needs to stay focused as a pitcher," said Todd. "So when he's in the game as a pitcher we're not going to let him hit.

Shuck pitched eight innings and walked five while allowing four hits. His previous-best strikeout performance was nine earlier this season vs. Memphis. OSU reliever Eric Best came on to pitch the ninth inning and retired the Lions 1-2-3 to preserve the win and pick up a save, his second of the season.

"I was up around 130 pitches so I was getting a little tired," said Shuck. "It started to show a little bit in the eighth inning when I left a couple of balls up and they hit them well."

Zach Hurley smacks an RBI triple in the sixth inning.
Photo by Dan Harker

Penn State starter Ryan Stobart pitched well against OSU and allowed just five hits, but the Buckeyes got to him for single runs in the fifth and sixth innings for all the scoring in the game. Ohio State's runs came on an RBI single by Tony Kennedy in the fifth and an RBI triple by Zack Hurley in the sixth. Kennedy's hit came after a walk, a sacrifice and a ground out put the runner in scoring position. Hurley's run-producing hit came after a two-out error put a runner at first for the Buckeyes. Hurley also came up big in the bottom of the ninth with a diving catch of a hard-hit ball to center that looked like it might be extra bases. Instead of having a runner in scoring position Hurley's play resulted in the second out of the inning. Best then got a ground out to end the game.

"We were able to capitalize to today," said Todd. "This team did today what they had to do offensively."

"I was definitely excited," said Hurley of his big hit for the insurance run in the game. "We needed to get this win today. It was big. After that play I knew we were going to be able to pull something out."

Sunday games in the Big Ten are usually high scoring affairs because team are typically out of pitching at the end of the weekend. The tight game between the Lions and Buckeyes was somewhat of a novelty.

"That was two really well-pitched games," said Todd. "We were able to get the extra-base hits with people on base."

Shuck is now 4-1 in the season. Stobart took the tough loss and fell to 0-2.

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