COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The essence of ballpark food and crack of a bat will soon return featuring Scarlet and Gray uniforms.
The Big Ten Conference and Ohio State unveiled their 44-game, conference-only schedules for the 2021 baseball season on Wednesday, with Opening Day set for just over two weeks from the date.
The Buckeyes will open their season March 5 in Greenville, South Carolina, with a four-game series against Illinois at Fluor Field.
RELATED: Ohio State's Justin Fields: 'Baseball has helped me a lot'
The team will then travel to U.S. Bank Stadium, current home of the Minnesota Vikings NFL franchise, to contest Nebraska and Iowa twice apiece from March 12-14.
The schedule features the first three weekends on the road for the Buckeyes before playing their first game at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus since May 11, 2019. Iowa and Maryland will be on the docket for Ohio State's home opener from March 26-28.
Greg Beals will enter his 11th season as head coach of Ohio State’s baseball team. Beals’ team played to a 6-8 record in the shortened season in 2020, but piled 36 wins in each of the two full seasons prior, earning NCAA Tournament appearances.
Then-sophomore right-handed pitcher Garrett Burhenn earned the nod on Opening Day against Saint Joseph's in Port Charlotte, Florida, last season, allowing four runs in five innings of work. The rising-junior will anchor a starting rotation alongside lefties redshirt-junior Seth Lonsway and junior Griffan Smith.
Although Ohio State will miss the thump catcher Dillon Dingler provided to the lineup, the Buckeyes will look to infielders junior Zach Dezenzo and senior Connor Pohl to add spark. Dezenzo drove in seven runs last season and hit 10 home runs as a freshman in 2019, while Pohl led the team with four doubles a year ago and finished second with 12 hits.
MORE: Baseball: Buckeyes make prospect lists, earn degrees and more
Prior to the Buckeyes' final game last season on March 11, Iowa, Maryland and Penn State were tied for first in the Big Ten with respective 10-5 records. Ohio State sat 13th with a .429 win percentage. No teams played conference games.
The full schedule can be read below.
