COLUMBUS, Ohio — Archer Brookman entered Saturday without having connected on the long ball in scarlet and gray.

At the end of the day, he had two.

Ohio State (17-13) claimed the series win with a 12-2 victory over Purdue (10-20) behind a 13-hit offensive performance and eight innings of 2-run ball from redshirt-junior left-hander Seth Lonsway.

“It’s unselfish baseball, it’s team baseball, and it’s awesome to see,” junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo said. “It tells me we’re all bought in, we’re all bought into each other, we’re all bought into the process and we’re all bought into winning baseball games.”

A 1-1 tie was broken when the Buckeyes scored their go-ahead run off courtesy of an RBI double off the wall in right field from redshirt-senior first baseman Conner Pohl in the bottom of the fifth inning.

After Purdue senior right-handed reliever Nick Alvarado worked two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, Brookman connected with the first home run of his Buckeyes career to right-center field. Two innings later, Brookman capped his day in which he reached in all five plate appearances with a 2-run blast off the batter’s eye in center field.

Junior third baseman Nick Erwin followed up with a single and sophomore right fielder Mitchell Okuley was hit by a pitch in a 1-1 count, and up stepped Dezenzo.

After a first-pitch strike, Dezenzo crushed a 3-run home run to deep left field, completing the blast with a bat flip as the Buckeyes added insurance to their lead.

“That was just such a great feeling. I’ve been pretty much a backside-hitter my entire time here at Ohio State, so to turn on an offspeed pitch like that and actually get it up over the fence was a great feeling,” Dezenzo said “I’m just playing well and having fun with it, and that’s just part of the game.”

With his hit Saturday, Pohl extended his active hitting streak to a career-high 11 games and has reached base in each of the last 20, according to @OhioStateBASE on Twitter.

Lonsway had retired the first six Boilermakers until he issued a leadoff four-pitch walk to junior catcher Steve Ramirez. A fielder’s choice two batters later swapped Ramirez for junior shortstop Evan Albrecht on the basepaths, who stole second base and took third on a wild pitch.

Senior center fielder Skyler Hunter drove in Albrecht on a ground ball single to left field, putting Purdue ahead 1-0 after the first three innings.

The Ohio State left-hander totaled eight innings on the day, piling nine strikeouts and just two walks for the second-straight outing, forcing nine groundouts and five flyouts.

“I was just keeping the ball low. Credit to my defense, made some really good plays behind me,” Lonsway said. “Just trying to keep with that, keep pounding the zone, pound the bottom of the zone and making them pound the ball into the ground.”

The Buckeyes crossed the plate in three-straight innings and knocked a base hit in each. Pohl connected on a liner in the fourth inning where the ball ricocheted off the glove of senior first baseman Zac Fascia, and Pohl narrowly slid in safe at second base. Pohl later scored on a wild pitch, then drove in an insurance run with an RBI double in the fifth.

It was in the sixth inning where the Buckeyes pulled away as they sent nine batters to the plate.

Two quick outs brought Brookman to the plate, and he took a 1-0 offering over the wall in right-center field. The next two hitters reached, and Dezenzo took his fifth home run of the season for a ride in left field.

“He’s really grown defensively, I mean, he’s a plus behind home plate, he’s really good,” head coach Greg Beals said of Brookman. “The bat, we know it’s there. When he hit the second one, I knew it was gone off the bat.”

Ohio State sent eight hitters to the dish in the inning thereafter, plating three more runs as Dezenzo and freshman center fielder Kade Kern each hit RBI singles.

In the eighth inning, sophomore second baseman Nate Karaffa hit a sacrifice fly, and Brookman dug back into the plate with a runner on second base for the first time since his big fly.

Brookman crushed a 2-2 offering high off the batter’s eye in center field, registering the final two Buckeyes runs of the game as they went into the ninth up 12-2.

Junior right-handed reliever Bayden Root picked up a pair of strikeouts despite two Boilermakers reaching base to seal the win. Both Root and Lonsway combined for 11 strikeouts and just three walks.

“One of our main core values is brotherhood, like, let’s do this together,” Beals said. “We’re putting ourselves on a line every time we suit up in this Ohio State uniform, you’re putting yourself on a line; us against them

“Our guys have really embraced that and have been entrenched in the ballgame and have great energy for everybody that’s playing.”

The series wraps with the finale beginning at 1:05 p.m. Sunday and broadcast on BTN+. Junior right-hander and Texas transfer Jack Neely will put his 1-2 record and 45 strikeouts to the test against Purdue redshirt-junior righty Cory Brooks, who is 2-1 with a 5.16 ERA.