Ohio State uses three-run 13th to earn first win of 2021

Best thing about 1-0...

Ohio State (1-0) earned its first win of the 2021 season with a 6-3 victory in 13 innings over Illinois (0-1) on Friday behind 13 hits and an impressive collegiate debut by freshman outfielder Kade Kern, who finished the game 5-6 and a home run shy of the cycle.

"Going into today I wasn’t sure if I was going to start or not, but I just had been working my hardest," Kern said. "I really appreciate our coaches believing in me and putting me out there. This team hadn’t played in almost over a year, so I think it was just a thing that the whole team has been ready to play and has been preparing for something like this for over a year."

Junior shortstop Zach Dezenzo was hit by a pitch to leadoff the top of the 13th, then scored when redshirt-senior catcher Brent Todys cracked a go-ahead double down the left field line two batters later.

Sophomore left fielder Nolan Clegg scored Todys on an RBI single, and Kern doubled in the third run to score sophomore right fielder Mitchell Okuley.

Illinois put runners in scoring position in each inning of the final six innings, even working a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the 12th, but junior right-handed pitcher Bayden Root buckled down and got a flyout to finish the 12th before striking out the final two Illini hitters to close the ballgame.

“Our conference keeps getting better and better and better," head coach Greg Beals said. "Illinois is a good ballclub, and those two starting pitchers were in a heavyweight fight for six innings. It’s really easy to manage a ballclub when guys do what they’re capable of doing. Our pitching staff did that today."

The Buckeyes had a chance to score in the top of the 10th inning when junior third baseman Nick Erwin drew a leadoff walk on a full count. Dezenzo hit a single to put runners on the corners, but Illinois redshirt-junior RHP Ryan Kutt got redshirt-senior first baseman Conner Pohl to fly out to right field.

For the second-straight season, Beals turned the ball over to junior right-handed pitcher Garrett Burhenn on Opening Day. The Indianapolis native retired the side with a pair of strikeouts in his first inning of work, and finished after six innings and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in addition to three strikeouts.

The Buckeyes got on the scoreboard quickly as a pair of singles allowed senior second baseman Colton Bauer to score on Pohl’s RBI base knock with two outs.

“All the veterans, my teammates, great group of guys, every single one of them separately came up to me and encouraged me, said to be myself, just go out there and have fun," Kern said. "I think that helped settle the nerves."

Illinois tied the game at one in the third inning after a leadoff double from sophomore second baseman Brody Harding, and he scored on redshirt-junior first baseman Kellen Sarver’s RBI groundout.

Senior designated hitter Sam Wilson plated the next two Buckeyes runs with an RBI double in the fifth and RBI single in the seventh inning.

The next 16 of 19 Buckeyes batters were retired as Illinois’ bullpen consisting of sophomore lefty Alex Vera, Kutt and junior LHP Nathan Lavender threw six innings of five-hit ball, picking up three strikeouts.

Illinois sophomore left fielder Danny Doligale singled and stole second in the bottom of the 13th, but Root struck out Harding and senior center fielder Taylor Jackson to seal the first win of the season.

"What I’m most proud of is how we stayed in the moment in those situations," Beals said. "Stay in the moment and execute what you know you’re capable of doing, and our guys did a fabulous job."

Junior right-handed pitcher T.J. Brock threw 2.1 innings of stellar ball, getting three batters to whiff as he relieved graduate lefty Patrick Murphy with two outs in the ninth.

Eight Ohio State batters recorded a hit and 10 runners were left on base. The Illini left 13 runners on base as four players had multi-hit games.

The two teams will square off in a doubleheader on Saturday with Game 1 scheduled for 10 a.m. Redshirt-junior lefty Seth Lonsway is listed as the probable starting pitcher, and is slated to go up against junior RHP Riley Gowens.

Game 2 will follow shortly after the end of the first game.