Freshman left-hander Shane Brinham threw a complete-game gem to shut out No. 6 seed Ohio State and bring No. 7 seed Michigan to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. But for much of the game, the Buckeyes’ pitching staff stanched the flow of runs to round out the standoff.
Right-hander Gavin Kuzniewski started on the mound for Ohio State and immediately began taking advantage of the Wolverines’ early contact, only delivering ten pitches in the first inning. Kuzniewski’s breaking ball and sweeper drew weak contact on the edge of the zone, especially for Michigan’s five left-handed hitters. The strategy led to groundouts and flyouts, but also directly struck out hitters at the plate. In the second inning, junior first baseman Matt Ossenfort became the first direct victim of Kuzniewski’s command of the zone after chasing a low pitch and striking out swinging.
When Kuzniewski’s control faltered, Michigan profited. Facing the top of the Wolverines’ lineup, Kuzniewski walked two consecutive batters and hit another. With the bases loaded, Kuzniewski allowed his only hit of the game — a two-RBI single from redshirt sophomore catcher Noah Miller.
“It’s about executing your pitches and just being efficient,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith said. “Tonight, we did a little bit better than they did, which gives us a chance to move on.”
Meanwhile, Brinham systematically declawed the most dangerous stretches of the Buckeyes lineup. He logged five strikeouts by the time he reached the bottom of the Ohio State order at the end of the second inning, and lured each into a similar trap that Kuzniewski had created for the Wolverines. Brinham opted to lean on his slider, especially during the three lefty-lefty matchups with the Buckeyes. Often, the slider would bring even Ohio State’s most powerful left-handed sluggers — like shortstop Henry Kaczmar and first baseman Dane Harvey — chasing out of the zone. To seal the strikeout, Brinham closed with a fastball spotted high in the zone.
“I was timing my fastball and my slider,” Brinham said. “They weren’t really hitting my fastball, because my slider was working really well, too. Having those two was super helpful.”
For both Harvey and Buckeyes second baseman Lee Ellis, who tend to hit when served fastballs, Brinham’s approach could’ve had unintended benefits. But both went hitless. Brinham only lost control of his timing briefly early on in the game from the second to fourth innings, flying open and costing him accuracy. Still, the mechanical blip only resulted in three walks total in all nine innings — fewer than Kuzniewski gave up in 7.2 innings.
While Brinham stayed strong on the mound and struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, Kuzniewski bowed out in favor of right-hander Ryan Zamora in the same inning. Zamora inherited runners on first and second, and after allowing a single for an unearned run, he stayed on Kuzniewski’s pattern of breaking balls. Although Michigan led by three runs, it still chased potential hits, and Zamora capitalized to strike out all four Wolverines hitters remaining.
At 110 pitches entering the bottom of the ninth, Brinham showed few signs of wavering. While he allowed a single and produced just one strikeout, he stayed true to the timing of his slider to yield an easy flyout and popup for Michigan’s fielders. For nine innings, Ohio State couldn’t consistently crack the code to Brinham’s pitches.
“(Brinham) has a great fastball, he has a great curveball, great slider, great changeup,” Miller said. “That’s four-plus pitches. Just throw it in the zone, make them beat you, because they’re not going to.”
The Wolverines and Buckeyes engaged in a masterclass on the mound with tournament elimination on the line. Brinham and Kuzniewski employed parallel approaches to maximize strikeouts. For Brinham, that meant making the most of matchups within the lineup. Kuzniewski, and later Zamora, exploited Michigan’s early-contact approach at the plate. But in the highest-stakes pitcher’s duel of the season, Brinham stayed in control of the zone for all nine innings to keep Michigan ahead.
