Visiting Ohio State scored three times in the top of the ninth inning and right fielder Mitchell Okuley saved the game with a diving catch as the Buckeyes salvaged a win in the three-game series with a 6-5 victory against Michigan on Sunday (April 24) at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.

Trailing in the ninth against U-M closer Jacob Denner, Okuley drove a solo home run through a gusty wind to right. Then, down to OSU's final out, Trey Lipsey did the same thing to tie the game, 5-5. The Buckeyes added a third run on a soft RBI single to left field from Colton Bauer.

Michigan (22-16, 8-4 B1G) put the winning run on second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth after Clark Elliott walked, Joe Stewart singled to left and the duo pulled off a double steal. Matt Frey then laced a 1-2 fastball to right field but Okuley made a diving catch at full speed to end the game.

Neither team scored through the first three innings, but amidst howling winds at the stadium, OSU (13-23, 3-10 B1G) grabbed a fourth-inning lead following a two-out walk, a Michigan fielding error and a seeing-eye single against U-M starting pitcher Chase Allen.

Michigan, which was hitless going into the fifth inning, finally broke through against OSU starter Wyatt Loncar. With one out, Tito Flores launched a double to the gap in right-center. Flores moved to third on a pickoff error and U-M eventually put another runner in scoring position as Jack Van Remortel walked and stole second with two outs. Joey Velazquez got down in the count 0-2, but fought back with a major pitch adjustment and laced a two-run double inside the first base bag to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Michigan made it a 3-1 game in the sixth inning without the benefit of a hit. With one out, Ted Burton walked, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout before a spiked curveball hit the dirt for a while pitch and allowed him to score.

Allen logged his longest start of the season and set a personal best with seven strikeouts but yielded a one-out walk in the seventh and then went to a full count against OSU's Zach Dezenzo, who had already homered in each of the first two games of the series. Unable to land his fastball, Allen opted for a curveball but Dezenzo lofted it high over the left field wall for a game-tying homer, 3-3.

Michigan went to Denner, who got through the inning on three pitches and into the ninth before running into trouble,. He was eventually tagged with the loss to fall to 3-4 on the season.

Velazquez came up big again in the bottom of the seventh. Flores led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a groundout. With two outs, Velazquez sent a hard single through the right side for another two-out RBI and a 4-3 lead.

Flores added an important insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when he lined a two-out single to left field to score Burton, who walked to lead off before stealing second.

Michigan scored all of its runs with two outs and tallied a season-high seven stolen bases in the contest. Velazquez led all players with three RBI from his spot at the bottom of the order.

Michigan returns to play next weekend (April 29-May 1) with a three-game series at Purdue that starts Friday at 6 p.m.