'It's a really special place': Buckeyes head coach Justin Haire reflects on first win at Bill Davis Stadium

COLUMBUS – After nine straight road or neutral site games to start the season, Ohio State baseball had its home opener on Tuesday night. The Buckeyes needed 12 runs and used ten pitchers but they found a way to beat St. John’s, 12-10.

The victory over St. John’s gave first-year head coach Justin Haire his first home win as the Buckeyes skipper. Haire, a Cincinnati native, hopes that is the first of many home wins as he attempts to rebuild a once-proud Ohio State baseball program.

“It’s awesome,” Haire told Lettermen Row. “It’s a really special place and I feel and I know our staff feels very honored to be here. But we want to make this place great. We want to get this place back to where it was in the 90s and early 2000s where you’re walking out here and there’s 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 people here. And that takes a lot of hard work so it’s good to get the first one under our belt and continue to build from there.

“But, yeah, it’s a special place that we want to make very proud of our program and get it back to where we feel like it needs to be.”

That special place that Haire is referring to is Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.

A large piece of Haire’s plan to re-establish the Buckeyes a Big Ten baseball power is play more games at Bill Davis Stadium and making it a home field advantage. Tuesday’s game against St. John’s was the earliest home opener for Ohio State since the 1992 season.  

“I mean, it’s huge. A big emphasis, I think, for us this year and into future years is to try to play more home games,” Haire said. “Try to push the limits at how many home games we can play here. And if you’re going to play more home games and you want a lot of people to show up, you better win, right? The number one predictor of people showing up for your games is to put a quality product on the field, and that means winning games.

“Making Bill Davis Stadium a home field advantage for us is really important. And so having a chip on our shoulder to defend our home and knowing that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot when they come to Columbus. We know that, understand that, and we have to be ready for that. No matter what it says across the front of their jersey, we have to be prepared to take everybody’s best shot when they come to Columbus.”

With every home win also comes the opportunity to sing Carmen Ohio on the field after the game. Haire took part in the time-honored Ohio State tradition for the first time on Tuesday and he is excited to do it again in the future, hopefully with even more fans in the stands.

“It’s awesome,” Haire said. “It’s a tradition that I’ve never experienced before. I’m looking forward to doing it a whole lot more after some more wins and looking up and seeing 3,000 or 4,000 people standing there doing it as well. That’s the vision we have for this program, and we’re working day and night to push us closer to the day that that’s going to happen.”

Ohio State hosts Valparaiso for a three-game series Friday, March 7-Sunday, March 9. The Buckeyes then host Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, Mach 11 before opening Big Ten play at Indiana.