Buckeyes Beat Oral Roberts, 8-3

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – After a tough loss last night, the Ohio State baseball team bounced back with an 8-3 win over Oral Roberts Sunday afternoon at Whataburger Field to conclude action at the 2019 Kleberg Bank College Classic. Sophomore left-hander starter Griffan Smith improved to 2-0 throwing five quality innings with five strikeouts. Junior outfielder Dominic Canzone homered and drove in four runs, while junior first baseman Conner Pohl, junior shortstop Noah West and redshirt sophomore catcher Brent Todys each had a pair of hits. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 5-2 and the Golden Eagles drop to 3-3 in 2019.

QUOTE FROM COACH
“I think the postgame message is more about the total resolve of our ball club to take the tough defeat last night with a quick turnaround and get back to work this morning,” head coach Greg Beals said. “Our guys answered the bell. We talk about next pitch and staying in the moment and the guys responded really well. I love what I’m seeing from Noah West at the top of the order. Obviously that big hit from Canzone really busted things open and Conner Pohl got two knocks after struggling a little bit. That was great to see. We set the tempo on the mound as always and Griffan Smith gave us that quality start we needed.”

QUALITY START
Smith from Cincinnati, Ohio, worked five frames and limited the Golden Eagles to one run, unearned, on three hits and three walks to claim his second win in a six-day span.

Crushed by a barrel 💣👀@dacanzone 💪#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/GN99YUTc53

— Ohio State Baseball (@OhioStateBASE) February 24, 2019

OHIO STATE SCORING PLAYS
The Buckeyes plated seven runs to take a 7-0 lead after four innings on a mild afternoon on the banks of the Corpus Christi Channel. Canzone flied out to center to score West in the bottom of the first. In the second, a safety squeeze play worked as Marcus Ernst pushed home Pohl for the 2-0 lead. The Scarlet and Gray added four runs in the fourth. Malik Jones singled up the middle to plate Todys before Kobie Foppe sent a sac fly to center field to allow Zach Dezenzo to cross the dish. Canzone then crushed a 1-0 pitch over the bullpen in right field for a three-run shot.

EAGLES CUT THE LEAD
Oral Roberts scored a run in the fifth on a wild pitch and add two more runs in the sixth with a RBI single and second wild pitch. Dezenzo put the game back to five runs when he knocked a RBI single to right center to plate Pohl in the seventh.

BULLPEN TALK
Freshman right-hander TJ Brock got out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth with a pop-up. He worked two innings of relief on two runs, two hits and two walks. Freshman left-handed reliever Mitch Milheim tossed two scoreless frames with one strikeout to close the door on the Golden Eagle

UP NEXT
Ohio State concludes play in Corpus Christi with a contest at 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET Monday vs. the Islanders at Chapman Field. Junior right-handed pitcher Jake Vance (1-0, 3.60) gets the start for the Buckeyes.

GAME NOTES

Ohio State had a season-high 10 hits this afternoon.
Jones has reached base safely in all seven games.
Multi-hit games: Todys (3), West (3) and Pohl (1).
Canzone had a season-high four RBI. He hit his third homer of the year and 10th of his career.
Todys led the Buckeyes at the plate at the Kleberg Bank College Classic, hitting .417 (5-for-12) with two runs, two doubles, one home run and one RBI.

RANDOM NOTES FROM AROUND THE BALLPARK

It was a late night after our game Saturday, so let’s catch you up to speed on some random notes from Texas…
Next to the team’s beachside hotel is something awesome, the U.S.S. Lexington. The World War II aircraft carrier now sits in the Corpus Christi Bay as a museum. 27,500 tons of American steel. She stands 872 feet long and received 11 battle stars for major engagements during World War II in the Pacific. Senior catcher Andrew Fishel went and checked it out and bought a pair of shorts with stars and stripes on them at a store nearby. Very Captain America of him.
Whataburger Field has some serious character. The backdrop is one-of-a-kind. The sea port with the Harbor Bridge shining its bright LED lights at night is pretty neat. A gigantic barge was cruising through the channel during the earlier game on Saturday and the captain blew his fog horn right as a pitch was being thrown. Bad luck for the batter. Fun for the fans. Beyond the outfield left wall is an old, old rusty boat house. Like something Forrest Gump would have catching all that shrimp, (You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it). Beyond the right field wall is a water park too. This is the place to be on summer nights when the Hooks are in town. You may see former Buckeye Ronnie Dawson make his 2019 pro debut here in April if you’re around.
The Bucks wore the old school gray uniforms Saturday night for the first time this year. Man, they look fresh. Scarlet socks with two gray stripes at the top. Gray pants. Gray top. Scarlet block font “Ohio State” right across the chest. It just screams Tradition and Excellence.
Former Ohio State baseball SID Todd Lamb was in attendance with his family. They made the trip down from Dallas to watch the Buckeyes this weekend. Todd was the baseball SID from 2000 to the mid part of 2007 season. Great to see you, Todd. Go Bucks!
Scottie Seymour, also known as Scottie Ball Game. The redshirt sophomore picked up his first career knock in the second inning last night vs. the Islanders. It was so electric, the lights went out at Whataburger Field during the following at-bat. He joked to first base coach Matt Angle after the outage, “Sorry I brought the house down”. The lights were back on after a 15-minute delay (really due to a power outage) and the team’s were back to baseball. Congrats on your first knock, Scottie.
Athletic Trainer Paul Dawson and the Ohio State SID were looking to get a juicy burger at Whataburger Field on Sunday. Why not, right? Well, there was a problem, they didn’t sell burgers today. Sad.
Thanks to the Hooks staff and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi staff for hosting a great tournament this weekend. See you tomorrow at Chapman Field.