Buckeyes Complete Epic Run to B1G Tournament Title – Ohio State Buckeyes

Sunday, May 29

Omaha, Neb.

Ohio State

43-18-1

Iowa

30-26

Ohio State

Iowa

Buckeyes Complete Epic Run to B1G Tournament Title – Ohio State Buckeyes

5/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 30, 2016

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three days ago, the Ohio State baseball team had slim hopes of winning a Big Ten tournament title. The fourth-seeded Buckeyes were forced to play four-consecutive elimination games in a two-day span after falling to No. 8 seed Iowa Friday afternoon for the second straight year on a heartbreaking late-inning, walk-off hit. But that all changed quickly Sunday afternoon when senior Troy Kuhn knocked a two-out RBI double to score junior Ronnie Dawson for the go-ahead run in the ninth in a thrilling 8-7 victory over the Hawkeyes in the tournament championship in front 10,350 fans, mostly dressed in Black and Gold, at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.

To get there, the Buckeyes won, 7-3, in the Sunday morning game over Michigan State to advance to the championship round. Ohio State (43-18-1) captured the program’s first tournament title in nine years and ninth overall in program history to earn an automatic bid into the 2016 NCAA Tournament, marking the first appearance for the Scarlet and Gray since the 2009 campaign.

“All you have to do is look at them, look at that comradery and they fought,” head coach Greg Beals said. “This was a heavy-weight fight and give credit to this whole conference. This was a tough tournament to come through in the loser’s bracket and we had to fight a lot. The resilience of this ball club is incredible. We wouldn’t quit. We did a lot of training in the off-season and how to respond to events like what we faced the other day. We got close today too. We could have broken again, but we kept fighting and got two big hits in the ninth inning with two outs and ‘Pav’ [Pavlopoulos] stays in there and battles and shuts it down for us.”

SELECTION SHOW
Ohio State now looks forward to the 2016 NCAA Championship Selection Show set for Noon ET Monday live on ESPNU.

DAWSON NAMED TOURNAMENT MVP, FIVE BUCKEYES ON ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Dawson, from Grove City, Ohio, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, breaking two tournament records with 15 hits and six doubles with a .571 batting average and four stolen bases. He was joined by Kuhn, junior catcher Jalen Washington, senior shortstop Craig Nennig, and junior outfielder Troy Montgomery on the B1G All-Tournament. Nennig tied the tournament record with six steals. Washington caught a B1G-record 55.0 innings pitched and drove in four runs on five hits, while Kuhn had a tournament-high 10 RBI. Montgomery had nine hits on the week and drove in four and scored four runs.

SPORTSCENTER TOP PLAY!
Sophomore Tre’ Gantt earned the No. 1 Play on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Sunday night. With two down in the bottom of the seventh vs. Michigan State in game one, Gantt sprinted after a deep fly ball in the gap in right center, leaped high in the air and held on for the catch to retire the side. You can watch the play web gem here. It’s the second time in two years a Buckeye has earned the No. 1 play on SportsCenter (Sergakis – 2015).

GAME TWO: OSU 8, UI 7
WHAT A FINISH
The tournament final was a battle from start to finish on a warm day in Omaha. Both teams used everything in their arsenal to try to come away with the conference crown. Iowa jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Ohio State answered right back with a five-spot in the fourth inning and added a pair of runs in the seventh to take a 7-4 advantage. However Iowa, behind its large crowd of supporters in attendance, punched back with three runs in the bottom of the eighth off the OSU bullpen to knot the score at 7-all. It was an uncomfortable sign for the Buckeyes, who lost just days ago in similar fashion when Iowa scored five runs in the final two frames to claim a walk-off, extra-inning win. But the team never gave in. They kept battling. Today had a different ending. With two outs in the top of the ninth in a tie game, the group relied on its star player in Dawson, who struck his record-breaking 15th base hit of the tournament up the middle for a single and keep the inning alive. On a 1-1 pitch, Kuhn then ripped a double into the corner of left field on a 1-1 pitch off Martsching to push a sprinting Dawson all the way around from first base and across the dish for the go-ahead run, 8-7. Yianni Pavlopoulos bounced back on the mound and tossed a scoreless ninth to close the door on a talented Hawkeye hitting team and seal the championship for the Scarlet and Gray.

HOW WE GOT THERE
Iowa scored the first run of the game on a RBI ground out by McCoy. The Hawkeyes plated three runs on four hits in the third vs. right-hander starter Adam Niemeyer, who allowed four runs on six hits, one walk and one strikeout in three innings. Ohio State went to its Friday night left-handed starter Tanner Tully and gave the Buckeyes three shutout innings on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk after getting the win over the Wolverines in the opening game on Wednesday night.

Down 4-0 in a hostile environment, Ohio State punched right back with a five-run fourth on seven hits off the Hawkeye bullpen. A double by Dawson scored two runs to cut the lead to 4-2 before a bunt single by Montgomery trimmed the lead to one. Washington came up big with one out vs. Erickson when smoked a double to the gap in left center to drive in Montgomery. Gantt followed up with a RBI single to left center for the 5-4 lead as Washington got around.

Kuhn extended the lead to three in the top of the seventh with a clutch two-out RBI single through the left side. Gantt led off the inning with a bunt single before Dawson doubled for the tournament-record sixth time. Kinker relieved Tully in the bottom of the seventh and left one runner on base. He pitched one inning with one hit and one strikeout and was relieved by left-hander Michael Horejsei in the bottom of the eighth. Horejsei loaded the bases with two walks and a hit, but got a big strikeout for the second out before Pavlopoulos came into the game. Tyler Peyton cut the lead to 7-6 on a two-run double off Pavlopoulos. The Hawkeyes tied the game when Joel Booker lined a single center field to push the tying run home. The OSU closer kept the game even with a fly out Gantt in right.

NEVER QUIT BUCKEYES
Ohio State becomes the first team to win the championship after falling into the loser’s bracket since No. 1 seed Michigan back in 2006. It wasn’t a friendly place either for the top seeds of the tournament, who went 5-9 on the week, with all five wins tallied in the Buckeye column.

BREAKING: #SCTop10 Play of the Night goes to @Tr3_Gantt with this incredible diving catch. #GoBucks #ForTheBoys https://t.co/JjCPrvYZWi

— The OSU Baseball (@OhioState_BASE) May 30, 2016

RECORD-BREAKING PITCHING STAFF
The pitching staff, which had the best league ERA coming into the tournament, was remarkable all week long, having to win five games in four days. Relentless was the word used to describe the group throughout the weekend. The staff broke the tournament record with 44 strikeouts in 55.0 innings, using 10 different pitchers in the six games. Seth Kinker made a tournament-record five appearances on the mound. Pavlopoulos and Kinker each recorded a win and save.

DYNAMIC OFFENSE
The Buckeyes tied the tournament team record with 13 swipes led by Nennig with six, while Dawson stole four bases on the week. Ohio State, which leads the Big Ten in home runs (56) and doubles (128), broke the school record for stolen bases in a season Sunday and now has 98 stolen bases on the year, passing the 2001 team for first all-time (96).

GAME ONE: OSU 7, MSU 3
After playing all day long yesterday in two elimination games, the Buckeyes had a 6 a.m. breakfast and were ready for more baseball at TD Ameritrade Park. To get to the final, the Buckeyes would have to take down the Spartans for the second time in a matter of hours. The Buckeye offense scattered seven run on 10 hits with five stolen bases, while three Buckeye pitchers limited the MSU bats to three runs in the morning semifinal. Troy Montgomery went 2-for-3 with a run scored and RBI. Ronnie Dawson and Craig Nennig each went 2-for-4 with a run scored and stolen base. Nennig registered his sixth steal to tie the tournament record. On the mound, right-hander Kyle Michalik claimed the win to improve to 3-1, while right-hander Seth Kinker picked up his second save of the season.

Ohio State continued where they left off the night before with two runs in the top of the first vs. left-hander Joe Mockbee to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first. The Buckeyes loaded the bases when Nick Sergakis walked before Craig Nennig and Dawson singled off Mockbee. A fielder’s choice by Troy Kuhn plated Sergakis before Troy Montgomery placed a sac bunt down the first base side to score Nennig. Montgomery drove in his second run of the game in the third on a two-out RBI single to center field to end Mockbee’s day on the mound.

But the Spartans answered with three runs on three hits to the game at 3-all and force the Buckeyes to also go to their bullpen. After the first two MSU hitters reached base safely, a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt at second base put runners on the corners with one down. Dan Durkin then lined a double down the right field line to cut the lead to 3-2. A two-out single on a 1-2 pitch by Dan Chmilewski evened the tides at 3-3. Right-hander Kyle Michalik relieved Ohio State starting right-hander Austin Woodby with two down in the third. Michalik picked off a runner that ended with a tag-out by Kuhn at first base.

Both teams had golden chances in the fifth, but failed to score. Ohio State left the bases loaded when MSU reliever Dakota Mekkes induced a pop-up and struck out a batter to retire the side. A 4-6-3 double play killed a Spartan rally in the bottom of the fifth.

Ohio State took a 4-3 lead in the sixth on a double steal play. Gantt singled and Sergakis walked to set up the dynamic play on the base paths. Michigan State catcher Matt Byars sailed a throw down to third base to allow Gantt to score easily. The double steal broke the Ohio State team season record to put the 2016 Buckeyes at 97 on the year, passing the 2001 team’s record of 96 swipes.

The Buckeye defense held its own behind its strong bullpen and left a runner on third base in the sixth. With a 4-3 score, Ohio State once again put pressure on the Spartan infield and it paid off, scoring three times on one hit, one MSU error and a wild pitch to for a four-run cushion. A throwing error allowed Montgomery to score on a sac bunt by Washington. L Grant Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases and a wild pitch gifted Bosiokovic a run from third base. Gantt followed with a sac fly to center field for the 7-3 score.

ON THE MOUND
Woodby made his third start of the year and gave up three runs, three earned, on five hits with a strikeout and two walks in 2.2 innings of work. Michalik kept the game tied at three for the next three ininngs. He ended the third with the pickoff and left a runner on second base in the fourth with his second strikeout of the morning. In the fifth, he made a MSU hitter roll over for a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. Kinker fanned two on no runs or hits in the final 3.2 innings of the game.