Buckeyes vs. Wright State at Louisville Regional Friday – Ohio State Buckeyes

June 2, 2016

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Big Ten Conference tournament champion Ohio State will compete in its 20th NCAA Tournament in school history this weekend as the No. 2 seed in the Louisville Regional. The 43-18-1 Buckeyes, ranked 20th this week by D1Baseball, meet the No. 3 seed Wright State Raiders, 44-15, at 2 p.m. ET at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville, Ky. No. 1 seed Louisville (47-12), who earned the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, will play No. 4 seed Western Michigan (22-32) at 6 p.m. ET Friday. The winner of these games play at 4 p.m. ET Saturday while the losing teams play in an elimination game at Noon Saturday. Each game from the Louisville Regional will be streamed on ESPN3 and fans can listen on AM 1460 ESPN.

ON THE BUMP
LHP Tanner Tully (8-3, 2.34 ERA) vs. RHP Jesse Scholtens (10-1, 2.72 ERA)

Date	Time	Live Stats	Live Audio	Radio	Live Video
Friday, June 3	2 p.m. ET	ncaa.com	Listen ($)	AM 1460 ESPN	ESPN3

BUCKEYES IN A NUTSHELL

Ohio State earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after winning the 2016 Big Ten Tournament title last weekend in Omaha, Neb.
The Buckeyes won their ninth B1G tournament title and first since 2007 after winning four straight elimination games in a two-day span to post a 5-1 mark at the B1G Tournament. Ohio State defeated, Iowa, 8-7, in the title game in front of 10,350 fans at TD Ameritrade Park. The Buckeyes became the first school to win the title from the loser’s bracket since 2006.
Ohio State is making its 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2009. The Buckeyes are 42-39 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
This is the first NCAA appearance under sixth-year head coach Greg Beals. Beals took Ball State to a 2006 Regional. He is 1-2 all-time in NCAA play.
Ronnie Dawson was named the B1G Tournament MVP, breaking the tournament record for hits (15) and doubles (6). He was joined by four other Buckeyes on the B1G All-Tournament team, including catcher Jalen Washington, shortstop Craig Nennig, second baseman Troy Kuhn and center fielder Troy Montgomery. Nennig also tied the tournament record for steals (6).
As a team, the Buckeyes set multiple tournament records. The OSU pitching staff set a strikeouts record (44) and innings pitched record (55.0 IP, while the squad tied the tournament record for steals (13).
Ohio State is one of three Big Ten schools to earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament (Nebraska and Minnesota).
The Buckeyes went 16-4 in the month of May, winning 10 of their last 12 Big Ten games before making the title run at the B1G Tournament.
Ohio State has set the program record for strikeouts in a season (481) and stolen bases (98).
Dawson was joined by Nick Sergakis and Tanner Tully on the First Team All-Big Ten list last week.
The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten in home runs (56), doubles (128), triples (50) and walks (266). It’s the most HRs by an OSU team in seven years.
The staff collected the top league ERA (2.63). The group ranks fifth in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.19) and BBs allowed per (2.42).
Beals picked up his 200th win at Ohio State last weekend after a 3-2 victory in 10 innings vs. Michigan State May 28.
The team is led by one its largest senior classes in school history – nine members.

OHIO STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Buckeyes are making their 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2009. Ohio State is 42-39 all-time in NCAA play and has won one national championship (1966). Last time in the tournament, the Buckeyes went 2-2 at the Tallahassee Regional during the 2009 season. Ohio State has advanced to two Super Regionals in school history (1999 and 2003).

EPIC BIG TEN TOURANMENT RUN
Ohio State is 8-2 in its last 10 games and head into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country. The Buckeyes went 5-1 in the Big Ten Tournament to claim their first title since the 2007 campaign to finish off the month of May with a 16-4 record. Ohio State defeated Michigan twice, winning 8-3, in the opener May 25 at TD Ameritrade Park – home of the CWS. After dropping a heartbreaking 5-4 walk-off loss against Iowa May 27, Ohio State defeated Michigan, 11-4, to improve to 5-0 vs. its archrival on the year and keep their tournament title hopes alive. The Buckeyes won four straight games in a 24-hour span to claim the championship. Rain forced the second contest vs. the Wolverines to be finished the following day. The Buckeyes defeated Michigan State, 3-2, in 10 innings after a go-ahead solo home run by Ronnie Dawson in the nightcap May 28 to put the Scarlet and Gray into the final day of the tournament. The Buckeyes beat the Spartans again, 7-3, the following morning before claiming a thrilling 8-7 win over Iowa in front of 10,350 fans – mostly dressed in Black and Gold. Troy Kuhn hit the go-ahead RBI double with two outs to push Dawson around home. The OSU pitching staff held strong in the grueling six-game stretch, breaking the tournament record for innings pitched (55.0) and strikeouts (44).

A LOOK AT THE RAIDERS
Wright State (44-15) is making it second appearance in the regionals and sixth overall at the Division I level. The Raiders claimed the Horizon League tournament title with a 7-2 win over Valpariso May 28 at Nischwitz Stadium. In 2015, Wright State was the runner-up at the Champaign Regional. Nine different Raiders earned conference honors highlighted by Coach of the Year Greg Lovelady and Freshman of the Year Caleb Sampen. Mitch Roman leads the team at the plate with a .339 average with 25 swipes, while Ryan Fucci is the top power hitter with 11 home runs, while also stealing 25 bags.

OHIO STATE VS. WRIGHT STATE
Ohio State leads the all-time series vs. the Raiders, 22-17-1. The NCAA regional game is the first meeting between the two schools since the 2004 campaign. Last time out, Ohio State won, 13-4, in Columbus April 21, 2004. Head coach Greg Beals is 4-2 all-time vs. Wright State.

DAWSON NAMED B1G TOURNAMENT MVP, FIVE BUCKEYES EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Ronnie Dawson made a statement in Omaha last week. The OSU left fielder was named the tournament’s most outstanding player after batting .577 (15-for-26) with eight runs scored, six doubles, one home run, six RBI, four walks and four stolen bases. Dawson set the tournament record for hits (15) and doubles (6). Joining him on the All-Tournament Team were catcher Jalen Washington, shortstop Craig Nennig, second baseman Troy Kuhn and outfielder Troy Montgomery. Washington caught a B1G-record 55.0 innings and guided the OSU pitching staff to a tournament-record 44 strikeouts, while hitting .238 with three runs scored, two doubles, four RBI and two walks. Nennig tied the tournament record for stolen bases (6), including three swipes vs. Michigan May 28 to tie the single-game record. He batted .296 (8-for-27) with eight runs scored, one RBI and three walks. Kuhn had a tournament-high 10 RBI, batting .296 (8-for-27) with four runs scored, two doubles and three walks. He hit the go-ahead RBI double in the ninth in the tournament final vs. Iowa May 29. Montgomery batted .409 (9-for-22) with four runs scored, four RBI, three walks and one stolen base.

DAWSON NAMED THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICAN
On the eve of his team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009, Ronnie Dawson has another accomplishment to celebrate: the junior was name a Third Team Louisville Slugger All-American today. The first All-American since 2013 and the 50th in Ohio State history, Dawson was one of the biggest reasons for his team’s 18-4 record down the stretch that culminated in a Big Ten Championship. The junior outfielder is hitting .329 with a team-leading total of 13 home runs and 47 RBI, all while ranking 10th in the country with 23 doubles. He currently ranks second on the OSU single-season doubles list with that total, and his 48 career two-baggers put him fourth all-time in school history. Earlier this season he became the first Buckeye ever to have at least 40 doubles, 20 home runs, and 40 stolen bases in a career.

OHIO STATE JUMPS INTO NATIONAL RANKINGS
With their five tournament wins last weekend, Ohio State jumped into several national polls for the first time this year. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 20 by D1Baseball, No. 23 by Baseball America, No. 24 by Perfect Game and No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Ohio State is also receiving votes in the NCBWA poll this week.

OHIO STATE RECORDS BROKEN
The Buckeyes have broken three single-season records this year, including stolen bases (98), strikeouts (481) and innings pitched (562.2). The 21 saves tied with the 2009 team for the most in program history. Ohio State has ripped 128 doubles this year, which is fifth-most all-time.

SOME MORE NOTES

The Buckeyes are outscoring opponents, 360-227, and 112-59, from the seventh inning on.
Ohio State is 32-3 when leading after seven innings and 36-4 when leading after eight frames.
The Buckeyes are 21-4 when not committing an error and 22-2 when holding opponents to two runs or less.
The Scarlet and Gray are 13-2-1 when scoring in the first inning.
Sergakis and Dawson lead the team with 23 multi-hit games and 14 multi-RBI contests.
Ohio State is fifth in the Big Ten with a .974 fielding percentage.
Sergakis is hitting .359 with runners in scoring position (28-for-78), while Washington is hitting .308 (20-for-65).
Dawson leads the team with 18 two-out RBI followed by Kuhn (11), Cherry (11) and Nennig (11).
Opposing hitters have just a .111 average (4-for-36) with two outs vs. Michael Horejsei, while Havird has induced a team-best 132 groundball outs.
Ohio State went 5-0 vs. Michigan in one season for the first time in school history.

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