June 1, 2019

Ohio State Outlasts McNeese in 13-Inning Marathon at Nashville Regional

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.  – The boys survived and advanced on Saturday in the Music City. Junior left-handed reliever Andrew Magno fanned a career-high 12 hitters in 7.1 innings of relief, while senior captain centerfielder Ridge Winand came up with the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 13th as the Ohio State baseball team battled McNeese in a four hour and 33 minute marathon, winning a 9-8 elimination game in 13 innings of the Nashville Regional Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Buckeyes (36-26) advance to Sunday of the regional and will play an elimination game at 3 p.m. ET Sunday at Hawkins Field. The Scarlet and Gray will play the loser of the Vanderbilt-Indiana State contest. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and can be heard on the radio on AM 1460 ESPN.

QUOTE FROM COACH
“Incredibly proud of how our guys fought today,” head coach Greg Beals said. “It wasn’t our cleanest or best baseball game as far as skill, but maybe the best game we’ve played from a culture standpoint. The competitive toughness and the brotherhood and the things that we believe in; we were really good in that area. I’m happy for our guys. I have to comment on the McNeese ball club and the fight that they had. It’s unfortunate that a team has to lose that game and go home. We got a lot out of our guys today and they fought hard. Andrew Magno gave us everything he had and Ridge Winand, our senior captain, gets the game-winning hit. Those are the backend moments that I’m really happy for today.”

MAGNO THE MAGNIFICENT
Magno, from Dublin, Ohio, the most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament, was once again magnificent for the Baseball Buckeyes. He worked a career-high 7.1 innings of relief and fanned a career-high 12 to improve to 5-3 on the year. He limited the McNeese bats to one run, scattering five hits with two walks.

AT THE PLATE
Senior left fielder Brady Cherry led the Buckeyes at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBI and two walks. Freshman shortstop Zach Dezenzo was 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBI, two runs scored and two walks. Dominic Canzone also homered, scoring three runs and drawing three walks. Winand, from Butler, Ohio, came up with the biggest hit of the game in the top of the 13th when he sent a 3-1 pitch off McNeese reliever Peyton McLemore up the middle for the go-ahead two-out RBI single as Conner Pohl scored on the play.

MESSY FIRST INNING
There were three errors combined in the first inning as McNeese took a 2-1 lead. The Buckeyes scored the first run in the top on a sac fly by Dillon Dingler. Canzone scored on the play. Two McNeese throwing errors set up the OSU scoring play. In the bottom of the first, the Cowboys capitalized on two wild pitches and an error in left field. Cherry and Winand collided in the gap in left to put runners on second and third. A sac fly and wild pitch made it a 2-1 advantage for McNeese.

COWBOYS GROW LEAD
McNeese took advantage of three walks and a defensive breakdown on a double play turn to take a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third. A fielder’s choice up the middle scored one run before Carson Maxwell sent a RBI double to right center.

Z DINGER
Dezenzo put the Buckeyes back within one run in the top of the fourth with a two-run shot over the wall right vs. McNeese starter Rhett Deaton. Brent Todys and Nick Erwin also doubled in the inning.

CHERRY BOMB TIES IT
Cherry tied the game at 4-all with one swing in the bat in the top of the fifth. He launched a 3-2 pitch off Deaton over the wall in right center for his 16th homer of the season.

CANZONE TIES IT AGAIN
McNeese regained the lead in the fifth. However, Canzone rocketed an opposite-field homer over the 35-foot wall in left to tie the game again at 5-5. It was Canzone’s 16th long ball of the season.

MCNEESE REGAINS THE LEAD
The Cowboys regained the lead for the third time in the bottom of the sixth following a Buckeye miscue. McNeese scored after a lead-off double, a fly out and throwing error from right field allowed Julian Gonzalez to score the go-ahead run, 6-5. With the bases loaded, a two-out, two-run single made it an 8-5 game in favor of McNeese.

BUCKEYES FIGHT BACK TO EVEN
The Scarlet and Gray rallied with a three-run eighth inning to tie the game for the third time on the afternoon. Nick Erwin knocked a RBI single off Cowboy reliever Cayne Ueckert to plate Dezenzo. With runners on the corners, Matt Carpenter came up with a clutch RBI single up the middle to cut it back to one-run game as pinch-runner Aaron Hughes slid across the dish. A bases-loaded walk to Cherry tied it at 8-all. Ohio State had a chance to take the lead, but a runner’s interference call and strikeout kept the score knotted. The Scarlet and Gray got the go-ahead run on in the ninth, but McLemore induced two fly outs to keep it 8-8.

EXTRA BASEBALL
McNeese threatened to end the game in the bottom of the tenth with the bases-loaded against Magno. But Magno was locked in and a ground out right to Carpenter sending the game into the 11th. It was a heart-wrenching few seconds as Carpenter looked to step on the bag at second, but didn’t have enough time and had to fire across to Pohl at first base to retire the side. Marcus Ernst sent an opposite field liner to the gap in the left center in the 11th, but McNeese left fielder Payton Harden raced it down making a full-extension catch to end the top.

ON THE MOUND
Ohio State left-handed starting pitcher Seth Lonsway pitched 3.2 innings on four runs, two earned, two hits, three walks and four strikeouts in a no decision. Right-handed reliever Will Pfennig allowed three run on three hits with two walks in two innings of relief.

COACH VRABEL IN THE BOOTH
How many college baseball teams have a NFL head coach calling their games in the radio booth? Well the Buckeyes did today. Tennessee Titans head football coach and Buckeye legend Mike Vrabel was in the radio booth for 10 innings calling the game with play-by-play announcer Matt Andrews and color analysis Bob Spears. They were electric. Coach Vrabel spoke with the team at the titan’s practice facility on Thursday and spent time with the boys during batting practice pregame vs. McNeese. See the photo from the booth here.

GAME NOTES

  • Today was the first meeting between Ohio State and McNeese since 2004.
  • Ohio State walked a season-high 14 times this afternoon.
  • The OSU pitching staff combined to strike out 16 Cowboys.
  • The 36 wins by the Buckeyes in 2019 are tied for the second-most wins in the Greg Beals era.
  • With a lead-off walk, Dominic Canzone extended his program-record reached base streak to 58 games.
  • Other reached base streaks extended: Dezenzo (9), Carpenter (6), Todys (6) and Dingler (5).
  • Hit streaks extended: Carpenter (6), Canzone (5) and Todys (3).
  • Multi-hit games: Cherry (24) and Erwin (8).
  • Multi-RBI games: Cherry (14) and Dezenzo (10).
  • Canzone has a team-high 87 hits, which ranks tied for fifth in OSU single-season history.
  • Seth Lonsway leads all Division I freshman in strikeouts (126).
  • Lonsway ranks fifth all-time in OSU school history in single-season strikeouts (126).
  • Dezenzo became the first Buckeye freshman to hit 10 homers in a season since Doug Deeds hit 14 homers back in 2001.
  • Cherry launched his 16th homer of the season, become the first Buckeye to hit at least 16 homers in a single-season since Christian Snavely hit 16 in 2003.
  • Canzone also launched his 16th home of the season today. He leads the team with 18 doubles.
  • The Buckeye bats have now hit 68 homers on the year. It’s the most homers by a Buckeye squad since the 2003 team hit 70 homers.
  • Magno struck out a career-high 12 hitters today.

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