Olympic Recap: Men’s Golf Finishes Fourth, Baseball Struggles in California, Men’s Volleyball Takes One Of Two From Pac-12

Men’s Golf Finishes Fourth In Hayt Invitational

Down in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., the Buckeyes were able to take fourth place at Sawgrass Country Club while Neal Shipley took fourth place as an individual for his third top-five finish of the season, shooting one-under par for the tournament, helped by a 69 on day one.

Adam Wallin tied for 11^th individually despite struggling on day three with a 77. His 70s on the first two days were enough to keep him at just one-over par for the tournament. Maxwell Moldovan was three-over par for the tournament, tying for 18^th place.

Jackson Chandler shot a nine-over par for the tournament with a 72 on day two while Topher Reed and Jacob Tarkany were 21-over par and 22-over par, respectively.

The Buckeyes (+12) finished behind North Carolina (-3), Alabama (+1) and Virginia (+4) in the tournament.

Ohio State is off until March 25-26 when it travels back to Florida to the Floridian Golf Club in Palm City for the Valspar Collegiate.

Baseball Goes 2-3 In California

The Buckeyes have had a tough trip to California, leaving with just two wins and three losses in four games against Cal Poly and a win over Cal State Fullerton.

The trip began with a 4-2 loss on Friday night in which Landon Beidelschies threw four scoreless innings before giving up three in the fifth, one of which was unearned. Zach Brown came in relief for 2 1/3 innings, giving up one unearned run and Gavin DeVooght threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings to finish the game. The Buckeyes had six hits in the game, Henry Kaczmar, Nick Giamarusti and Joseph Mershon with two each, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.

Game two was close until the Buckeyes gave up 14 runs in the sixth inning, needing four pitchers to get through it. Hunter Shaw gave up four runs out of the bullpen before Logan Jones gave up four of his own. Tim Baird gave up one run and hit a batter before handing the ball to Noah Williamson, who gave up five runs but ultimately ended the bleeding. Ohio State had six hits in what finished as a 19-2 loss.

They bounced back the next day with Gavin Bruni on the bump, who got the win in five innings of work with two strikeouts, four walks and two earned runs. Blaine Wynk held the Mustangs to one run in three innings of relief and Justin Eckhardt got the save with a scoreless ninth inning.

Seven of the Buckeyes nine starters had a hit in the game, and they were able to piece together five runs with Tyler Pettorini, Matthew Graveline, Kaczmar and Mershon each being credited with an RBI, the latter three each getting two hits.

Chase Herrell started the fourth game of the series and gave up seven hits and three runs – two of them earned – in four innings, which would be the only runs the Mustangs scored in the game. DeVooght and Brown both threw two scoreless in relief. Ohio State only managed to get one run across when Kaczmar knocked in Nolan Farley on a groundout and the Buckeyes lost 3-1.

After a day off, the offense caught fire again, scoring 13 runs against Cal State Fullerton with 16 hits as a team. Graveline, Pettorini and Mitchell Okuley each had three while Okuley drove in five of the 13 runs on his own.

To try to keep the starters fresh for the weekend, head coach Bill Mosiello opted to let the bullpen get through the full game. Shaw started on the mound, but only last 1/3 of an inning, giving up four earned runs, seven total, on four hits and two walks. Six other Buckeyes got into the game, and only Brown was able to manage to keep another run from scoring in his one inning of work, but the offensive explosion was enough to take a 13-10 win.

The Buckeyes are in Morgantown, W.V., next for a three-game series against West Virginia before coming to Columbus for their home opener against Georgetown on March 22, the beginning of another three-game series.

Men’s Volleyball Beats USC, Falls To UCLA In Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge

The Buckeyes matched up against two future conference opponents over the weekend, facing No. 12 USC on March 8 and No. 4 UCLA on March 10.

The Buckeyes took three of four sets against the Trojans with Jacob Pasteur leading the way with 15 kills while both Kyle Teune and Shane Wetzel had 11 each. Michael Wright led the team with 35 assists and Justin Howard had eight blocks in the win.

Ohio State was swept by the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles falling 25-23 in the first set, 25-16 in the second and 25-20 in the third.

Pasteur had 13 kills followed by Wetzel with 11 and Teune with 10. Wright led the team in assits again with 29, but the Bruins were too much for the Buckeyes on Sunday.

Ohio State had previously beaten the Bruins earlier this season when they were ranked No. 1, which helped the Buckeyes get to the No. 1 ranking they held for a short time before losing to Penn State in back-to-back games.

Ohio State is back in action on Saturday against Purdue Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne, Ind., at 7 p.m.