While many Ohio State students are enjoying their summer off, some of the elite Buckeye student-athletes continue to compete. The Ohio State women’s rowing team excelled at the NCAA Championships, while the men’s golf team exceeded expectations as well. The baseball team had a tough draw in the Nashville Regional, but played inspired baseball to win a game that last four hours and 33 minutes. What follows are recaps of the past week of events in Ohio State Olympic sports, with links to the press releases.
Rowing
The Ohio State rowing team finished fifth overall at the NCAA Championships with a total of 105 points.
The Fours and Second Varsity Eight placed the highest with fifth-place finishes among the best D-I rowing programs in the nation.
Washington brought home the gold, sweeping the championships and earning a team total of 132 points.
The First Varsity Eight raced a time of 6:11.042 to finish sixth in the Grand Finals for a sixth-place finish at the championships. The eighth-seeded boat featured Anjali Fernandes, Leonie Heuer, Ida Petersen, Lexie Nothdurft, Ida Kruse, Jessy Vermeer, Alessandra Montesano, Sierra Tiede and Grace Libben.
The Second Varsity Eight recorded a fifth-place finish for the Scarlet and Gray with a time of 6:20.449. Sophie Blair, Mane Bravo Alvez, Sierra Cydrus, Meg Cymanski, Rachel DeWitte, Michaela Nordhaus, Maddie Perrett, Michayla Binkley and Claire Cannon entered as the seventh seed, but took fifth.
The First Varsity Four of Divya Batchu, Kendell Massier, Julia Miklasevich, Ally Hatton and Maddie Frendberg also took fifth at 6:59.256 to conclude an excellent season.
The 2019 NCAA Championships marked the 12th top-five finish in program history, with the last coming in 2017 when the Buckeyes also took fifth.
Baseball
The Ohio State baseball team fell, 8-2, against No. 2 Vanderbilt in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,626 at Hawkins Field in the opening round of the Nashville Regional in the 2019 NCAA Tournament May 31.
“It was a tough ball game tonight and our guys competed,” head coach Greg Beals said. “We got off to a really good start and took some really good swings. There in the middle parts of the game we had some chances to make some plays defensively and makes some pitches, get some hits, but weren’t able to do that tonight.
“Give credit to Vanderbilt. Drake Fellows settled in and pitched well in the middle innings and allowed his offense to do some things. That’s a tough lineup from top to bottom. There the No. 2 team in the country for a reason.”
The Buckeyes scored first off of Vanderbilt right-handed starter Drake Fellows in the top of the first. Dominic Canzone led off the game with a double down the left field line. After Matt Carpenter moved Canzone over, Dillon Dingler slapped an infield single to the right side, scoring Canzone.
The Commodores took the lead with two runs in the bottom half against Ohio State right-handed starting pitcher Garrett Burhenn. JJ Bleday put two in scoring position with a ground-rule double to right field and Ethan Paul and Pat Demarco put Vandy up 2-1 with an RBI groundout and an RBI single, respectively.
Pohl launched a 1-0 pitch off Fellows beyond the right field fence and out of the ballpark at Hawkins Field, tying the game at 2.
Vanderbilt scored six unanswered runs to win the ball game, with OSU struggling to hit the ball after Pohl’s long ball. Fellows threw a complete game, allowing just two runs on seven hits and two walks with nine strikeouts to improve to 12-0.
Burhenn received the loss to drop to 6-4, surrendering six runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Left-handed reliever Mitch Milheim offered two innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Right-handed reliever Bayden Root worked 1 ⅔ innings on one run, three hits, one walk and one strikeout.
The Buckeyes fought from behind to come back and win, 9-8, against McNeese in 13 innings to survive and advance June 1 in the Music City.
Junior left-handed reliever Andrew Magno fanned a career-high 12 hitters in an astounding 7 ⅓ innings of relief, while senior captain centerfielder Ridge Winand came up with the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 13th.
“Incredibly proud of how our guys fought today,” 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, from Dublin, Ohio, who won Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament, excelled again for the Buckeyes, limiting McNeese to one run on five hits and two walks with 12 punch-outs in 7 ⅓ innings.
The Scarlet and Gray dropped an elimination game against Indiana State, 10-5, at the Nashville Regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t want to talk about today’s game, my comments will be relative to this group of guys and what they became this year,” Beals said. “Just really proud of how we responded when our backs were against the wall. That character and brotherhood was revealed these last few weeks. We are obviously disappointed with the result of today’s game and that hurts because we have a vision of taking the next step.
“We are in the national tournament in three out of the last four years. The next step is to get in to a super for a three-game series to see who goes to Omaha. We didn’t get that but there is so much to be proud of this season.”
In a game where Ohio State and Indiana State combined for 29 hits, the Buckeye bats were alive
Pohl hit 3 for 5 with a homer and two RBI, Dingler went 3 for 5 with two doubles and two runs scored, while Brady Cherry batted 3 for 5 with one RBI and one run.
Pohl hit .462 (6 for 13) with two home runs, one double, three RBI and three runs scored in the Nashville Regional. Cherry batted .429 (6 for 14) with a homer and three RBI in the three-game set.
With a single in the fourth inning, Canzone extended his program-record reached base streak to 59 games.
Men’s Golf
The Ohio State men’s golf team concluded an excellent season with a 13th-place finish in the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Buckeyes had a 72-hole score of 1,201 to end the tourney 49-over par and just four spots out of the eight-team match play.
Daniel Wetterich took 19th place, shooting 293 (71-74-74-74) to card a 72 hole score of five-over. The senior’s season ended in which he led Ohio State with a 71.83 scoring average, earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, and picked up his first individual collegiate victory. The lone underclassman of the group, Laken Hinton, finished 13-over to tie for 43rd place. Will Grimmer’s collegiate career came to an end with a 15-over 303, placing 53rd. He posted a final round 81 to go with rounds of 72, 72, 78 to close out his decorated Ohio State career. Caleb Ramirez finished 20-over par with a final round 77. His 72-hole score of 308 (77-73-81-77) placed him in 68th place and contributed three scores to the team. Senior Will Voetsch rounded out the starting five for Ohio State, scoring a 28-over 316 (77-81-78-80) to finish tied for 79th.
Ohio State had an excellent season, winning three tournaments and posting five top-3 finishes on the season. The Buckeyes played outstanding golf down the stretch, finishing second at the Irish Creek Intercollegiate, winning the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, and shooting 20-under as the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional to place second and advance to the NCAA Championships.
The senior quartet of Daniel Wetterich, Will Grimmer, Caleb Ramirez, and Will Voetsch played inspired golf and outperformed all expectations to be competing in the final round of stroke play of the NCAA Championships.
