Ohio State returned home to the Covelli Center on Sunday but suffered its first loss to No. 18 Pittsburgh 21-13.
The No. 7 Buckeyes dropped four out of the ten weights with Jesse Mendez picking up his first loss of the season at 141 pounds.
Most starters were healthy for the match except for Nick Feldman at heavyweight who suffered an injury at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas on Dec. 2 with which he wasn’t able to get onto the mat against the Panthers.
Here’s how the dual went at each weight:
125 pounds: No. 22 Brendan McCrone went down early 7-3 after the first period but was able to cut that to 10-8 with less than a minute remaining in the bout. It wasn’t enough to get the win and he fell in the opening match of the dual to unranked Colton Camacho.
133 pounds: After a very strong finish in the Cliff Keen tournament, No. 12 Nic Bouzakis continued his hot streak, this time taking down No. 23 Vinnie Santaniello in a 5-2 decision, tying the dual at 3-3. Bouzakis had lost to Santaniello earlier this year in the Clarion Open.
141 pounds: No. 3Mendez fought through a scoreless first period and got an early escape in the second to take the lead. With a 3-1 lead late in the third period, No. 20 Cole Mathews had a takedown with seconds remaining to win the match 4-2.
149 pounds: Through the first period, No. 5 Dylan D’Emilio was down 5-0, but in a busy four minutes, he came from behind against No. 19 Finn Solomon to win 14-11and tie the dual back up 6-6.
157 pounds: No. 13 Paddy Gallagher picked up the first bonus point of the match for either team in a 17-3 major decision victory over Jared Keslar to put the Buckeyes up by four.
165 pounds: The Panthers answered right away with a bonus point of their own when No. 20 Isaac Wilcox of the Buckeyes lost his bout to No. 8 Holden Heller 10-2 to tie the dual up 10-10 with four weights to go.
174 pounds: No. 9 Carson Kharchla fought to an 11-7 victory over No. 19 Luca Augustine, securing a 13-10 lead for Ohio State after a back-and-forth bout.
184 pounds: The lead didn’t last long when No. 15 Gavin Hoffman fell against No. 20 Reece Heller. He put his only points on the board in the third period in a 12-2 loss.
197 pounds: No. 22 Luke Geog lost to No. 17 Mac Stout in a 7-1 decision. He was down 3-1 going into the final period, and after an escape and a takedown by Stout in the third, Pittsburg led the dual 17-13
Heavyweight: With Feldman out, Hogan Swenski needed a tech fall win over No. 14 Dayton Pitzer to give the Buckeyes a win in the dual. Swenski dropped the bout 12-2 and the Panthers secured the 21-13 upset over the Buckeyes.
Ohio State will be back on the mat for the Collegiate Duals at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville where it will go up against No. 19 Northern Iowa at 3 p.m., Lock Haven at 5 p.m. and No. 2 NC State at 7 p.m. on Dec. 19.
