BASE: Buckeyes Fall Opening Round Game vs. No. 2 Vanderbilt at Nashville Regional
Ohio State to play elimination game vs. McNeese at 1 p.m. ET Saturday
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In front of a sold-out crowd of 3,626 at Hawkins Field, the Ohio State baseball team fell, 8-2, against No. 2 Vanderbilt Friday night in the opening round of the Nashville Regional in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. With the loss, the Buckeyes will play in an elimination game vs. McNeese at 1 p.m. ET Saturday. The contest will be streamed on ESPN3 can be heard on AM 1460 ESPN. Ohio State drops to 35-26 overall, while the Commodores improve to 50-10 in 2019.
QUOTE FROM COACH
“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.”
OHIO STATE STRIKES FIRST
The Buckeyes got off to a good start with a run on two hits vs. 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 to push Canzone home.
VANDERBILT TAKES THE LEAD
The Commodores took the lead with two runs in the bottom against Burhenn. JJ Bleday put two in scoring position with a ground-rule double to right. A RBI grounder by Ethan Paul and RBI single by Pat DeMarco put Vanderbilt up, 2-1.
POHL NO-DOUBTER TIES THE GAME
Pohl launched a 1-0 pitch off Fellows that carried over the right field wall and out of the ballpark at Hawkins Field. It was Pohl’s sixth homer of the year and tied the game at 2-all.
VANDERBILT STRIKES BACK
The Commodores jumped back on top with two runs in the bottom. A lead-off triple by Stephen Scott led to a sac fly by Harrison Ray. Julian Infante put Vanderbilt up two with a two-out, solo homer. Ohio State had a chance to get back to even in the top of the fourth, but Fellows got a Buckeye hitter to chase a pitch out of the zone for a strike out to leave them loaded. The Commodores added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Two lead-off walks and two wild pitched helped Vanderbilt make it a 6-2 advantage.
COMMODORES ADD ON
Vanderbilt doubled in the seventh and eighth to put its lead at 8-2. On the bump, Fellows tossed a complete game and limited the OSU bats to two runs on seven hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. He improves to 12-0 on the year.
ON THE MOUND
Ohio State starting pitcher Garrett Burhenn received the loss to drop to 6-4. He gave up six runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Left-handed reliever Mitch Milheim threw two innings on one run, two hits, four walks and four strikeouts. Right-handed reliever Bayden Root worked 1.2 innings on one run, three hits, one walk and one strikeout.
GAME NOTES
- Tonight was the first meeting between Ohio State and Vanderbilt in 44 years.
- The Commodores claim their first win vs. Ohio State in the all-time series. Ohio State is 4-1 all-time vs. Vanderbilt.
- The Buckeyes are 43-44 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- Ohio State is making its 22nd NCAA appearance this weekend.
- 10 different Buckeyes made their NCAA Regional debuts tonight.
- With a lead-off double, Dominic Canzone extended his program-record reached base streak to 57 games.
- Other reached base streaks extended: Dezenzo (8), Carpenter (5), Todys (5) and Dingler (4).
- Hit streaks extended: Carpenter (5) and Canzone (4).
- Pohl hit his sixth homer of the season and 14th of his career.
- Milheim tossed a career-high four strikeouts.