Ohio State’s Ronnie Dawson dances around the bases after homering to beat Michigan State in the 2016 Big Ten Tournament. (Press Pros File Photos)
They’ve made the neighborhood show for the first time since 2019 when the Buckeyes take on Nebraska on Tuesday, hoping to add to some memories from two successful Big Ten Tournaments past. We were there!
Covington, OH – Somehow they did it, eschewing the ups and downs of a season that at times made you wonder…while at others made you believe that to this roster infused with young talent nothing was entirely impossible.
Yes, the Ohio State Buckeyes regular season (28-24) concluded with an embarrassing run rule loss to Rutgers on Saturday – a 12-1 seven inning affair that saw them get just one hit (by Matt Graveline) and look anti-climactic doing it. But enough said about the glass half empty. Half full, we’ll better remember the wins over Southern Cal, Arizona State, Cal, Oklahoma, and series wins over West Virginia, Purdue, Iowa, and Northwestern…forgetting about the blowouts against, as we revel in the blowouts for.
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They came up big on the final weekend, while Michigan State and Maryland didn’t come up at all, blown away by Nebraska and Penn State while facing the exact win-or-go-home scenario that the Buckeyes weathered. And now it remains to be seen how big they can become against Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Penn State, Purdue and Illinois this week…with a little more on the line than just the pride in saying you made it. Conquer this, and there’s an NCAA regional invitation riding on the outcome.
That said, they’ll open play on Tuesday, against Nebraska, a team to which they dropped a road series back in April, two games to one…and hoping to capture the magic of those past two Ohio State teams that pitched and hit just enough at the right times to get it done.
We’re talking about the 2016 and 2019 teams, of course, of which these current Buckeyes have no knowledge, or appreciation for some of those past tournament moments.
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In 2016, I’ll personally remember the opening game against Michigan, to whom they were an underdog, and third baseman Nick Sergakis (nicknamed Greek crime) hooking a home run inside the foul pole in left field to beat the Wolverines, 8-3. Sergakis led the club in hitting that year (.332), and already had nine homers prior to the tournament. A dead-red fastball hitter, in a game-turning moment, Michigan challenged him with a fastball and the Buckeyes’ third baseman crushed it.
Buckeye Tanner Tully, as he appeared in the 2016 Big Ten Tournament.
In that same series I’ll remember fighting their way out of the grueling losers bracket, and Ronnie Dawson homering against Michigan State when only a home run would do to beat the Spartans, 3-2, to move back to the winner’s bracket and on to the championship round.
Tanner Tully, the indefatiguable lefthander, pitched, and pitched, and pitched…and set a competitive bar for the rest of the staff to match. And they did. None more than reliever Seth Kinker, from Huntington, West Virginia, who finished that season with a 1.65 ERA while appearing in 38 games and pitching 54.2 innings. Kinker had the best slider I’ve seen in the Big Ten, before, or since.
And of course, the final game against Iowa when half the state of Iowa showed up to support the Hawkeyes, while parents and loved ones showed up to cheer on the Buckeyes. They fell behind 4-0, then scored 5 in the fifth to take the lead, and held on to withstand a furious Iowa comeback in the eighth inning…and won, 8-7.
Again in 2019 they got there on the bats of Dominic Canzone (.345) and Brady Cherry (.314) who each hammered 16 home runs that season; and on the young arms of Seth Lonsway, Garrett Burhenn, and Griffan Smith. But the story of that tournament turned out to be MVP, and senior, Andrew Magno, a 5’10” lefthander from Columbus, who came out of the bullpen to bail them out in wins over Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota and Nebraska, working a remarkable 9.2 innings over four wins in five days. Magno is currently pitching in AAA for the Detroit Tigers.
Canzone, now playing for the Seattle Mariners, went 4 for 14 in that 2019 tournament as teams repeatedly pitched around him.
Reliever Andrew Magno pitched 9.2 innings in four games to win in 2019.
Cherry, who’s out of baseball now, went 7 for 20 in the tournament with a home run and 5 RBIs.
Griffan Smith, Seth Lonsway, and Garrett Burhenn each had starts in that tournament in which they pitched 7 innings or more…but the rubber-armed Magno stole the show and pitched the Buckeyes into the NCAA regional the following week against Vanderbilt, the eventual National Champion.
Can the 2024 Buckeyes do something like that? Do they compare? And can you compare?
Well, those 2016 and 2019 teams had a lot of seniors and three-year starters – Ronnie Dawson, Sergaikas, Canzone, Cherry, and Magno. And the pitching staffs were probably more advanced, or experienced.
But Seth Lonsway once told me that once you get out there and realize that you’re playing against the same teams you beat in the regular season, it doesn’t seem nearly so impossible.
And maybe that works again, this time for Landon Beidelschies, Henry Kaczmar, Tyler Pettorini, Mitchell Okuley, and Matt Graveline…against Nebraska on Tuesday.
It’s why the Mets were called the ‘Miracle Mets’ in 1969. And why, in their World Series win over Baltimore that year, Orioles manager Earl Weaver tried to explain his team’s miracle failure this way – the only way.
“You still have to play the game,” said Weaver.
Always!
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