It was another eventful week in Ohio State athletics as championship season rolls on. The women's rowing team captured another Big Ten championship, while the men's tennis team fell to UCLA in another NCAA tourney heart breaker. Both golf teams competed in NCAA tournament action, the track and field teams brought home some B1G hardware and the baseball team is off to a hot start at the Big Ten Tournament.
Golf
The men's golf team saw their season come to an end after finishing 12th at the NCAA Columbia Regional, failing to reach the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Tee-k Kelly paced the Buckeyes with a 220 (+4) on the weekend, good for 41st in the tournament. Frederik Hammer (+5) and Boo Timko also posted top-50 performances, finishing 43rd and 49th respectively.
Meanwhile, the women's team kicked off the NCAA Championships in Tulsa yesterday. The Lady Buckeyes finished first in the B1G Championships and 5th in the NCAA Central Regional to earn the bid. The appearance is Ohio State's 10th since 2000, a strong run for a program north of the Sun Belt. They are currently tied for 8th place out of 24 teams. More coverage to come on the Lady Buckeyes' quest for an NCAA title throughout the weekend.
baseball
The baseball Buckeyes wrapped up their regular season by dropping two out of three to Northwestern. After falling 6-3 and 6-2 in the first two games, the Buckeyes captured the finale 5-2 on Senior Day.
“Today’s win was big going into Big Ten Tournament play next week,” Ohio State head coach Greg Beals said. “The seniors were huge today. Greg Greve had a big-time start and Tim Wetzel affected the scoreboard with his home run and with his defense. Our goal now is to carry this into Omaha next week.”
- Greg Beals via OhioStateBuckeyes.com
The Buckeyes earned a bid to the Big Ten Tournament as the seven seed and face second-seeded Nebraska today. As of the time of publishing, the Buckeyes were leading the Cornhuskers 6-3 in the eighth inning. Ohio State will most likely need to win the B1G tournament to earn an NCAA championship bid, and they're well on their way with a strong start today.
UPDATE, 5:01 PM: Nebraska rallied in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Ohio State 7-6. The Buckeyes will face Illinois in the loser's bracket on Thursday.
Track and field
Both track and field teams competed in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships this weekend, with the men finishing fourth and the women finishing eighth.
In men's action, Jackson Neff captured a Big Ten title in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Devin Smith (the wide receiver) claimed second place in the high jump, clearing 2.14 meters. The high jump by Smith ranks in the top five in school history. Also winning silver medals were Timothy Faust in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and Donovan Robertson in the 110-meter hurdles.
Big Ten title winners for the women's team were Katie Borchers in the 800-meter run and Ashlee Abraham in the 100-meter dash. Borchers' time of 2:05.17 set a new school record and was one of the top 25 times in Division I this season.
Both men 's and women's teams return to the track next weekend at the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla.
