Baseball: Buckeyes beat Oral Roberts 8-3
ByDAVE BIDDLE 20 hours ago
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The Ohio State baseball team defeated Oral Roberts 8-3 on Sunday to conclude the Kleberg Bank Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Junior right fielder Dominic Canzone smashed a three-run home run and collected a total of four RBIs for the Buckeyes (5-2).
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Griffan Smith received the start for the Buckeyes and was on his game (5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K). The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Smith moved to 2-0 on the young season, and now has 14 strikeouts, while allowing only 3 earned runs, seven hits and three walks in 12 innings this year.
True freshman left-handed reliever Mitch Milheim tossed two perfect innings for the Buckeyes to close out the game, and now has not given up a run in any of his three appearances this season (4 innings).
The Buckeyes got on the board in the bottom of the first with a single from junior leadoff hitter/shortstop Noah West, who scored on a sac fly from Canzone.
Then in the second inning, Ohio State plated another run to make the score 2-0 thanks to singles from junior first baseman Conner Pohl and sophomore catcher Brent Todys, and an RBI sac bunt by freshman designated hitter Marcus Ernst.
Then the Buckeyes really broke things open in the bottom of the fourth. Todys led off with a single, true freshman third baseman Zach Dezenzo walked, and Earst singled to load the bases. Then senior centerfielder Malik Jones had an RBI single, and that was followed up by an RBI sac fly from senior second baseman Kobie Foppe to make the count 4-0.
Canzone then blasted the aforementioned three-run home run to give the Buckeyes a commanding 7-0 lead. It was his third HR of the season already.
Also for the Buckeyes, West finished with two hits on the day, including a ground-rule double. Pohl and Todys also had two knocks (and Todys also got on base due to a hit by pitch), and Dezenzo drove in Pohl with a single in the seventh to give OSU an 8-3 lead.
Weekend wrap-up
Ohio State finished 1-2 in the Kleberg Bank Classic, with its lone win coming against Oral Roberts.
On Friday, the Buckeyes fell to BYU 5-1, with redshirt freshman left-handed pitcher Seth Lonsway picking up the first loss of his collegiate career.
Then Saturday night, Ohio State lost a heartbreaker to the host school, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Buckeyes were leading throughout the game – including as much as 7-3 in the latter innings – but Corpus Christi blasted a two-run walk-off home run off OSU junior lefty Andrew Magno in the bottom of the ninth to steal the win. It ruined a great performance for OSU senior left fielder Brady Cherry who was 3-for-4, including his third home run of the season.
The games in the round-robin tournament were played at Whataburger Field, which is the home of the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (an affiliate of the Houston Astros). Ohio State will remain in the area to play an extra game against Texas A&M-Corpus Chrisi at their on-campus field on Monday before returning to Columbus.
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Ohio State will return to Florida next weekend, with a four-game series in Daytona Beach against Bethune-Cookman.
Oral Roberts (3-3) was winless in the tournament. The Golden Eagles lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5-1 on Friday, and fell to BYU 8-3 on Saturday.
https://247sports.com/college/ohio-...l-Roberts-Dominic-Canzone-home-run-129446445/