Ohio State baseball to play Vanderbilt in NCAA Regionals

After defeating Nebraska to win the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 7 seed, the Ohio State Buckeyes knew that they already punched their ticket to the NCAA Regionals. On Monday, they found out who they’d have to play — and travel to.

The Scarlet and Gray, who enter this leg of the postseason at 34-25, will face the No. 2 overall seed Vanderbilt. The Commodores lead all teams in college baseball with 49 wins, and have only lost 10 games all season. At home, the reigning SEC regular season and tournament champions are a staggering 31-5.

Ohio State has momentum, though, as they’ve won eight of their last nine games en route to their 10th Big Ten Tournament title. Six Buckeyes (Andrew Magno, Seth Lonsway, Griffan Smith, Dillon Dingler, Brady Cherry and Dominic Canzone) were named to the conference all-tournament squad, with Magno being named most outstanding player.

Because the Commodores are the top team within the quad, they’ll be hosting the regional series between Vanderbilt-Ohio State and Indiana State-McNeese, with the winner advancing to face the winner from the Morgantown Region.

Regional rules will operate under a double-elimination format, with the Super Regionals operating under a best-of-3 format.

The Big Ten got five teams in the field of 64, with Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska joining OSU. However, none of the B1G schools are a host venue for the regionals.

Ohio State-Vanderbilt is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET Friday, with the game to be broadcast on ESPN2.