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You could be forgiven for counting out Ohio State baseball this season. The Buckeyes were, until the very end of the year, a middling team. They needed a late rally to make the Big ten tournament, and even then, the No. 7 seeded Buckeyes were a long shot to actually do any damage. Then, in the span of a week, they rattled off wins over Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, and then Nebraska, on the way to a Big Ten title and an NCAA regional berth that no one saw coming. To call it a magical run would be an understatement.
Now, after a little under a weak of rest to work off of, Ohio State is set to return to the diamond on Friday night, in Nashville, against one of the best teams in the country: Vanderbilt. The SEC champion Commodores are going to be no easy task for the Buckeyes —no matter how hot they are— to take care of, which means that they may need a little more of that magic that they found last weekend.
Luckily, because this is a double elimination tournament, a loss to Vanderbilt doesn’t mean the end of the season for the Buckeyes, but it would put Ohio State into a spot that they would much rather avoid, and the way to avoid it is by simply beating a team that has lost just ten times this season.
You can catch the game at 7 p.m. ET, on ESPN2.
“I miss the players,” he said. “I miss the greater good, which is team. But I have the greater good too. Family, grandchildren.”
- Urban Meyer, via Teddy Greenstein - Chicago Tribune
You’ve certainly already seen your fair share of post-retirement Urban Meyer stories, but today’s rendition, via the Chicago Tribune, is probably worth at least a little bit of your time, as it includes some pretty interesting notes from the former Buckeye coach, gathered during a round of golf with reporter Teddy Greenstein.
Perhaps most importantly is the above quote, which seems to give quite a bit of credence to the idea that Meyer does still want to coach, but is simply unable to, due to his poor health. He backs that up in a later paragraph:
“Meyer, 54, said he stepped down primarily for health reasons. Despite undergoing surgery in 2014 to remove fluid caused by a cyst in his brain, he suffered debilitating headaches in 2017 and last season. He revealed he could not even address his team after midseason victories over Penn State and Indiana. He said he would remain in a quiet room until they “drugged me up” with Toradol, a strong painkiller.”
Meyer goes on to say that he’s feeling good now, and that right now he’s focusing on learning how to manage the pain that he’ll likely have to live with for the rest of his life.
It’s a good piece, and you should check it out if you have a few minutes.
Day contract official
From one Buckeye coach to another, Ohio State’s contract with Ryan Day is officially official, per Ohio State Buckeyes dot com:
“The Ohio State University Board of Trustees today approved a five-year contract for head football coach Ryan Day that will pay him $4.5 million annually through the 2023 season.”
While there was never any question that Ohio State’s BOT would agree to the terms of the contract, it is still good to see everything ready to go for the upcoming season, and for what we hope is a long and successful tenure under the new head man in Columbus.