Big Ten Tourney time! The Bucks secured their berth on the final weekend, earning the 7 seed in their first appearance in the conference tournament since they won it back in 2019.

Well that came out of nowhere. That was probably Ohio State's most complete game all season. As the 7 seed, the Bucks were slated against the 2 seed Cornhuskers, and they made it a complete no contest. Ohio State got an early 2-0 lead in the T2 off a solo homer by Joseph Mershon and an RBI double by Josh Stevenson to bring home Mitchell Okuley. Then, in the T3, Tyler Pettorini hit an RBI single to bring home Matthew Graveline and give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead. The T4 was where things really got out of hand. Nick Giamarusti started the onslaught with a triple into the right field corner to bring in Stevenson and Hunter Rosson. Trey Lipsey then hit an RBI single to score Giamarusti. An RBI groundout by Pettorini brought Lipsey home; RBI doubles by Mershon, to bring home Graveline and Henry Kaczmar; and Okuley, to bring home Mershon; and an RBI single by Rosson to score Mershon ballooned the lead to 11-0. Nebraska got 1 back in the B4, but Ohio State was not done.

In the T5, three bases loaded walks plated Giamarusti, Lipsey, and Kaczmar, and a fielder's choice plated Graveline extended the lead to 15-1. After that, the Buckeyes just cruised to an easy 15-2 win in 7 innings to stay on the winners side of the bracket. Starting pitcher Landon Beidelshies played a huge part in the dominant win. In 5.0 innings, he struck out 8 Huskers and only allowed 2 hits as he earned the win to bring him to 6-7 on the season.

Thursday's game, however, was not as pleasant. The 3 seed Hoosiers were more than a match for the Buckeyes. In the T2, Indiana jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Ohio State cut the lead to 1 in the B3 as Graveline and Ryan Miller both scored on an errant throw, Stevenson scored on a groundout, and Kaczmar scored on a balk. The Bucks tied it up at 5 in the B4 when Miller hit an RBI single to bring Mershon home, but it was all Hoosiers from there. Indiana scored the next 7 by the T8 to take a commanding 12-5 lead. Ohio State got 2 back in the B8 by way of an RBI single by Kaczmar to score Miller and a groundout while Stevenson came home but Indiana got 2 more in the T9 to seal the 14-7 win. Reliever Blaine Wynk recorded the loss, dropping him to 2-1 on the season.

Well that was disappointing. The rematch with Nebraska went pretty much the opposite of Tuesday's game. This time, Nebraska got off to a quick 4-0 lead by the B2, and they didn't look back from there. The Buckeyes got on the board in the T3 as Miller came home on an RBI single by Lipsey. Rosson came home on a groundout in the T4 and a double by Kaczmar scored Lipsey in the T5 to cut the lead to 2, but Nebraska scored the next 7 straight to take a commanding 12-3 lead by the end of the 8th. Ohio State threatened to start a comeback in the T9 as Lipsey singled to score Okuley and Kaczmar hit a groundout as Graveline scored. That was all the Buckeyes could muster, however, as Nebraska secured the final out to survive and eliminate the Buckeyes. Starting pitcher Colin Purcell recorded the loss, dropping him to 3-5 to finish the season.

Postmortem: The Buckeyes finished the season 29-26 (13-15). While this was a disappointing end to the season, the Big Ten tournament appearance was really all that could have been realistically expected. Winning the first game was possibly a good indicator of where the program can be, but the other two games were definite indicators of where we are now. Pitching needs to improve overall, especially not allowing so many runs with two outs; and the offense needs to find a higher level of consistency from game to game, but overall the program does seem to be headed in the right direction, and it could only be up from here.