McGowan leads baseball team to season-opening wins

Ohio State opened its baseball season with wins over Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Canisius at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Florida, on Friday.

The Buckeyes rallied to defeat WisconsinMilwaukee 11-7, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth to claim its fifth straight season-opening win. Noah McGowan went 2 for 4 with a double and six RBI, and Tyler Cowles was 3 for 5 with a double and four RBI. Noah and Cowles combined to score 10 runs.

McGowan hit a three-run homer in the second inning and went 2 for 5 with four RBI to lead Ohio State over Canisius 6-4 in the nightcap. Three Buckeyes relievers combined to pitch four hitless innings.

Men’s tennis

Ohio State advanced to the quarterfinals in the ITA Indoor Championships in Seattle by beating Duke 4-0.

The doubles teams got the Buckeyes off to a strong start. Hunter Tubert and Matt Mendez posted a 6-3 victory over Jason Lapidus and Ryan Dickerson. Mikael Torpegaard and Martin Joyce gave Ohio State the point with a 6-3 win over Sean Sculley and Nick Stachowiak.

In singles, Kyle Seelig won 51 of 73 points in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Dickerson. Joyce posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Robert Levine. Clinching the win for the Buckeyes was Tim Seibert, who won 80 percent of his service points to defeat Sculley 6-4, 6-2.

The Buckeyes (9-0) will face UCLA (8-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Bruins advanced by beating Illinois 4-2. Torpegaard will most likely be playing the No. 1 player in the country, UCLA’s Martin Redlicki.

Women’s swimming

Liz Li set a Big Ten championships record in winning the 100meter butterfly in 50.48 seconds at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

Ohio State sits in fourth place with 725 points with one day left in the meet. Michigan leads with 926 points.

Li returned to the pool hours later and teamed with Freya Rayner, Macie McNichols and Maria Coy to win the 200 freestyle relay in an NCAA cut time of 1:27.08 to set a Big Ten meet record.

Meg Bailey won 400 individual medley in a personal-best time of 4:04.85, more than 1.5 seconds better than the runner-up finisher.

Softball

Ohio State suffered its first loss of the season in a 5-4, eight-inning setback at North Carolina State to open the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge.

Ohio State (5-1) tied the score on a two-run homer by Niki Carver in the top of the seventh to force extra innings. An obstruction call at home plate in the bottom of the eighth gave N.C. State (4-2) the winning run.

Lilli Piper also hit a two-run homer for the Buckeyes.

Women’s hockey

Bemidji State (5-7-2, 3-5-1-1) posted a 4-3 shootout win over visiting Ohio State (9-2-2, 7-2-2-1) in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game.

Tatum Skaggs, Liz Schepers and Julianna Iafallo scored goals for the Buckeyes, who didn’t score in a shootout that lasted six rounds.

Men’s hockey

Host Minnesota (1913-1, 10-10-1-1 Big Ten) held off Ohio State 2-1. Matt Miller scored in the third period for the Buckeyes (19-8-4, 12-8-1-0).