OSU took it on the chin Saturday out in Cali. #GoBucks
The Ohio State baseball team took it on the chin Saturday, losing to the Cal Poly Mustangs by a score of 19-2.
Things were tied at one run a piece after two innings, but the dam broke open in third inning with Cal Poly plating three runs to take a 4-1 lead. It got even worse from there after the Buckeyes were able to close the gap to 4-2 thanks in large part to a triple by Joseph Mershon. He was brought home by a Zach Fjelstad double in the top of the fifth inning.
Then, things got ugly. Cal Poly got to OSU pitching in the bottom of the sixth inning by putting a whopping 14 runs on the board to put the game out of reach.
All told, the Mustangs strung together 21 hits to just six for Ohio State. Colin Purcell took the loss for the Buckeyes, giving up four runs on ten hits. His record falls to 1-2 on the season and Ohio State’s record moves to 6-6 on the season with another game against the Mustangs to take place Sunday at 4:00 PM ET.
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“It feels right to me, even though it might sound crazy to people.”
Beth Lillie realizes that it might sound crazy. After all, who turns down a chance to compete at Augusta National?
“I don’t want people to think it was easy for me, or I was scoffing off Augusta,” said Lillie, “but I think I’m just in a different stage of my life right now.”
Now an assistant golf coach at Cal Poly, Lillie’s main focus each day is sharpening someone else’s game. So when the invitation came to compete once again in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this spring, Lillie ultimately decided to turn it down.
“I didn’t think it was in the spirit of that tournament, just to go and play just to say I went,” said Lillie. “The more people that can experience ANWA like I did for the first time, and be going to play to win, is the most important thing. It feels right to me, even though it might sound crazy to people.”
Eight months ago, Lillie was teeing it up in the NCAA Championship for the University of Virginia. She finished in the top 10 for a second consecutive year, and then sat next to her assistant coach on the flight home to get help with her resume. While many of her peers headed to the professional ranks, Lillie wanted help other people get better.
“Watching a player hit a new shot or hit a really good shot, I didn’t know how good that could feel,” said Lillie. “Flushing a shot or winning a tournament feels great, but watching someone else you helped do that feels even better.”
Beth Lillie (Photo courtesy UVA Athletics)
Lillie, who hails from Fullerton, California, volunteered with her Virginia coaches all summer after graduation. She used to joke about wondering what kind of work they did in their office but is now well-versed in behind-the-scenes paperwork.
When Courtney Roberts was named head coach at Cal Poly last summer, she already had her eye on Lillie as someone she wanted to bring on board.
“She’d always been someone who’d impressed me,” said Roberts, a former head coach at Oklahoma State and associate head coach at Washington.
It wasn’t all that long ago that one coach oversaw both the men’s and women’s golf programs at Cal Poly. In 2015, the school hired a separate women’s head coach and now both programs have fully-funded assistant coaching positions.
“It’s just really neat to be here at a time where we have an opportunity to have a lot of firsts,” said Roberts, such as qualifying for the national championship for the first time.
The Mustangs have never had a player qualify for the ANWA either, but players on this year’s team saw Lillie’s invitation, which she carried in her bag.
“I want them to believe that they can do anything,” said Lillie. “That they can go anywhere their hard work will take them.”
Beth Lillie, redshirt junior Jensen Jalufka and head coach Courtney Roberts at Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Courtesy photo)
The Mustangs are now in the midst of a six-round qualifier for their first tournament of the spring season next month at the Tulane Classic in New Orleans. They are currently 92nd in the country in the Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings.
Lillie, a three-year captain at Virginia, graduated with a master’s degree. She won twice and compiled a 73.51 career scoring average over the course of five years. In 2015, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at age 16.
While Lillie didn’t make the cut at the ANWA last year, she was able to play a practice round at Augusta National that Friday and called it a joy ride, though the nerves were cranking higher than expected. She didn’t want to have to remember hitting a bad shot.
Her favorite strike was a 3-wood that found the green in two on the par-5 15th. Her dad walked alongside and “geeked out” over it all.
“It felt like it lasted five minutes and five years at the same time,” she said.
Oklahoma baseball will turn around and come home. The Big West Conference is indefinitely suspending all spring competition.
Oklahoma baseball will turn around and come home.
The Sooners took a 3-0 mid-week game against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday, stayed in Dallas-Fort Worth overnight and then flew out to California to play Cal Poly. On the very next day, the Big West Conference announced that no one in the conference will be playing anytime soon.
“The Big West Conference announced today that it is indefinitely suspending all spring conference and non-conference competition, effective immediately,” they announced in a release. “The main priority of the Big West Conference continues to be the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COVID-19 virus.”
Oklahoma was scheduled to play a four-game series in San Luis Obispo, California, against Cal Poly, which has been smack dab in the middle between coronavirus hot spots in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This comes on the heels of Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus in Oklahoma City, the Big 12 Conference cancelling the Big 12 basketball tournament this weekend alongside basically every major sports entity in the country.
Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma canceled media availabilities for spring practice that included a 20-minute viewing period of the first part of practice and post-practice interviews. The University of Oklahoma announced that it would go to two weeks of online classes for the two weeks after spring break (March 16-20).
No update has been made in regards to Oklahoma athletics in response to COVID-19 yet. Sooners Wire will post updates as more information becomes available.
