Buckeye Heroes: Andrew Magno helped the Bucks get hot

The spitfire, walk-on turned closer helped fuel an unlikely Big Ten title run in 2019.

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about Ohio State heroes. Whether they are the biggest names in Buckeye athletic history, or underappreciated icons; perhaps even players who made major impacts off the field. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Buckeye Heroes” articles here.

The Ohio State baseball program has not met expectations for the past several seasons, finishing in the top-six in the Big Ten just two times over the past six seasons and missing the NCAA Tournament each of the past five years.

Year one under new head coach Justin Haire has not gone smoothly, with the Buckeyes guaranteed to finish in last place in the Big Ten with three games remaining. At 12-35 overall and 4-23 in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes are on pace to finish with the program’s worst winning percentage since the 1935-1936 season, when Ohio State went 4-14 overall and 1-10 in the Big Ten.

That’s right, it’s been nearly a century – 89 years to be exact – since Ohio State baseball has hit this level of awful.

The most recent “great” Ohio State team wasn’t even supposed to be great. The 2019 Ohio State baseball team finished the season 31-24 overall and in sixth place in the B1G, with an even 12-12 record. They snuck into the Big Ten Tournament as the 7-seed out of eight teams, and then went on to beat second-seeded Michigan, and six-seed Maryland on back-to-back days, before falling to fourth-seeded Minnesota on Saturday to drop them into the loser’s bracket.

Against a wall, Ohio State beat Minnesota the very next day to eliminate the Gophers, and then beat fifth-seeded Nebraska a few hours later to capture the Big Ten Tournament title. It was Ohio State’s second tournament title in four seasons, but was also just the second in the past 12 years. With the win, the Buckeyes claimed an unexpected spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The entire way, Ohio State was fueled by an undersized, under-recruited lefty out of the bullpen named Andrew Magno. Magno, a local kid who graduated from Dublin Scioto in 2017, walked on to the Ohio State baseball team and made a combined eight appearances his first two seasons, pitching to a 7.07 ERA over 14 innings.

But during his junior season, Magno appeared in 31 of Ohio State’s 63 games, pitching to a 2.08 ERA, 14 saves, and 64 strikeouts in 60.2 innings.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound lefty with the moving fastball and big bender was a man on a mission for the Buckeyes on their quest to the Big Ten title, completing multi-inning saves in all for of Ohio State’s BTT victories. After closing out a 3-2 win over Maryland in the second round, Magno gave Big Ten Network a quote that has since been burned in the minds of so many Ohio State fans all across the country.

“The Bucks are hot. You don’t like it when the Bucks are hot.”

Magno went on to be named the Big Ten Tournament’s most outstanding player, pitching 9.2 innings out of the bullpen and saving all four Ohio State wins. All four saves were multi-inning appearances, and he pitched in both games on Sunday — wins over Minnesota and Nebraska. He did not allow an earned run in the Big Ten Tournament, struck out nine, and gave up just three hits.

From there, Ohio State went on to the Nashville regional of the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to host team, Vanderbilt, in the opening round.

Now in the loser’s bracket, Ohio State faced off with McNeese with the season on the line. Trailing in the sixth inning, Magno took the mound and put together possibly his most impressive performance of his college career — 7.1 innings of one-run baseball out of the bullpen, striking out 12 and holding the Cowboys at bay long enough for his team to tie the game in the eighth inning.

Even after the Buckeyes scored three runs to tie the game, 8-8 in the eigth inning, Magno pressed on, pitching the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12, and 13th innings to get credited with the win and keep Ohio State’s season going. The Bucks were still hot.

That turned out to be Magno’s final collegiate appearance, as Ohio State lost to Indiana State the next day in the Nashville regional, ending their season. It was an abrupt end to a fun season that lasted far longer than anyone anticipated, but once the Bucks got hot, they were tough to put down.

Four days later, the former walk-on and Buckeye closer was selected in the 15th round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers.

Magno is 27 now, but still working his way through the Tigers system. He’s currently pitching for Double-A Erie, and has a 1.80 ERA in 10 appearances so far on the young season.

Maybe Magno will make it to the “Show” some day, but maybe not. Ohio State fans, however, will always remember him as the guy who helped the Bucks get hot.