Born in Indiana and educated in Georgia, Greg Hoard came to Cincinnati in the winter of 1979 as a columnist for the Cincinnati Post sports department, and joined the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1984 as the beat writer for the Cincinnati Reds. He has received numerous awards for his work. In 1990, he left journalism for television. Hoard worked for WLWT-TV from 1990 through 1993 as sports director and spent 12 years as sports director at WXIX-TV. 'Men We Love' Back Issue April/May 2008. It's Raining Men! It has been three long years since we last busted out a “Men We Love” issue, and this brand spanking new 2008 roundup of the dudes who float our collective boat is definitely worth the wait! His written work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Baseball America, Baseball Digest and NFL Game Day. He has appeared on ESPN and NBC’s The Today Show. Greg is the author of three books: Joe, Rounding Home and Heading for Home; Gary Burbank, Voices in My Head; and, most recently, Hannan’s Way, An Unlikely Trek Through Life. He is currently working on a baseball memoir, parts of which he will share here. The Ohio State Buckeyes launched their 2015 baseball season by winning three straight games in Florida, yesbut winning in ways seldom seen in 2014. Games they never won at all! COLUMBUS — Three games into the season all the lights are green; the signs all go. The Ohio State baseball team rolled into the Snowbird Classic this past weekend at Port Charlotte, Fla., and took three straight games. They beat George Mason, 4-3, Friday; Saint Louis, 6-5, on Saturday, and capped it all with an 8-0 shutout over Pitt Sunday afternoon. “It was really good for us to get out on the field and do what we have been preparing to do, to play the way we know we are capable of playing and to put it all together,” said coach Greg Beals. “When you have high expectations and those expectations aren’t met right away, that can create a state of doubt. ‘Are we good enough? Where are we?’ So it was good to meet our expectation-level opening weekend.” After a 2014 season riddled with injury, adversity and inexplicable self-doubt, this amounted to more than just a three game sweep. The critical matter was how these games were won, especially the first two both won in OSU’s last at bats. The third – taken with a flourish of runs and shutdown pitching – added to the changing portrait of this team. But those first two, those were particularly telling. “It’s funny you say that because I probably had a hand-full of texts from friends, colleagues and alums that said, ‘We don’t win those games last year.’” Beals said. “We were young last year (21 letter-winners return from 2014)and I think we have really, really learned a lot and matured, not just as baseball players but as guys and as a team. I feel like we have grown from our experiences last year (a disappointing 30-28 campaign), and it sure looks like it is benefitting us.” • On Friday, OSU was down 3-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Pat Porter fought off several pitches, eventually drawing a walk in a nine-pitch at-bat to start the inning. Nick Sergakis followed with a double down the left field line and Aaron Gretz drew a walk to load the bases. Jacob Bosiokovic (playing first base this season after undergoing Tommy John during the summer) drew a walk to force in the tying run and Sergakis scored on a subsequent wild pitch. The result of opportunistic baseball and discipline at the plate. • The following day, the Buckeyes are down 5-2, bottom of the seventh.
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