Sometimes, a young team struggles through much of a season until it finally comes together at the end.

As of the eve of the Nashville Regional, that seems to be the case for Ohio State.

On May 5, the Buckeyes were 24-23, with no postseason in sight. Then, OSU won five of its last six in Big Ten play to sneak into the eight-team conference tournament as the 7-seed.

The Buckeyes won four of five in the league tourney in Omaha, Neb., including two against NCAA Tournament teams. They defeated Michigan in the opener before finishing with a 3-1 win over Nebraska in front of a partisan Husker crowd of 17,503--the second-largest crowd to see a college game this season.

Making the feat more impressive was the fact that OSU did it without No. 1 starter Garrett Burhenn, who missed the conference tournament due to a concussion. Reliever Andrew Magno, the conference tournament MVP, saved all four wins over 9 2/3 scoreless innings.

That makes Ohio State one of the hotter teams in the country, having won 11 of its last 13.

It's quite an accomplishment for a team that lost 83 percent of its pitching innings from last year's NCAA Tournament team, one picked fifth in the league in the preseason.

It's the third NCAA Tournament appearance in nine seasons at OSU for coach Greg Beals.

OSU is 4-0 all time against Vanderbilt, the last meeting coming in 1975.

The Buckeyes weren't tremendous during their 11-wins-in-13-games stretch, scoring 71 runs. Instead, they were what they've been all year: consistent. OSU has plated at least two runs in each of its last 46 games.

Junior outfielder Dominic Canzone was a first-team All-Big Ten pick, while sophomore catcher Dillon Dingler and senior outfielder Brady Cherry made the second team.

Canzone was one of six players in America to score at least 60 runs while recording at least 80 hits and 15 homers. The first-team All-Big Ten pick has reached base in a school-record 56 straight games and leads the league in average, slugging percentage, runs (62), hits (85) and total bases (151). He hit .374 in Big Ten games, best in the league.

Cherry and Dingler each enter Nashville on a tear. Cherry is hitting .364 with four homers over his last 10 games, while Dingler is batting.333 with three bombs over the same span. Cherry has 15 of his 27 career homers this season.

Shortstop Zach Dezenzo earned freshman All-Big Ten honors. His nine homers ranked second among Big Ten freshmen.

First baseman Conner Pohl, a preseason third-team All-Big Ten pick, is a name to watch after hitting .279/.383/.393 with seven homers in 2018.

The Buckeyes start quickly, out-scoring teams 52-22 in the first inning.

OSU pitchers set a school record by recording 551 strikeouts this season. It's a staff that may be peaking at the right time, having limited opponents to a .207 average over its last 10 games, while getting solid defense (.978) behind it in that span.

The Buckeyes get Burhenn back for the regional, and the freshman will start against Vandy. He had a disastrous start, giving up nine runs and 14 hits to Maryland on April 20, but otherwise allowed three runs or fewer in his last 10 appearances.

Griffan Smith, the No. 3 starter, has pitched at least five innings with three earned runs or fewer in seven of his last 10 appearances. The Buckeye sophomore is the only non-freshman among OSU's four starters listed above.

VU probably feels fortunate not to face freshman Seth Lonsway, the National Pitcher of the Week two weeks ago. Lonsway led the league with 122 strikeouts in league play, and has given up two runs in his last four starts, spanning 26 1/3 innings. He's the No. 2.

Will Pfennig started three times, one in the Big Ten Tournament against Minnesota, where he threw a career-high 7 1/3 innings, taking the loss after giving up four runs, all earned. He closed the tourney opener against Michigan with 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings.

Magno racked up 14 saves this season. He's been scored on just once in his last eight appearances. Twice, Magno has thrown 104 pitches in a game this season. He struck out 11 in relief at Maryland on April 20, the second-highest total for a reliever this season.

The staff outside Smith, Lonsway, Pfennig and Magno threw just 3 1/3 of OSU's 45 conference tournament innings. Those four, plus Lonsway, pitched all but 33 1/3 of the Buckeyes' 230 2/3 conference frames. No other OSU pitcher had a league ERA below 5.40

The wild card is Jake Vance, who didn't throw an inning in conference, but had 41 in 2019.

Massey composite power ranking: 125

RPI: 126

RPI strength of schedule: 199

vs. RPI top 25: 0-0

vs. RPI top 50: 4-2

vs. RPI top 100: 10-8

Road: 12-11

Neutral: 8-4

Runs scored per 27 outs made: 5.55

Runs allowed per 27 outs recorded: 5.42

Coach: Greg Beals (ninth year at OSU; 296-228-1 there, 16 years overall; 539-440-1)