Gavin sees positives in Pitt's loss to Ohio State

“You want to win, but for the most part, I was pretty happy with our effort and where we’re at,” he said. “It was an exciting dual and we had a good crowd.

The Buckeyes, who are sixth in InterMat’s dual rankings, were without a pair of ninth-ranked wrestlers – Luke Geog at 197 and Nick Feldman at 285 – as well as Carson Kharchla, who is No. 15 at 174.

Gavin usually chooses to start duals at 125 pounds, but looked to seize upon favorable matchups in the upper weights and selected 174 as the starting weight. It worked to an extent – Pitt jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the lineup flipped over – but the Buckeyes won five straight bouts, including three major decisions and a technical fall.

“It was the tale of two duals on paper,” Gavin said. “They were heavy favorites in the lightweights, and we were favored in the upper weights. Obviously, Ohio State did what they needed to do at those weights.”

Luca Augustine and Reece Heller got the Panthers started with tight victories over unranked opponents. Augustine, who is No. 17 at 174 pounds, rode e’Than Birden out in the first tiebreaker and then held off Birden’s takedown attempts after the Buckeye intentionally gave up the go-ahead escape in a 2-1 win. Heller, who is ranked 11th at 184, trailed early but responded well in a 6-5 victory over Seth Shumate.

“I thought our upper weights did a nice job,” Gavin said. “(The 184-pound bout) got a little crazy, and Reece did a good job finding a way to win.”

Mac Stout impressed in an 8-2 victory over the dangerous Ryder Rogotzke at 197 pounds. Rogotzke is ranked 15th at 184 but, with Geog out of the lineup, has moved up a weight. Rogotzke won 16 matches by fall last season as a true freshman, including a pin of Heller in the NCAA tournament.

No. 14 Dayton Pitzer scored takedowns in each of the first two periods and kept attacking to secure a 16-1 technical fall over Hogan Swenski at 285 pounds.

“I thought he did a good job of following up what we’ve been working on, it’s your second attempts that take the guy down,” Gavin said. “He’s a good chain wrestler, so you’re looking to get him those opportunities.”

This marks the second consecutive season that a potential Feldman-Pitzer matchup has failed to materialize in the dual. Both heavyweights have been banged up early in the season. Feldman weighed in and warmed up but the Buckeyes chose not to use him.

“(Pitzer) was disappointed that he didn’t get a crack at Feldman,” said Gavin, who hopes to use his star heavyweight in three duals at Rider next week.

Pitt’s Nick Babin, who is ranked 16th nationally a 125 pounds, underwent surgery for an appendicitis and is expected to miss about a month, but true freshman Matt Marlow wrestled well in his debut.

Marlow held sixth-ranked Brendan McCrone scoreless through two periods and was in deep on several leg attacks, but McCrone capitalized with a late takedown and set of four backpoints for a major decision.

“I thought Marlow did a great job. It didn’t end in his favor, but on short notice, he came out and competed hard,” Gavin said. “I’m pretty happy with that performance. It can get better from that because he’s shooting a lot.”

Gavin wasn’t pleased with what he saw in the 133- and 141-pound bouts.

Seventh-ranked Nic Bouzakis beat No. 31 Vinnie Santaniello 14-4 for a major decision at 133, and No. 21 Anthony Santaniello lost by technical fall to second-ranked Jesse Mendez at 141.

Gavin thought Anthony could have done a better job of hanging with the defending NCAA champion, while Vinnie split a pair of bouts with Bouzakis last season only to lose by 10 points this time.

“Disappointing for sure,” Gavin said. “In our dual overall, we had eight matches that you feel good about the effort. Those two, you need to get more out of those guys.”

No. 28 Finn Solomon opened his 149-pound bout by scoring a takedown on No. 12 Dylan D’Emilio, but the 2022 All-American caught Solomon on his back for four points, then held on for a 7-4 victory.

“He’s got to be smart,” Gavin said of Solomon. “It’s something we’ve talked about for a while. It cost him a match. He’s good at doing tricks on the bottom, but if you’re winning, you don’t need tricks. It’s a tough one to swallow. Hopefully, he learns from that and will wrestle a little smarter on bottom.”

Seventh-ranked Paddy Gallagher majored No. 31 Dylan Evans at 157, meaning Jared Keslar would need to pin two-time NCAA runner-up Sammy Sasso for Pitt to win the dual. He couldn’t do that, but Keslar built a big lead, then was forced to fight off his back and hold on for a 13-11 victory.

A three-time All-American, Sasso missed all of last season after being shot during a carjacking attempt. His return to the mat has been a victory in itself, but the Nazareth grad is still trying to find his style in a comeback bid two classes higher than his previous weight.

“Sasso’s still ranked eighth in the country,” Gavin said. “He still knows how to wrestle. (Keslar) put up 13 points on him. Sasso lost to highly ranked guys at the Cliff Keen Invitational, but they both struggled to score on him.”

Keslar was returning from a broken hand that had limited him this season.

“That’s his second match all year,” Gavin said. “He just got out of the cast. His conditioning was really good, and his offense was really good. That was encouraging.”

Despite losing the dual, Gavin expects the competition to serve his team well going forward.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better,” he said. “That’s everybody, not just us. You wrestle a team like Ohio State to get some good feedback.”

The Panthers will get more feedback next week when they travel to New Jersey where they will face duals with No. 17 South Dakota State, Maryland and Rider.

“South Dakota State will be favored,” Gavin said. “Maryland will be tight. Rider is good. They handled Wisconsin this season.”

No. 6 Ohio State 20, Pitt 17

174–No. 17 Luca Augustine, Pitt, dec. e'Than Birden, 2-1 (TB-1).

184–No. 11 Reece Heller, Pitt, dec. Seth Shumate, 6-5.

197–No. 16 Mac Stout, Pitt, dec. No. 15 Ryder Rogotzke, 8-2.

285–No. 14 Dayton Pitzer, Pitt, tech. fall Hogan Swenski, 16-1 (7:00).

125–No. 6 Brendan McCrone, OSU, maj. dec. Matt Marlow, 8-0.

133–No. 7 Nic Bouzakis, OSU, maj. dec. No. 31 Vinnie Santaniello, 14-4.

141–No. 2 Jesse Mendez, OSU, tech. fall No. 21 Anthony Santaniello, 16-1 (5:00).

149– No. 12 Dylan D'Emilio, OSU, dec. No. 28 Finn Solomon, 7-4.

157–No. 7 Paddy Gallagher, OSU, major dec. No. 31 Dylan Evans, 13-4.

165–Jared Keslar, Pitt, dec. No. 8 Sammy Sasso, 13-11.

Attendance: 1,663