Fifty years after Ohio State won its only national championship in baseball, that legendary team has lost its most notable player.
Steve Arlin, long considered OSU’s greatest pitcher and a native of Lima, died of undisclosed causes on Wednesday at age 70, the university announced Friday.
Arlin, who lived in San Diego, led the Buckeyes to their lone national title in 1966 — the last won by a Big Ten baseball team. An illness reportedly kept him from attending a reunion of that championship team in June at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
“It’s obviously sad that we lose a guy of Steve’s stature and what he meant to our program,” current Ohio State coach Greg Beals said.