Big Ten Baseball Blog: Big Ten Weekend Preview

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Big Ten Weekend Preview

With two conference weekends to go, the 1st place and 3rd place teams are separated by a mere 2 games, making these last 6 games crucial to each team in the conference championship race. Here is a preview of what's to come this weekend around the Big Ten.

NORTHWESTERN travels to Bloomington to take on INDIANA. The Hoosiers come into this weekend in 4th place in the Big Ten with a record of 11-6. The Wildcats are 3-13, in second to last in the Big Ten. With Michigan St. nipping at their heels, this weekend is crucial for the Hoosiers to secure a top 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament, and possibly gain some ground in the running for the regular season crown. On paper, this is a clear mismatch, given the high caliber Hoosier's pitching staff lead by Eric Arnett, facing the struggling Wildcat's hitters, but let's not jump ahead of ourselves, this is Big Ten baseball, you just never know.

MICHIGAN hosts MINNESOTA this weekend in Ann Arbor. Minnesota comes into the weekend 2nd in the Big Ten, just 1/2 game back of the league leading Fighting Illini. Michigan currently sits at 7th in the Big Ten standings, just 1/2 game back of Purdue. The Gophers have won 7 straight conference games and 9 of their last 10, and they appear to be a lock for the Big Ten tournament bearing a major meltdown. This being said, Michigan is fighting for the final spot in the tournament, and will come into this weekend hungry to gain some ground and solidify a post-season spot. Historically the Gophers have had troubles with the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, and with the Wolverines' urgency to get some victories, don't be surprised if they steal a few games from Minnesota this weekend.

PENN STATE travels to IOWA this weekend to take on the Hawkeyes. This matchup features 2 of the three bottom Big Ten teams, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and say it's not meaningful. Mathematically, no one is out of the Big Ten tournament yet, so both teams should be coming into this series ready to make a late season run and possibly squeak into the post-season.

OHIO STATE travels to Champaign to take on ILLINOIS. This matchup features the 1st placed Fighting Illini and 3rd placed Buckeyes, each fighting for the Big Ten crown. Both teams have been hot as of late, and the winner of this series will gain a huge leg up in the conference standings and gain some strong momentum going into the Big Ten tournament.

1 comment:

formerlyanonymousMay 7, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Just found this site. Great stuff. I'm the baseball guy for www.umvarsityblue.com (Michigan). Keep the content rolling.
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Big Ten Baseball Blog

Hello everyone and thanks for checking out my Big Ten Baseball Blog! This website is a great resource for anyone and everyone who is interested in not only Big Ten baseball, but baseball in general. Obviously, the main topics of discussion will be Big Ten baseball, but there will also be discussion of other levels of baseball as well. I will try to faithfully update the blog with scores, statistics, standings, and discussions as much as possible.

If you are unfamiliar with Big Ten baseball, or the Big Ten conference in general, here is a quick overview:

The Big Ten Conference was established in 1895, and originally included seven midwestern universities (University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin.). In 1899, Indiana University and Iowa University joined the Big Ten while in 1912, Ohio State joined. In 1946, Chicago withdrew from the Big Ten and later in 1949 Michigan State University was added. For a period of 40 years, the Big Ten remained with its 10 members until 1990 when the Big Ten agreed to add Pennsylvania State University. Since this addition, the Big Ten has become the 11-team elite athletics conference it is today. In recap, today's Big Ten conference includes Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan St., Iowa, Penn St., Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio St., and Wisconsin.

The Big Ten athletics conference competes in 12 men's sports and 13 women's sports, and has become one of the strongest collegiate athletics conferences in the nation. Among these is baseball, this blog's focus.

Big Ten baseball has a long and rich tradition which sadly has gone "under the radar" due to the lack of popularity of not only baseball in the midwest, but college baseball in general. It is my goal to gain more attention to this great conference and sport which is always filled with extremely gifted student athletes and exciting competition.

Currently, 10 of the 11 teams in the Big Ten conference compete in men's baseball. Wisconsin is the only team which does not participate, cutting their program in the late 1980's. These 10 teams play a full 50-60 game schedule each spring, and ultimately strive to become not only Big Ten champions, but NCAA champions. Each season, teams play a handful of non-conference games against various opponents across the nation, as well as 24 games against conference opponents (this determines who wins the Big Ten regular season championship). Once the 24 conference games have completed, the top 6 teams in the conference recieve spots in the Big Ten tournament, which has been held at the regular season champion's home field in the past, but this year will be held at a neutral site in Columbus, OH (Huntington Park). The winner of this tournament recieves an automatic bid into the NCAA baseball tournament which ultimately determines the national champion.

Each year, Big Ten teams are getting more talented and are creating a more exciting situtation for fans and followers. The Big Ten has produced some very quality major league baseball players, and will continue to do so.

I hope that this blog will serve as a great resource for you to follow, learn, and enjoy the great sport of baseball, and more specifically, in the great Big Ten Conference.