Big Ten Baseball Blog: Final Big Ten Weekend Preview

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Final Big Ten Weekend Preview

As we enter the final weekend of conference play, the Big Ten Standings are real tight, with Minnesota leading the way with a record of 15-5, and Ohio State and Illinois trailing the Gophers by just 1/2 game, and the Hoosiers of Indiana trailing the Gophers by just 1 full game.

Not only is there a tight race for first place, but also for the last spot in the Big Ten Tournament. Right now, Purdue is sitting pretty at 6th place with a record of 9-11, with Michigan trailing behind them at 8-13, and Penn St. still in the hunt at 7-14.

This being said, here is a quick overview of this weekend's matchups:

MICHIGAN ST. @
INDIANA

Michigan State enters this weekend sitting comfortably in 5th place at 12-8, while the Hoosiers are sitting at 4th place at 14-6 just 1 game back of first place. Look for the Hoosiers to make a strong push for a Big Ten Title at home this weekend, but that is no easy task against the Spartans, who have been the Big Ten's hottest team in the second half of the conference schedule.

ILLINOIS @
PURDUE

Illinois enters the weekend in a 2nd place tie with the Buckeyes at 15-6, just 1/2 of a game back of the league leading Golden Gophers. Purdue sits in the driver's seat of the sixth and last spot in the Big Ten Tournament at 9-11, but they must be careful as the Wolverines and Nittany Lions are nipping at their heals to get into that coveted final post-season spot.

MICHIGAN @
NORTHWESTERN

Michigan enters the weekend at 8-13 and in 7th place in the conference, looking to make a surge into the sixth and final Big Ten Tournament spot. Northwestern enters the weekend at 3-16, with nothing to play for this weekend except pride.

MINNESOTA @
PENN ST.

Minnesota enters this weekend at 15-5, and leading the Big Ten by just 1/2 game. The Nittany Lions enter the weekend at 7-14, and are looking to snag the final spot in the Big Ten tournament from Purdue or Michigan.

IOWA @
OHIO ST.

Iowa enters the weekend at 3-16 and similar to Northwestern, has nothing to play for except pride. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, come into this weekend sitting in a tie for 2nd place at 15-6, trailing the Golden Gophers by just 1/2 game.

More updates and results to come as the games take course.

2 comments:

UNCLE CARMANMay 14, 2009 at 4:48 PM
GO GOPHERS!
LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A CLOSE FINISH!
BUT LET IT BE CLEAR,THE GOPHERS ARE HERE!
EVERYONE BETTER HAVE A GLOVE IN THE STANDS!
BECAUSE McCALLUM ISN'T STOPPING AT FIFTEEN!
SO FIRER UP GOPHER FANS AND LETS PLAY BALL!

JR AND DREW (MORRISONVILLE,WI)
ReplyDelete
Replies
ChrisMay 14, 2009 at 9:32 PM
whoever does this blog contact me. cmwebb24@gmail.com

Chris Webb
buckeyenine.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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.