Big Ten Baseball Blog: Friday Night Big Ten Results

Friday, May 8, 2009

Friday Night Big Ten Results

PENN ST. 8
IOWA 6

Penn St. reliever Ryan Ignas moves to 4-1 after giving up just 1 run on 3 hits in 2 innings of work. Hawkeye reliever Patrick Schatz drops to 1-2 after giving up 3 runs on 5 hits in 2 innings pitched. Offensively the Nittany Lions were led by C Ben Heath who finished 3-4 with 2 HR, and 3 RBI. RF Rick Marlin also went 2-3 with an RBI. Iowa was led by 1B Sean Flanagan, who was 3-5 with 2 RBI. CF Kurtis Muller, who finished 3-4 with a run and an RBI, continues to swing a hot bat for the Hawkeyes. With the win, Penn State improves to 23-22 overall, and 6-13 in the Big Ten. The loss drops the Hawkeyes to 15-31 overall, and 3-15 in the Big Ten.

OHIO ST. 4
ILLINOIS 5

Illinois starter Phil Haig gave up 4 runs on 8 hits in 8 innings of work, but left the game in danger of recieving the loss. With the Illini's late rally, reliever John Anderson picked up the win and moves to 1-2 on the year after pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Buckeyes starter Alex Wimmers gave up just 2 runs and struck out 7 in 7.2 innings of work, but handed off the ball to reliever Jake Hale who recieved the loss and moved to 0-1 on the year after giving up 3 runs, none of which were earned, on 2 hits in 0.2 innings pitched. Offensively the Fighting Illini were led by 3B Dominic Altobelli, who finished 2-4 with 1 HR and 2 RBI. CF Joe Bonnadonna also finished 2-5 with 2 RBI for the blue and orange. The Buckeyes were led by CF Michael Stephens who finished 2-3 with a HR, 2 runs, and 2 RBI. C Dan Burkhardt also finished 1-4 with a HR and an RBI. Ohio State led 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, but Illinois rallied to win the game 5-4, and stay atop the Big Ten at 32-14 overall, and 15-4 in conference. The loss drops Ohio State to 34-14 overall, and 13-6 in conference.

NORTHWESTERN
INDIANA postponed due to weather

PURDUE
MICHIGAN ST. series starts Saturday

MINNESOTA 9
MICHIGAN 5

Gopher senior starter Chauncy Handran improves to 7-2 on the year after giving up 5 runs on 11 hits in 7.1 innings pitched. Michigan hurler and Big Ten ERA leader Chris Fetter drops to 6-3 on the season after giving up 6 runs on 9 hits in 6.1 innings pitched. Offensively the maroon and gold were led by SS AJ Petterson who finished 3-5 with a run and 3 RBI. CF Eric Decker also collected 3 hits, 3 runs, and RBI, and a HR, and finished 3-4 on the night. The Wolverines were led by 3B Tim Kalczynski who was 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBI. C Chris Berset also finished 2-4 with 1 RBI. With the win, Minnesota improves to 32-13 overall, and 14-4 in the Big Ten, just 1/2 game back of Illinois. The loss drops Michigan to 26-22 (7-12).

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 9, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Golden Gophers all the way!!
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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.