Big Ten Baseball Blog: Friday's Conference Results

Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday's Conference Results

ILLINOIS 6
PURDUE 3

Illinois' Will Strack improves to 6-0 after giving up 3 runs and striking out 4 in 6.1 innings of work. Lee Zerusen picks up his second save of the season for the Fighting Illini. Purdue's Matt Jansen drops to 4-6 after giving up 3 runs on 6 hits in 2.1 innings pitched. Offensively the Illini were led by 3B Dominic Altobelli who finished 4-5 with 2 R and 1 RBI. DH Willie Argo was also 3-4 with 4 RBI. Wikoff and Bonadonna also each added a pair of hits. The Boilers were led by CF Brandon Haveman, who finished 3-5 with a run. Cummins and Overmeyer each added a pair of hits as well. With the win Illinois improves to 33-17 (16-7), while the Boilermakers drop to 23-24 (10-12).

MICHIGAN
NORTHWESTERN postponed to Saturday

MICHIGAN ST. 1
INDIANA 6

Indiana's Matt Bashore improves to 6-4 after pitching 8 scoreless innings, giving up just three hits, walking just one batter, and striking out 10 Spartans along the way. Michigan State's A.J. Achter drops to 3-5 after giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and walking 4 in 6 innings pitched. Offensively the Hoosiers were led by SS Jake Dunning who finished 2-2 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and 2 BB. Dickerson and Sabourin also collected two hits each for Indiana. The Spartans were held to just 5 hits on the game, 2 of which came from LF Bo Felt. With the win, Indiana improves to 28-24 (18-6) while Michigan State drops to 22-29 (12-11).

IOWA 4
OHIO ST. 5

Ohio State's Dean Wolosiansky improves to 11-1 after giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and striking out 5 in 7 innings of work. Iowa's Steve Turnbull drops to 1-3 after giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in 2 innings pitched. Offensively the Buckeyes were led by DH Ryan Dew who finished 2-5 with 2 runs, and 1 RBI. Hurley, Burkhart, and Miller each collected 2 hits of their own as well. Iowa was led by 2B Mike McQuilan, who finished 3-5 with 1 run and 1 RBI. 3B Wes Freie was also 1-3 with 1 HR and an RBI. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 38-16 (17-6), while the Hawkeyes drop to 16-34 (4-18).

MINNESOTA 4
PENN ST. 2

Minnesota starter Seth Rosin picks up the win and moves to 6-1 after giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 7 in 7 innings of work. Rosin also made a terrific defensive play which was featured on ESPN Sportscenter's "Top Ten Plays". Good to see the Big Ten getting some national media attention. Penn State's Mike Lorenston drops to 1-7 after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits in 7.2 innings of work. Minnesota's Scott Matyas pitched 2 perfect innings to pick up his second save in as many days, and his 13th on the season. Offensively the Golden Gophers were led by 2B Derek McCallum, who finished 2-4 with 2 RBI. CF Eric Decker also collected two hits, one of which was a HR and finished 2-3 with 1 RBI. Penn State was led offensively by RF Rick Marlin, who finished 2-3 with 1 HR and 2 RBI. With the win, Minnesota improves to 35-14 (17-5), while Penn State drops to 24-26 (7-16).

With Minnesota, Ohio State, Illinois, and Indiana wins, the race for first place is still undecided with one game left to play. Should be an interesting and exciting finish! Stay posted for tomorrow's results and weekend wrap-up.

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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.