Big Ten Baseball Blog: Saturday's Conference Results

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Saturday's Conference Results

INDIANA 8
PURDUE 15

INDIANA 7
PURDUE 6

MICHIGAN 0
OHIO ST. 6

Because of the cancellation of Friday's game, the Buckeyes and Wolverines played two today. By glancing at the score, it may seem as though there wasn't that much excitement, but don't be fooled. Ohio St. starter Alex Wimmers pitched a complete game no-hitter, striking out 14 Wolverines in the process. Wimmers walked four, but Ohio St. catcher Dan Burkhardt threw three of the four runners out trying to steal. With the win, Wimmers moved to 8-1 on the season. Wolverines starter Chris Fetter had a rare mediocre performance, giving up 4 ER on 9 hits. With the loss, Fetter dropped to 6-2 on the season. Ryan Dew led the way for the red and gray with a homerun and 3 RBI. With the win, the Buckeyes improved to 33-12 overall, and 12-4 in conference. The Wolverines fell to 23-20 overall, and 6-10 in the Big Ten.

MICHIGAN 6
OHIO ST. 9 in progress

MICHIGAN ST. 9
PENN ST. 1

Spartan's hurler A.J. Achter went 8 innings, giving up only one unearned run on 9 hits to improve to 3-3 on the season. Penn St. starter Mike Lorentson gave up two runs on three hits in 2.1 innings, taking the loss and dropping to 1-7 on the year. Offensively, the green and white were led by SS Jonathan Roof, who finished 3-4 with 3 runs and 3 RBI. Penn St. C Ben Heath led the way for the Nittany Lions, finishing 2-4 with 1 RBI. With the win, the Spartans continue their impressive play and move to 20-24 overall, and 10-7 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions' loss drops them to 22-21 overall, and 5-10 in conference.

ILLINOIS 15
NORTHWESTERN 12

Fighting Illini starter Ben Reeser recieved a no decision after throwing 4 innings, and giving up 2 ER on 6 hits. Illinois reliever Mike Stankiewicz picked up the win to move to 1-1 after a 2.2 inning performance in which he gave up 5 runs on 3 hits. For the Wildcats, Jokisch dropped to 3-6 on the season after giving up 10 runs on 10 hits with 5 walks. Offensively, the blue and orange were led by RF Pete Capetta, who finsihed the game 4-6 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. Parr, Johnson, Altobelli, and Wikoff also added three hits each to propel the Illini. The Wildcats' Sneider led the way going 3-5 with a HR and an RBI. With the win, Illinois improves to 29-13 on the year, and 13-4 in conference. The loss drops the Wildcats to 12-29 overall, and 3-12 in Big Ten play.

IOWA 9
MINNESOTA 26

Lots to be said about this one, but I'll keep it short. Gophers starter Tom Buske continues to pitch well, and gets the win. In fact, he pretty much had the win in the bag after the first inning, when the Gophers found themselves up 9-0. Lots of walks, longballs, and errors contributed to a game which featured 35 runs in Gopherland. Minnesota 2B Derek McCallum hit his 13th HR and second of the weekend. With the win, the Gophers move to 29-13 overall, and 12-4 in conference. The loss drops the Hawkeyes to 14-29 (3-13).

More to come regarding the Indiana/Purdue doubleheader, and game two of Ohio St./Michigan. Stay tuned!

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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.