Big Ten Baseball Blog: Saturday's Conference Results

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Saturday's Conference Results

PURDUE 5
MICHIGAN ST. 6

Michigan State's Nolan Moody went 7 innings and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits while striking out 5 Boilermaker batters in a no decision. Spartan reliever A.J. Dunn moved to 2-2 after pitching two scoreless innings to recieve the win. Purdue's Matt Bischoff also recieved a no decision, giving up 5 runs on 10 hits in 7 innings worked. Boilermaker reliever Connor Cestak drops to 0-2 on the year after giving up a run on no hits. Cestak did not record an out in his appearance. Offensively the green and white were led by SS Jonathan Roof who finished 3-3 with a run and 2 RBI. C Eric Roof also finished 2-3 with 2 runs and 1 RBI. Purdue was led by LF Ben Wolgamot, who went 1-4 with a homer and 3 RBI. RF Alex Jaffee and CF Brandon Haveman also collected HR's in the game. With the win, the Spartans move to 22-24 overall and 12-7 in conference play. The loss drops the black and gold to 20-23 (7-11).

NORTHWESTERN 2
INDIANA 3

Hoosier hurler Eric Arnett improves to 11-1 on the season after giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits and striking out 8 Wildcat hitters in a complete game effort. Northwestern's Eric Jokisch drops to 3-7 on the year after allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 8 innings of work. Offensively Indiana was led by CF Evan Crawford who was 2-4 with 1 RBI. 2B Tyler Rogers also added two hits of his own, finishing 2-3 on the day. Northwestern's leading hitter was 2B Trevor Stevens, who went 2-4 with 1 RBI. With the win, the Hoosiers improve to 23-24 overall, and 12-6 in Big Ten play. The loss puts the Wildcats at 12-32 (3-14).

PENN ST. 5
IOWA 4 (11 innings)

Penn State reliever Jesse Alfreno picks up the win and moves to 1-0 on the season after pitching 0.1 scoreless innings of relief. Iowa reliever Mike Schurz drops to 0-1 after giving up 2 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings of work out of the bullpen. Offensively the Nittany Lions were led by 1B Corey Wine, who collected three hits, one of which was a homerun, and finished 3-5 with 2 RBI. 3B Jordan Steranka also collected three hits and 2 runs, and finished 3-6 on the day. LF Mike Deese also sent a ball over the fence, collecting 2 RBI. The Hawkeyes were led by 3B Wes Freie who finished 2-3 with 2 HR, 2 runs, and 2 RBI. RF Ryan Durant also collected 3 hits and finished 3-5. The win bumps the Nittany Lions up to 24-22 overall, and 7-13 in conference play. The loss drops Iowa to 15-32 (3-16).

MINNESOTA 12
MICHIGAN 5

Minnesota's Tom Buske improves to 8-3 on the year after giving up 5 runs on 7 hits, and striking out 7 in 6 innings of work. Michigan's Matt Miller drops to 0-2 after giving up 4 runs on 2 hits in just over an inning of work in relief for the Wolverines. Offensively the Golden Gophers were led by RF Michael Kvasnicka, who finished 2-5 with two doubles and 4 RBI. 1B Nick O'Shea also added 3 hits and 2 RBI, finishing 3-5 on the day. Minnesota speedsters Eric Decker and Matt Nohelty also added 2 hits of their own. The blue and maize were led by DH Jake McClouth who finished 2-4 with 1 HR and 3 RBI. C Chris Berset also finished 2-4 with a run and 1 RBI. With the win, the maroon and gold improve to 33-13 overall and 15-4 in conference play, while the Wolverines drop to 26-23 (7-13). The Gopher win also puts Minnesota head coach John Anderson at 999 career victories, needing to win just 1 of 4 remaining games this season to reach the 1000 win milestone.

OHIO STATE
ILLINOIS 4:30 PM

Stay tuned for updates and results of the Fighting Illini and Buckeyes matchup in Champaign tonight.

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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.