Big Ten Baseball Blog: Thursday's Conference Results

Friday, May 15, 2009

Thursday's Conference Results

MICHIGAN ST. 4
INDIANA 6

Hoosier reliever Chris Squires picked up the win and improved to 2-2 on the year after pitching 2 scoreless innings and striking out 3 Spartan hitters. Squires combined with Matt Carr to pitch the last 6 innings without a run, lifting Indiana to victory. Michigan St. reliever AJ Dunn recieves the loss and drops to 2-3 on the year after giving up 3 runs on 2 hits in 2 innings pitched. Spartan starter Nolan Moody gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 6.2 innings of work. Offensively the Hoosiers were led by C Josh Phegley who finished 2-3 with 1 R, 1 HR, and 2 RBI. 3B Vince Gonzalez also added 2 hits of his own, finishing 2-4 with 1 run, 1 HR, and 1 RBI. 1B Jerrud Sabourin also went yard and finished 1-4 on the night. The green and whtie were led by C Eric Roof who finished 2-4 with a run. 3B AJ Shindler collected a HR and 2 RBI and finished 1-5 on the evening. With the win, the Hoosiers improved to 27-24 overall, and 15 -6 in conference play, while the Spartans dropped to 22-28 (12-10).

ILLINOIS 5
PURDUE 12

Boilermaker starter Matt Bischoff improves to 4-4 after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and striking out 3 in 6 innings of work. Illinois starter Phil Haig drops to 6-3 after giving up 6 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings pitched. Purdue reliever Drew Wurdack recieved his 2nd save on the season after pitching 3 innings and giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. Offensively the Boilermakers were led by 3B Dan Black who finished 3-4 on the night with 1 HR, 2 runs, and 5 RBI. DH Drew Madia hit a grand slam and finished 1-2 with 1 run and 4 RBI. RF Alex Jaffee and SS Nick Overmeyer also went yard for the Boilermakers. For the Illini, 2B Josh Parr led the way going 3-4 with 1 run. DH Willie Argo also went 2-2 with 2 runs and 2 BB. With the win, the Boilermakers improve to 23-23 (10-11) while Illinois drops to 32-17 (15-7).

MICHIGAN 16
NORTHWESTERN 6

Wolverine starter Chris Fetter improves to 7-3 after giving up 6 runs on 10 hits and striking out nine Wildcats in 6.2 innings pitched. Northwestern reliever David Jensen falls to 2-4 after giving up 5 runs on 1 hit and 4 walks in just 0.1 innings of work. Offensively the Wolverines were led by 1B Mike Dufek who finished 2-4 with 2 HR, 3 R, and 4 RBI. DH Jake McClouth also had a HR, and finished 2-4 with 3 R and 1 RBI. Fellows, Toth, LaMarre, and Oaks all added a pair of hits for the blue and maize. The Wildcats were led by DH Jake Wilson, who finished 2-4 with a run and 2 RBI. CF Kenneth Avilla also finished 1-3 with 2 RBI. With the win, the Wolverines improve to 30-23 (9-13) while the Wildcats drop to 12-35-1 (3-17).

MINNESOTA 7
PENN ST. 6

Gopher reliever Austin Lubinsky improves to 3-0 on the season after pitching 3 innings and giving up just 1 run on 1 hit. Minnesota closer Scott Matyas picked up his 12th save after pitching a perfect ninth inning and striking out two hitters. Penn St. reliever David Lutz gave up 1 run on 1 hit and took the loss to drop to 4-2 after his 1 inning appearance. Offensively the maroon and gold were led by C Kyle Knudson who finished 2-4 with 1 R and 2 RBI. RF Michael Kvasnicka and 3B Kyle Geason also each added a pair of hits. The Nittany Lions were led by CF Blake Lynd, who finished 2-5. 3B Jordan Steranka added a solo HR and finished 1-4 on the night. With the win, the Gophers improve to 34-14 (16-5) while Penn St. drops to 24-25 (7-15).

IOWA 4
OHIO ST. 13

Buckeyes starter Alex Wimmers continues his impressive pitching and improves to 9-1 after pitching 6 scoreless innings and striking out 12 Hawkeye hitters. Hawkeyes starter Nick Brown drops to 2-4 after giving up 5 runs on 5 hits in just one inning of work. Offensively Ohio St. was led by CF Michael Stephens who went 2-4 with 2 runs, 1 HR, and 3 RBI. LF Zach Hurley collected three hits, and finished 3-4 with 2 RBI. The Hawkeyes were led by CF Kurtis Muller who hit a grandslam and finished 1-4 with 4 RBI. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 37-15 (16-6), while the Hawkeyes drop to 16-33 (4-17).

With Minnesota's win, they remain in sole possession of first place. Ohio State's win over the Hawkeyes keeps them right in the mix just 1/2 game back. Illinois' loss and Indiana's win puts them a bit behind, but they are not out of the race yet. Stay tuned for tomorrow's action!

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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.