Big Ten Baseball Blog: Tonight's Big Ten Results

Friday, May 1, 2009

Tonight's Big Ten Results

PENN STATE 1
MICHIGAN ST. 12

The Spartan's Nolan Moody only gave up one run on 4 hits in 8 innings worked, and collected 9 K's to improve to 6-4 on the season. Penn State's T.J. Macy pitched 4.2 innings, gave up 5 runs, walked 4, and struckout 4. Macy recieved the loss and went to 3-4 on the year. Offensively the Spartans collected 13 hits, and were led by 2B Chris Roberts who went 3-4 with 3 runs, 3 RBI, and a HR. 1B Jeff Holm also went a perfect 3-3 with 2 runs and 2 RBI. The Nittany Lions managed only 5 hits on the day, 2 coming from cleanup-hitting 3B Jordan Steranka who finished 2-4 on the night. C Bobby Jacobs provided the only run for Penn St., going 1-3 with a solo HR in the top of the third. With the win, the Spartans move to 19-24 on the season, and 9-7 in Big Ten play. The loss puts the Nittany Lions at 22-20 overall, and 5-11 in the Big Ten.

ILLINOIS 10
NORTHWESTERN 2

The Fighting Illini's ace Phil Haig went the distance, giving up only 1 ER on 6 hits, with 3 K's. With the win, Haig moves to 6-2 on the year. Northwestern's starter Joe Muraski falls to 3-5 on the year after giving up 6 ER on 9 hits in 5.2 innings of work. The orange and blue were powered offensively by homeruns from C Aaron Johnson, and DH Willie Argo. SS Brandon Wikoff also was 2-3, with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and 1 BB. Northwestern collected 6 hits, two of which came from CF Kenneth Avila, who finished 2-3 on the night. 3B Chris Lashmet hit a solo HR and finsihed 1-4 on the night. With the win, the Fighting Illini improve to 28-13 overall, and 12-4 in conference. The loss puts the Wildcats at 12-28 overall, and 3-11 in the Big Ten.

IOWA 3
MINNESOTA 4

Golden Gopher starter Chauncy Handran gave up three runs on nine hits, and struck out four in a no decision. Freshmen Austin Lubinsky pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Minnesota to pick up the win. With the win, Lubinsky moved to 2-0 on the season. Scott Matyas continues pitching well, and earned another save tonight. Iowa's Phil Schreiber gave up 2 runs on 7 hits in 5.1 innings pitched to get the no decision. Iowa reliever Steve Turnbull gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in 2.1 innings to take the loss, dropping to 1-2 on the season. Offensively, Minnesota was led by C Kyle Knudson who finsihed 2-4 with 2 RBI, and CF Eric Decker, who reached base 3 times, and finished 2-3 with an RBI. 2B Derek McCallum continues to swing a hot bat as he finished tonight 2-5 with his 12th HR of the season. Iowa was led by CF Kurt Muller, who reached base four times and finished 2-3 with a run and two stolen bases. Trevor Willis finished the game 1-4 with a two-run HR, but it was not enough for the Wildcats tonight.

INDIANA
PURDUE postponed

MICHIGAN
OHIO STATE postponed

No big surprises in Big Ten play tonight. Michigan State's consistent performances over the past few weeks has put them comfortably in a position for a Big Ten tournament berth, and they are arguably the hottest team in the conference at the moment. Illinois and Minnesota continue to play well, and find themselves atop the conference standings.

Stay tuned for updates and results of tomorrow's Big Ten 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.