Big Ten Baseball Blog: 6/7/09

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Big Ten Players in 2009 MLB Draft - Update

As of 12:35 pm ET, the 2009 MLB draft has completed its first 9 rounds, and the following Big Ten players have been selected:

Eric Arnett, RHP, Indiana (#25 overall, Milwaukee Brewers)
Josh Phegley, C, Indiana (#38 overall, Chicago White Sox)
Matt Bashore, LHP, Indiana (#46 overall, Minnesota Twins)
Derek McCallum, 2B, Minnesota (#132 overall, Minnesota Twins)
Brandon Wikoff, SS, Illinois (#161 overall, Houston Astros)
Chris Fetter, RHP, Michigan (#264 overall, San Diego Padres)
Evan Crawford, OF, Indiana (#267 overall, San Francisco Giants)

Stay tuned as the MLB draft continues and more Big Ten players are selected.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Indiana's Phegley and Bashore Drafted on Day 1

After the Milwaukee Brewers selected the first Big Ten player in the 2009 MLB draft in Indiana hurler Eric Arnett (#25 overall), the Chicago White Sox picked the second Big Ten player, Josh Phegley, also from Indiana, as the #38 overall pick. Later, yet another Hoosier was selected, and the third from the Big Ten in LHP Matt Bashore, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins as the #46 overall selection. The first day is done and three Big Ten baseball familiars were taken, but stay tuned as the draft resumes tomorrow and there are plenty of other Big Ten players waiting to be selected, highlighted by Minnesota 2B Derek McCallum, who was most recently projected to fall in the 4th-5th round.

Indiana P Eric Arnett Selected in the First Rd. of 2009 MLB Draft

Just a few moments ago, Indiana pitcher Eric Arnett was selected in the first round (25th overall pick) of the 2009 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. Arnett is the first Big Ten player selected in the 2009 draft so far. Congratulations to Arnett and Hoosier nation, the Brewers are getting a real good one. Stay tuned for more updates on Big Ten players in the 2009 draft.

Monday, June 8, 2009

College World Series Field is Set

After today's game, the field of 8 teams for the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska is set. The games will begin on June 13th and the final game will be on the 23rd or 24th. The field consists of:

Texas (#1 seed, defeated TCU in super regional)
Southern Mississippi (#3 seed, defeated Florida in super regional)
Arizona State (#1 seed, defeated Clemson in super regional)
North Carolina (#1 seed, defeated East Carolina in super regional)
Cal State Fullerton (#1 seed, defeated Louisville in super regional)
Arkansas (#2 seed, defeated Florida State in super regional)
Virginia (#2 seed, defeated Mississippi in super regional)
Louisiana State (#1 seed, defeated Rice in super regional)

These 8 teams will now be separated into two separate, double elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket will play each other in a best-of-three series to determine the NCAA champion. Stay tuned for updates as the CWS begins.

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.