Big Ten Baseball Weekly Review - 2013 Week Five

Big Ten

Overall

Team

Record

Pct.

Record

Pct.

Indiana

0-0

.000

13-3

.812

Illinois

0-0

.000

12-4

.750

Ohio State

0-0

.000

12-6

.667

Minnesota

0-0

.000

12-8

.600

Michigan State

0-0

.000

9-7

.562

Michigan

0-0

.000

9-9

.500

Iowa

0-0

.000

8-7

.533

Northwestern

0-0

.000

7-5

.583

Purdue

0-0

.000

7-11

.389

Nebraska

0-0

.000

6-11

.353

Penn State

0-0

.000

5-11

.312

Illinois

2-0

Illinois 4, Southern Illinois 1

Illinois 7, Southern Illinois 5 (10 innings)

Illinois had/has a four-game series scheduled with Southern Illinois with two games at Carbondale (home) and two games at Marion (SI home). Sunday's game was rained out, with one still scheduled for Monday.

In the 4-1 win, senior Illini pitcher Kevin Johnson went eight innings giving up seven hits and no runs. In game two, the game was tied 4-4 heading into the tenth, then scored three runs while the Salukis could manage only one. The Illini used five pitchers after starter Nick Blackburn gave up four runs (three earned) and lasted only 3.2 innings.

Illinois has won 10 of its last 11 games and five straight.

Indiana

5-0

Indiana 4, Army 2

Indiana 8, Fairfield 0

Indiana 4, Navy 0

Indiana 8, Bucknell 5

Indiana 12, UAB 3

It wasn't the competition the week before when Indiana took a series from Florida, but the Hoosiers won all their games. They've now won 11 of their last 12 (HA HA ILLINOIS!) and six in a row, their last loss coming against Florida.

There weren't any remarkable performances noted, but THEY'RE RANKED and the Hoosiers are first in conference team batting at .309, and first in team pitching with an ERA of 2.25.

Iowa

1-1

Nebraska -Omaha 9, Iowa 6

Iowa 4, Nebraska -Omaha 1

Weirdly enough, Iowa and Nebraska-Omaha played their games in Wichita. The series was originally supposed to be played in Iowa City. Nebraska-Omaha has a pseudo-RPI of 281 and a record of 3-7.

The usually reliable Hawkeye pitcher Sasha Kuebel was relieved after only 3.1 innings in the opener after giving up six hits and eight runs (six unearned).

Iowa's Matt Dermody won his fourth game of the season, going 7.1 innings giving up five hits and a run

Game three was canceled.

Michigan

1-2

Coastal Carolina 8, Michigan 4

Coastal Carolina 6, Michigan 2

Michigan 3, Akron 2

Mid-week game vs Oakland canceled. It would have been nice for the Wolverines to pick up a win against Coastal Carolina, but at least they weren't losses to Nebraska-Omaha. Michigan took an early lead against the Chanticleers in game one, but gave up four runs in the bottom of the seventh. The second game was just the opposite as CC scored four runs in the first two innings. Evan Hill had a rough outing, going 4.1 innings giving up nine hits and five runs.

Akron is currently 2-14. Granted, nine of those losses were to Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Kentucky. The Wolverines had to score in the seventh inning to win.

Michigan State

3-0

Michigan State 6, Santa Clara 1

Michigan State 7, Santa Clara 5

Michigan State 9, Santa Clara 1

Series sweep for Sparty over Santa Clara on the road. Andrew Waszak went seven innings giving up three hits and no runs in the first game, and in game three, Mick VanVossen went seven innings giving up three hits and a run. Hits for Sparty totaled seven, 16 and 19 across the three games.

It was the first sweep this season for Michigan State.

Minnesota

2-3

Minnesota 6, Nebraska-Omaha 1

Nebraska-Omaha 10, Minnesota 9 (11 innings)

Indiana State 2, Minnesota 1

Minnesota 3, Indiana State 0

Indiana State 9, Minnesota 4

A split with Nebraska-Omaha and a series loss to Indiana State. Not exactly the week the Gophers had in mind.

Tom Windle (the guy with the no-hitter last week) threw a complete game in game one, giving up only four hits and two runs (one earned). ALAS!! He was up against Sycamore pitcher Sean Manaea (no need to buy a vowel) who also went the distance giving up six hits and an unearned run.

The bottom of the ninth, Gophers have the bases loaded, Manaea throws a wild pitch and... OMG!!!! Watch the video! I think the Gophers got screwed, but you tell me.

Apparently inspired by Windle, Gopher hurler Ben Meyer went a complete game as well, struck out 11, walked no one, gave up five hits and no runs in the 3-0 win.

The Gophers used five pitchers in the rubber match, as Alec Crawford made his first appearance, was replaced by Lance Thonvold who gave up two runs in three innings and was replaced by Alex Tukey who gave up a grand slam (three hits, four runs, ouch!). Need not say more.

Nebraska

1-2

UC Irvine 2, Nebraska 1

Nebraska 4, UC Irvine 0

UC Irvine 2, Nebraska 0

The Huskers traveled out to California to face ranked UC Irvine and came fairly close to pulling off a good series win.

Friday night's game was lost because of a phantom HBP call against Nebraska that cost a run. Anteater Andrew Thurman threw a complete game (his fifth), striking out a career-high 11 while giving up only five hits and a run. Husker Christan DeLeon threw well, going 6.1 innings while giving up eight hits and two runs, both in the first inning (HBP? WHAT?).

In the second game, Nebraska scored three runs in the seventh inning but in the ninth, the Anteaters loaded the bases as Dylan Vogt struggled in relief, walking three. Josh Roeder came in and knocked the Anteaters down 1-2-3 to save the game.

In the rubber match, UC Irvine pitcher Andrew Morales went 7.2 innings and the Huskers could manage only four hits. Nebraska gave up one run on an error.

Nebraska is still struggling on offense, still bottom of the conference at .227. It could be argued that they've faced tough pitching match ups, yeah, but they still need to figure out how to win games if they're going to be the cream of the conference.

Northwestern

3-0

Northwestern 12, LIU Brooklyn 3

Northwestern 3, North Dakota State 2 (11 innings)

Northwestern 17, Bucknell 2 (7 innings)

Hey, Northwestern had a good week!

Ohio State

4-1

Ohio State 3, Coastal Carolina 2

Ohio State 6, Charleston Southern 3

Ohio State 4, Bryant University 1

Bryant University 3, Ohio State 2

Ohio State 6, Bryant University 4

The win against CC came when the Buckeyes scored in the ninth, while the Chanticleers tried to rally but hit into a double play to end the game (see, Nebraska isn't the only one that does that).

Against Charleston Southern, OSU score three runs in the final two frames to take the game.

Ohio State had their home opener against Bryant University. Jaron Long went seven innings in game one, giving up eight hits and one run. OSU 2B Ryan Cypret had his 12-game hitting streak broken, but reached base on a HBP to extend his on-base streak to all 16 games this season. The streak ended in the loss to Bryant.

In the loss, Bryant scored the winning run in the top of the ninth.

In the rubber match, Bryant scored four in the third, but the Buckeyes scored all their runs in the fourth (six of them if you're counting).

The weather sucked as game three was played at 35-degrees.

Penn State

0-2

Temple 4, Penn State 2

Temple 3, Penn State 2 (10 innings)

Penn State was to play at St. Joseph's but that was canceled. The Nittany Lions have yet to play a home game.

Temple's pseudo-RPI is 268, and they are 4-9 on the season, which means they haven't played any one (note that Bryant's pseudo-RPI is 78 which means they've at least been playing a decent schedule).

The weather was cold, Penn State's offense mustered nine hits throughout the two games, and I'm not so sure they didn't treat this as a mid-week game. In the 3-2 loss, Temple's E. Peterson went seven innings giving up three hits and two runs, and even though the Owls had 10 hits, PSU managed to force extra innings.

I still haven't figured out Penn State baseball other than they're not very good, don't schedule heavy, yet have a great baseball park. Is that it?

Purdue

3-2

Purdue 7, Cincinnati 4

Louisville 3, Purdue 1

Purdue 4, Evansville 3

Purdue 4, Evansville 1

Evansville 15, Purdue 1

Decent week for Purdue at least, although that 15-1 loss to Evansville is a head scratcher.

Boiler Robert Ramer finished one out short of a complete game against Cincy, giving up ten hits and four runs (three earned). At Louisville the Boilers could manage only four hits and a run (the Cardinals are ranked).

Evansville is another one of these low-RPI teams (218), but give coach Doug Schreiber a break on that as he's been scheduling pretty well.

In game one, Brad Schreiber (not Doug's son) went six innings giving up four hits and a run, while Purdue's pitchers stranded 11 runners (timely pitches). And game two, Jordan Minch went six innings giving up six hits and no runs.

In the final game, Purdue used eight pitchers who collectively gave up 20 hits and 15 runs. Purdue is struggling with pitching; currently last in team ERA at 6.49 (ouch!).