Big Ten Baseball Weekly Review - 2014 Week 11

Big Ten

Overall

Team

Record

Pct.

Record

Pct.

1. Indiana

13-2

.867

28-12

.700

2. Nebraska

10-5

.667

28-17

.622

Illinois

10-5

.667

23-17

.575

4. Michigan State

8-7

.533

24-17

.585

5. Minnesota

9-9

.500

22-16

.579

Michigan

9-9

.500

19-24-1

.443

7. Iowa

7-8

.467

25-15

.625

8. Ohio State

6-9

.400

25-19

.568

9. Penn State

5-9

.357

17-23

.425

10. Purdue

5-10

.333

11-29

.275

11. Northwestern

4-13

.235

12-28

.300

Illinois

2-3

Illinois 3, Eastern Illinois 2

Missouri 5, Illinois 2

Indiana 9, Illinois 3

Illinois 2, Indiana 1

Indiana  11, Illinois 3

Illinois made it look closer than it really was. When you total it up, they were outscored 22-7. Don't take that as an indictment of Illinois being bad, take it as Indiana still being that far ahead of everyone else in the Big Ten.

The Illini held their sixth-annual Bleacher Bum Barbecue and had the fifth-best crowd in school history with 3,185 fans at Illinois Field.

(More below)

Indiana

3-1

Indiana 10, Ball State 1

Indiana 9, Illinois 3

Illinois 2, Indiana 1

Indiana  11, Illinois 3

Joey DeNato turned in another great outing in the opener, going 8 innings, allowing 11 hits and 3 runs and extending his record to 9-1. The Hoosiers outhit Illinois 13-12, but as you know it's all about "timely hitting".

In the second, starter Christian Morris went 7.2 innings, giving up 7 hits and 2 runs, but Illinois starter John Kravetz was just a little better at 7.1 innings, giving up 6 hits and one run.

In the third, Illinois lead 3-2 early, but ended up allowing 15 hits and 11 runs between four Illlini pitchers. The Illini also committed three errors. The game was called at 5:00 pm after a long rain delay. One pitch was thrown in the 9^th inning.

Indiana remains at the top of the conference in team pitching with a 2.51 ERA. They're third in team batting at .283, and second in fielding at .974.

We're probably not too far away from the "how far can this team go" conversation for Indiana. I think the key with them is that they are so well-rounded. Seven different players have won Big Ten weekly honors.

Iowa

3-0

Iowa 2, South Dakota State 1

Iowa 4, South Dakota State 3

Iowa 12, South Dakota State 3

Iowa swept South Dakota State.

In the interest of time we will ignore Iowa, at least this week.

Michigan

Bowling Green State 7, Michigan 4

Nebraska 6, Michigan 4

Nebraska 3, Michigan 1

Michigan 7, Nebraska 5

Brian covered this series yesterday.

Michigan State

4-0

Michigan State 4, Toledo 2

Michigan State 3, Northwestern 2

Michigan State 7, Northwestern 1

Michigan State 15, Northwestern 3

A really good week for the Spartns, who are currently at 91^st in RPI.

They held on to win game one, then got progressively better while the Wildcats got worse.

Michigan State is second in team pitching with a 2.85 ERA. This weekend:

Game 1 - Mick VanVossen - 7.1 IP, 9H, 3ER

Game 2 - Justin Alleman - 7.2 IP, 4H, 1ER

Game 3 - Cam Vieaux - 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER

Minnesota

3-0

Minnesota 2, Penn State 1

Minnesota 4, Penn State 0

Minnesota 12, Penn State 0

The Gophers pulled themselves up to .500 with a sweep over Penn State, giving up one run over three games in the process.

Minnesota pitchers were incredible.

Game 1 - Alec Crawford - 8 IP, 6H, 1ER, 9 SO

Game 2 - Ben Meyer - 8 IP, 8H, 0R, 8 SO

Game 3 - Neal Kunik - 7 IP, 3H, 0R, 9 SO

The Gophers had 19 hits in game three, scored 7 runs in the first inning.

Minnesota had their first night game at the new Siebert Field on Friday.

Nebraska

2-1

Nebraska 6, Michigan 4

Nebraska 3, Michigan 1

Michigan 7, Nebraska 5

I wanted a sweep in Ann Arbor. You wanted a sweep in Ann Arbor. We didn't get one. Maybe we're greedy?

Brian covered this series yesterday.

Northwestern

1-3

Northwestern 7, Wheaton  5

Northwestern 7, Chicago State  6

Michigan State 3, Northwestern 2

Michigan State 7, Northwestern 1

Michigan State 15, Northwestern 3

Wheaton is not a Div I school, so they really don't count.

One week after taking a series at Nebraska, Northwestern gets pounded by Sparty.

I mean, maybe they lost hope after losing the first game after being down 3-1, scoring a run in the ninth, loading the bases and then hitting into a double play. Then things just got worse.

Ohio State

2-1

Purdue 4, Ohio State 3 (13 innings)

Ohio State 2, Purdue 0

Ohio State 11, Purdue 2

The Buckeyes are going to have to fight their way back into the mix if they expect to make the Big Ten tourney.

This series kind of mirrored the Michigan State-Northwestern series except that Sparty didn't lose a game to the worst team in the conference. Ohio State started slow, got progressively better.

Buckeye pitchers did pretty well during the series:

Game 1 - Tanner Tully - 7 IP, 4H 3ER

Game 2 - Ryan Riga - 7.2 IP, 3H, OR, 9 SO

Game 3 - Greg Greve - 7 IP, 4H, 1R

Ohio State seems to have a decent set of starters, it's just... I don't know. It's like Nebraska - inconsistent, sometimes progressed, sometimes you wonder what the heck they're doing.

LandGrantHolyland has a take on the series.

Penn State

0-4

Kent State 4, Penn State 1

Minnesota 2, Penn State 1

Minnesota 4, Penn State 0

Minnesota 12, Penn State 0

One friggin' run over three games.

What bugs me more about the Nittany Lions is that their strength of schedule is at 169.  Northwestern is at 106^th.

It's like they're not even trying.

Purdue

2-3

Indiana State 10, Purdue 3

Purdue 5, Illinois-Chicago 3

Purdue 4, Ohio State 3 (13 innings)

Ohio State 2, Purdue 0

Ohio State 11, Purdue 2

Purdue took that first game from the Buckeyes, and I thought "uh, oh, what's going on in Columbus?"

Where's Purdue's strength of schedule, you might wonder? It's 27^th.