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Welcome back to our weekly look at what happened in B1G baseball. I'm sure you all have been waiting with bated breath as to how your team did, and what is coming up next. Wait, what's that? You already know because it happened a week ago and your team even played this weekend's games last night? Hmmm... Well, deal with it. It's my weekly roundup and I'm going to publish it on Fridays and...
Sorry, let's get to some baseball!
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK!
Illinois (4-0) - Started the season off 4-0 with two wins over New Mexico State and two wins over Lamar. The insane thing about that first undefeated first weekend start since 2000 was the pitching. The B1G pitcher of the week was Rob McDonnell, but the entire starting staff for the Illini had 25 Ks, 3 walks, and had a filthy 0.34 ERA. That's a great way to start the year. Illinois takes on Florida Gulf Coast for two and Fordham for one this weekend.
Indiana (2-1) - The last time the Hoosiers went to Palo Alto, bad things happened. On their way to a potential second in a row Super Regional bid, the Hoosiers gave up a bottom of the ninth two-run shot to Stanford, and all the sadness prevailed. This time, the Hoosiers took a new look team to Stanford and came away with two wins, which should mean a lot come RPI time. Jr. OF Nick Ramos took home B1G POTW, and the series win gave Indiana an introduction to the rankings at #22. The Hoosiers will take on Presbyterian, Furman, and Xavier in the First Pitch Invitational this weekend.
Iowa (2-1) - After dropping the first of the Snowbird Classic to Kansas State, the Hawkeyes bounced back to win two on the weekend taking out St. Louis and George Mason. Freshman Catcher Austin Guzzo won FOTW with his hot hitting over the weekend. I'll be honest, I don't know many more storylines here and this is why we need more baseball writers. Oh, and I have 10 more of these blurbs to go. Iowa takes on Arkansas Little Rock tonight and Sunday and will sandwich in Missouri State tomorrow.
Maryland (3-0) - The Terrapins did what you expect the highest rated Big Ten team to do over the weekend. They won games. With wins over Western Kentucky, Cannisius, and Old Dominion, the Terps put on the gameface and look to go even further than their Regional win last year. Ranked 13th nationally, there is a strong chance that works out exactly as you would hope. BTW, relief pitcher Kevin Mooney notched his 23rd save as a Maryland player, tying him for most ever by a Terp. That's pretty cool. Maryland goes to Mobile in an interesting tournament featuring Southern Alabama, UCF, and Arkansas.
Michigan (1-2) - And here's the first disappointing weekend in the B1G alphabetically. The Wolverines traveled West to face the Long Beach State Dirtbags. Michigan was very competitive in the first game, but untimely walks gave LBSU the tie and eventually the lead. They then got smacked around on Saturday. Lucky for the Wolverines, not even extra innings could break their will to get away with at least a win in the opening weekend. Michigan will face Tennessee Tech and Davidson this weekend for two games a piece.
Michigan State (2-1) - So, I don't like that the Spartans and Wildcats played the third game of the weekend, but I guess you do what you got to do, right? Anyhow, the gem of the weekend was an extra-innings loss to Oregon State on Saturday. Now, it sucks that they lost and all, but Oregon State is a good team that just beat Oklahoma State last night, and I would venture to guess that getting out of a weekend with a winning record - especially opening weekend away from home - will be just fine for the Spartans. MSU goes to UT-Arlington for a set with Houston Baptist, UT-Arlington, and Southeastern Louisiana.
Minnesota (0-3) - Worst case scenario for Minnesota last weekend was losing three fairly noncompetitive games in Houston. With a third game lost in the bottom of the ninth, that means Minnesota barely avoided worst case scenario and landed squarely on disaster. Houston beat the Gophers 9-1, 5-0, and 5-4. I read some of the recaps, and there really doesn't seem to be much to say about this series. Houston is the 6th ranked team in the nation and was better. Kudos to Minnesota for scheduling this series. Oh, and as a reward, you get to travel to Texas (9th ranked) for a four game series this weekend. Good luck with that.
Nebraska (1-2) (Well, now 2-2 because they played last night) - Nebraska went out to Las Vegas last weekend to take on UNLV. There are a lot of expectations that they will be pushing Maryland for the top spot in the conference. Unfortunately, the weekend didn't exactly go as planned. While Nebraska opened up the year with a victory, the Rebels got some late clutch hitting in the second, and then the Husker bats went stone cold on Sunday. Not all too dissimilar to the Wolverines, this was just one of those early road weekends you gotta roll with. Nebraska is in the middle of a four game set with BYU this weekend that started last night.
Northwestern (0-3) - This might be the most heartbreaking 0-3 team in the B1G in that they lost in miraculously crazy ways. You know, like giving up a walk-off balk to Oregon State in the opener. In the second game, the Wildcats couldn't hold onto a lead and despite starting a rally in the 9th, fell 5-3 to New Mexico. Oh, and then they lost to Michigan State which is still weird. Northwestern is in San Antonio this weekend where they already dropped one to Villanova. They take on Incarnate Word tonight, Notre Dame tomorrow, and will most likely play in the consolation of the four team tournament on Sunday.
Ohio State (3-0) - The Buckeye baseball team went to Florida to take on George Mason, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh, and won all three, but not without a bit of drama. In the George Mason game, Ohio State needed a walkoff wild pitch, after a HBP, to secure the victory. Against St. Louis, Ohio State needed two runs in each of the 7th and 8th to secure another come from behind win. Oh, and they shut out Pitt. Ohio State heads to Boca Raton this weekend for a three game series with FAU.
Penn State (0-3) - Well, look at it this way, it's not like losing to Elon is completely laughable, right? Right. So here's the thing, Penn State went to Elon and walked away with zero wins, and it was an interesting series to sift through recaps. Penn State scored five runs in the top of the ninth in the first showdown with the Phoenix, but it still resulted in a 16-15 loss. They would go on to lose 7-2 and 11-6. which seems like Penn State might have a pitching problem. Lucky for Penn State, they get to go to... oh. Texas A&M, who is definitely ranked 22nd. That might not be a fun series for the Nittany Lions.
Purdue (1-2) - I cannot believe I've done summaries on each of the teams in the B1G. We're going to have to figure out a better format. Anyhow, the Boilers went over to Western Carolina for a three game stretch with the Catamounts. Also, I had to look up that nickname because I had no idea. Anyhow, Purdue's pitching was less than desirable this weekend with losses of 17-6 and 15-4 before finally pulling out the finale 9-5. That being said, a win is a win and a loss only counts once. The Boilers travel to Corpus Christi to play in the Kleberg Bank College Classic where they will face Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Sam Houston State twice on Saturday, and Missouri on Sunday.
Rutgers (0-3) - So I was trolling through the Big Ten scores and came across this weird one. 25-4. Surely that was a typo and they meant something like 5-4. Major P5 teams don't lose to teams 25-4. So I go to the official Rutgers site and it's all like LOL 25-4. Now, Miami is a Top 10ish team and played like it and Rutgers is decidedly not a Top much of anything team right now. Still, 25 runs is a lot of runs to give up and...
/Miami scored another run
Sure, it's not as catchy, but that's what we have to look forward to. In other news, Rutgers gets the weekend off due to weather problems in Tennessee. Looks like no makeup games either.
Wisconsin (DNP) - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯