B1G Baseball Weekly Update (4/15 - 4/28)‏

We have about a month left of the season so here is where we stand as of now:

Standings	Conference	Overall
Minnesota	10-3	26-13
Michigan	9-3	29-10
Indiana	10-4	25-16
Michigan St.	8-5	28-11
Maryland	8-5	23-18
Penn State	9-7	24-19
Nebraska	7-6	26-16
Ohio St.	7-7	27-14-1
Illinois	7-7	21-18
Iowa	7-8	19-20
Rutgers	6-7	22-20
Northwestern	2-15	10-32
Purdue	2-15	7-33

Illinois (20-17, 6-6) RPI: 87

04/15/16 SAINT LOUIS W 6-4
04/16/16 SAINT LOUIS W 3-1
04/17/16 SAINT LOUIS W 6-2
04/19/16 vs. Eastern Ill. W 5-4
04/22/16 OHIO STATE W 1-0
04/23/16 OHIO STATE L 1-9
04/24/16 OHIO STATE W 5-3

Had a nice sweep of St. Louis plus a series win against the Buckeyes. Add in a mid-week win against Eastern Illinois and a nice couple of weeks for the Illini. They are now above .500 overall, at .500 in conference, and stay under triple digits in RPI. They do have some tough home match ups vs. the Gophers this weekend plus a border showdown with Mizzou in the mid-week to keep the momentum going.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 Minnesota; 5/3 Missouri (SEC Network); 5/4 Southern Illinois

Indiana (23-16, 8-4) RPI: 120

04/15/16 IOWA W 7-1
04/16/16 IOWA W 8-2
04/17/16 IOWA L 5-6
04/20/16 at Xavier W 8-0
04/22/16 at Michigan State W 3-2
04/23/16 at Michigan State L 0-9
04/24/16 at Michigan State W 8-4
04/26/16 vs. Notre Dame L 0-5
04/27/16 XAVIER CND

Good back to back series wins over Iowa at home and MSU on the road helped bump the Hoosiers up 40 RPI spots from the last time we saw them. Did get shut out by the hated Irish but I'd imagine most Indiana fans will take these results in B1G play.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 Northwestern

Iowa (19-19, 7-8) RPI: 94

04/15/16 at Indiana L 1-7
04/16/16 at Indiana L 2-8
04/17/16 at Indiana W 6-5
04/22/16 MICHIGAN L 4-8
04/23/16 MICHIGAN L 9-12
04/24/16 MICHIGAN W 8-3
04/26/16 GRAND VIEW W 3-0
04/27/16 OMAHA CND

Avoided the sweep against Indiana by gutting one out in the rubber match and lost a close series against Michigan. This weekend the Hawkeyes take a break from B1G play to take on the Kansas version of purple wildcats

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 KSU; 5/3 Western Illinois

Maryland (22-18, 7-5) RPI: 57

04/15/16 at Minnesota L 5-9
04/16/16 at Minnesota W 4-2
04/17/16 at Minnesota L 4-6
04/22/16 PURDUE L 1-7
04/23/16 PURDUE W 6-0
04/24/16 PURDUE W 11-3
04/26/16 at James Madison W 19-12

Lost the road series with the Gophers but rebounded with a series win against Purdue. Also won a good ol' fashioned ACC field goal fest with James Madison in the mid-week game. RPI is still in decent shape (even though they are barely over .500) but will get a tough test from PSU on the road this weekend.

Up next: 4/29 - 4/30 @PSU; 5/4 Townson

Michigan (28-10, 8-3) RPI: 25

04/15/16 NEBRASKA W 10-6
04/16/16 NEBRASKA W 7-2
04/17/16 NEBRASKA W 6-1
04/20/16 TOLEDO W 2-1
04/22/16 at Iowa W 8-4
04/23/16 at Iowa W 12-9
04/24/16 at Iowa L 3-8

Gave Nebraska the broom treatment winning all three games in convincing fashion then followed that up with a road series win over Iowa. Michigan is the leader in RPI for the B1G just edging out Minnesota. They have a huge game this weekend facing off against in-state rival MSU which has big stakes in both the conference race as well as jockeying for position in the postseason.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 MSU (home/away/home); 5/3 Eastern Michigan; 5/4 @Eastern Michigan

Michigan State (28-10, 8-4) RPI: 76

04/15/16 at Purdue W 11-0
04/16/16 at Purdue W 5-3
04/17/16 at Purdue L 2-5
04/19/16 NOTRE DAME L 0-1
04/20/16 WESTERN MICH. W 6-5
04/22/16 INDIANA L 2-3
04/23/16 INDIANA W 9-0
04/24/16 INDIANA L 4-8
04/27/16 TOLEDO W 4-1

Won the series against Purdue but dropped a home match up with Indiana which knocked them out of the lead in the B1G race for now. Plus, with the RPI killing loss to Purdue in the rubber match and falling to the hated Irish (seriously, someone needs to beat those guys!) the Spartans dropped 40 spots the past two weeks. Much like mentioned above the series against Michigan is big for MSU. Probably even more so for Sparty as they want to get back to the top of the B1G and on the good side of things RPI-wise.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 Michigan (away/home/away)

#19 Minnesota (25-12, 9-2) RPI: 33

04/15/16 MARYLAND W 9-5
04/16/16 MARYLAND L 2-4
04/17/16 MARYLAND W 6-4
04/19/16 NORTH DAKOTA ST. W 10-0
04/22/16 at Northwestern W 6-5
04/23/16 at Northwestern W 10-1
04/24/16 at Northwestern W 8-0
04/26/16 at North Dakota St. L 4-7

Great couple of weeks for the Gophers in winning the series against Maryland and sweeping Northwestern. With that Minnesota takes command of the B1G for now. Did get dinged for the loss against North Dakota St. but the RPI is still in great shape.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 @Illinois

Nebraska (26-15, 7-5) RPI: 80

04/15/16 at Michigan L 6-10
04/16/16 at Michigan L 2-7
04/17/16 at Michigan L 1-6
04/19/16 at Kansas St. W 5-1
04/22/16 NICHOLLS ST. W 6-1
04/23/16 NICHOLLS ST. L 1-7
04/24/16 NICHOLLS ST. W 4-2
04/27/16 vs. Kansas W 3-1

Went 4-4 since mid-May but getting swept against Michigan didn't do the Huskers any favors. If they want to make some noise in the B1G or make it into the postseason they need to make some moves now. Also, Nebraska took a break from B1G play and got a series win against Nichols St. That plus the wins against KSU and Kansas at Kauffman Stadium (which was awesome to see in person!) did pad the stats but didn't really do much in terms of RPI.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 @Rutgers

Northwestern (10-30, 2-13) RPI: 256

04/15/16 PENN STATE L 2-4
04/16/16 PENN STATE L 2-8
04/17/16 PENN STATE L 3-11
04/19/16 at Chicago St. W 12-10
04/22/16 MINNESOTA L 5-6
04/23/16 MINNESOTA L 1-10
04/24/16 MINNESOTA L 0-8

The Wildcats pushed their win total to double digits with the win over Chicago St. Outside of that though not a whole lot of other positives since they got the rare double home sweep by both PSU and Minnesota. Things don't get any easier this weekend playing Indiana on the road.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 @Indiana; 5/4 @Illinois-Chitown

Ohio State (25-14, 5-7) RPI: 99

04/15/16 RUTGERS L 4-7
04/16/16 RUTGERS W 11-3
04/17/16 RUTGERS W 2-1
04/19/16 CINCINNATI W 9-0
04/22/16 at Illinois L 0-1
04/23/16 at Illinois W 9-1
04/24/16 at Illinois L 3-5

Grabbed a series win at home against Rutgers but followed that up with a series road loss with the Illini. However, the Buckeyes did manage to drop their RPI 30 spots in the past couple of weeks getting them in just under triple digits.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 @Purdue; 5/3 & 5/4 UAB

Penn State (24-18, 9-6) RPI: 95

04/15/16 at Northwestern W 4-2
04/16/16 at Northwestern W 8-2
04/17/16 at Northwestern W 11-3
04/19/16 BUCKNELL W 9-5
04/20/16 at Kent St. L 9-10
04/22/16 at Rutgers L 0-5
04/23/16 at Rutgers L 4-6
04/24/16 at Rutgers W 7-5
04/27/16 KENT ST. L 2-6

Swept the Wildcats on the road but dropped the series against the Scarlet Knights in Jersey. Also, Kent St. seemed to have their number as well winning each mid-week matchup. Even after the splitting the past two weeks though the Nits did manage to jump 20 spots in RPI land.

Up next: 4/29 - 4/30 Maryland

Purdue (7-31, 2-13) RPI: 263

04/15/16 MICHIGAN STATE L 0-11
04/16/16 MICHIGAN STATE L 3-5
04/17/16 MICHIGAN STATE W 5-2
04/19/16 BALL ST. W 9-2
04/20/16 INDIANA ST. L 4-22
04/22/16 at Maryland W 7-1
04/23/16 at Maryland L 0-6
04/24/16 at Maryland L 3-11
04/26/16 at Illinois St. L 2-10

Getting ever closer to the goal of double digit wins and this week was a veritable winsplosion compared to previous weeks. Lost both series to MSU and Maryland but hey they weren't sweeps amirite? Their efforts wouldn't go unnoticed by the RPI gods and the Boilermakers jumped a whole 10 spots. Progress!

Up next: 4/29 - 4/30 aOSU

Rutgers (21-20, 5-7) RPI: 73

04/15/16 at Ohio State W 7-4
04/16/16 at Ohio State L 3-11
04/17/16 at Ohio State L 1-2
04/19/16 DELAWARE ST. W 12-8
04/20/16 at Wagner W 8-0
04/22/16 PENN STATE W 5-0
04/23/16 PENN STATE W 6-4
04/24/16 PENN STATE L 5-7
04/27/16 VILLANOVA W 6-4

Lost the series to aOSU but rallied the next week and won the series against PSU. Swept all their mid-week games too. Still is baffling that their RPI is that decent considering the record.

Up next: 4/29 - 5/1 Nebraska; 5/3 St. Peters

Wisconsin

Wishes they had a musical legend this big hailing from their state:

Go purify yourself in waters of Lake Minnetonka

*Ok they do have the Violent Femmes and Steve Miller so that's pretty cool

RPI as of 4/28/16 courtesy of d1baseball.com

Players of the Week

4/18/2016

Player of the Week: Greg Guers OF, Sr., PSU
Had an outstanding week offensively hitting .765 including at least three hits in all four games as well as racking up eight RBIs, a home run, and two doubles. Currently is second in the conference in hits with 20 and fifth with a .417 batting average in Big Ten play. This is his first Big Ten Player of the Week award.

Pitcher of the Week: Kyle Hart P, Sr., IND
Had a complete-game without allowing an earned run in the victory over Iowa and recorded five strikeouts while only allowing four hits. Amazingly this is his fourth career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor.

Freshman of the Week: Willie Burger DH, PSU
Hit .467 on the week and drove in five runs on seven hits including a home run. This is his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor which means more great things in the future for this kid.

4/25/2016

Player of the Week: Austin Athmann C, Jr., MINN
Hit .500 on the week with seven RBIs on seven hits, including two home runs and a double which helped the Gophers to a series sweep over Northwestern. This is his first Big Ten Player of the Week award.

Pitcher of the Week: Cody Sedlock P, Jr., ILL
Had the longest outing in Division I baseball so far this season pitching a scoreless 10.2 innings which lead to a 1-0 win over Ohio State. Also had 14 strikeouts in that start, the most in a Big Ten game this season, while allowing just five hits. This is his first career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor.

Freshman of the Week: Ryan Sloniger C, PSU
Hit .500 on the week driving in one run on five hits including a home run and a double. This is his first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor. Also, if you are noticing a pattern with all these PSU players winning the award look for the Nits to field a pretty darn good team in coming years. (Maryland too!)

What to Watch This Week

BTN is doing its part to broadcast more and more B1G baseball/softball games so here is what you can find for baseball/softball coverage this week. All times Eastern

Baseball
Saturday, April 30 Maryland - Penn State 2:00 PM
Sunday, May 01 Northwestern - Indiana 3:00 PM

Softball
Sunday, May 01 Iowa - Illinois 1:00 PM

Players of the week, schedule, and results courtesy of bigten.org & btn.com