B1G Baseball Update 2/17 - 3/2

As basketball gears up for its postseason push many B1G baseball teams are toiling away in sunny locales trying to get wins. Lets check in on how everyone is doing:

Illinois 2-5

02/17/17 MILWAUKEE W 10-2
02/18/17 at Milwaukee L 2-4
02/18/17 at Lamar L 9-15
02/19/17 at Lamar L 1-2
02/24/17 at A&M-Corpus Christi W 15-14
02/25/17 vs. Houston L 5-11
02/26/17 vs. Missouri L 6-7

After two separate tournament trips to the Lonestar State the Illini found Ws tough to come by. They started the season off on the right foot crushing the Panthers but came up empty in the remaining games of the Cardinal Classic. Much of the same occurred in Corpus-Christi where they beat the host team but couldn't get past the Cougars or Tigers. They'll get a rematch with Mizzou later this year.

Indiana 3-4

02/17/17 vs. Oregon St. L 0-1
02/17/17 vs. Gonzaga W 12-3
02/19/17 vs. Gonzaga W 5-1
02/20/17 vs. Oregon St. L 1-4
02/24/17 at Fla. Atlantic W 8-4
02/25/17 at Fla. Atlantic L 2-6
02/26/17 at Fla. Atlantic T 6-6
03/01/17 at Cincinnati L 1-6

Had an ok outing in the Sanderson Classic cruising to wins over Gonzaga but couldn't crack the code of the Beavers. A rare three game series split was next for the Hoosiers down in Florida.

Iowa 4-3

02/17/17 at South Fla. L 4-9
02/18/17 at South Fla. W 4-2
02/19/17 at South Fla. L 0-6
02/22/17 LORAS W 8-1
02/24/17 vs. Alabama St. W 9-2
02/25/17 vs. Alabama St. L 3-4
02/26/17 vs. Morehead St. W 14-7

Lost the opening series with the Bulls but regained its confidence rolling past...LORAS(?) which HAS to be a Dr. Seuss character. Added two more wins the next week in the Hoover Classic.

Maryland 1-5

02/17/17 vs. Ball State L 3-8
02/18/17 at Louisville L 7-10
02/19/17 vs. Alabama St. W 9-7
02/24/17 at LSU L 1-6
02/25/17 at LSU L 0-14
02/26/17 at LSU L 5-9

The preseason favorite and formerly ranked Terps had a rough couple of weeks getting only one win in Clearwater, FL and the wrong end of a sweep at Alex Box Stadium. But don't fret turtle fans as there will be plenty more opportunities to get Power 5 scalps later on in the season (or more losses).

Michigan 7-2

02/17/17 vs. Seton Hall L 4-5
02/18/17 vs. Seton Hall W 8-7
02/18/17 vs. Seton Hall W 10-7
02/19/17 vs. Seton Hall L 6-8
02/23/17 vs. Saint Louis W 6-1
02/24/17 vs. Creighton W 7-6
02/25/17 at Santa Clara W 10-3
02/26/17 at San Jose St. W 6-2
02/28/17 at Loyola Marymount W 14-2

The Mitten State is at it again as both Michigan/MSU are off to a roaring start this year. After splitting a four game set with the Pirates the Wolverines swept through the Jack Gifford Memorial beating some decent competition (boo CU!). Picking up two more wins against SJSU and Loyola puts their current winning streak to five although that will be tested in the Dodgertown classic this weekend.

Michigan State 6-1

02/17/17 at Abilene Christian W 9-2
02/18/17 at Abilene Christian W 9-7
02/18/17 at Abilene Christian W 19-7
02/19/17 at Abilene Christian W 14-5
02/24/17 at UNCG W 5-4
02/25/17 at UNCG W 22-16
02/26/17 at UNCG L 1-4

Much like last year the Spartans are off to a great start albeit against some lowly competition. However weak the opponents may be MSU putting up football scores on the diamond has to be encouraging.

Minnesota 4-3

02/18/17 at UC Irvine W 9-8
02/19/17 at UC Irvine L 5-7
02/24/17 SEATTLE W 13-4
02/25/17 SEATTLE W 6-3
02/26/17 SEATTLE W 11-7
02/28/17 vs. North Dakota St. L 1-3
03/02/17 vs. Hawaii L 2-11

Only got in two games of a scheduled four game set with the Anteaters and ended up getting the split. The series with Seattle fared much better with the Gophers sweeping before dropping some mid-week games to the Bison and Wāhine. Minnesota will have a chance for revenge against the Rainbow Warriors this weekend hosting the Dairy Queen Classic.

Nebraska 2-4

02/17/17 vs. UC Riverside L 3-4
02/17/17 vs. UC Riverside W 5-4
02/23/17 vs. Oregon St. L 1-10
02/24/17 vs. Utah L 5-7
02/25/17 vs. Oregon St. L 2-5
02/26/17 vs. Utah W 4-3

Similar to Minnesota the Huskers only got to play two games of four scheduled against Riverside (inclement weather? In Arizona? Was it too hot or something?). Nebraska was probably hoping for more wins in the B1G/Pac-12 challenge but was only able to snag one the final day against the Utes. This weekend the competition gets turned up to "11" with Okie Lite/Arkansas/Arizona in the Frisco Classic.

Northwestern 0-6

02/17/17 at Arizona St. L 1-3
02/18/17 at Arizona St. L 3-4
02/19/17 at Arizona St. L 2-6
02/24/17 at Middle Tenn. L 4-11
02/25/17 at Belmont L 1-6
02/26/17 at Lipscomb L 6-10

Probably not the start the Wildcats had in mind but kudos to them for challenging themselves. The series against ASU went about as expected but at least NW wasn't wiped off the face of the earth as most may have predicted. Dropping all three in Murfreesboro,TN didn't help matters though the following week.

Ohio State 3-5

02/17/17 vs. Kansas St. W 6-3
02/18/17 vs. Delaware W 15-10
02/18/17 vs. Pittsburgh L 2-7
02/19/17 vs. Kansas St. L 2-3
02/23/17 vs. Utah L 0-12
02/24/17 vs. Oregon St. W 6-1
02/25/17 vs. Utah L 4-6
02/26/17 vs. Oregon St. L 1-5

aOSU split their games in the Diamond 9 tournament getting both a win and loss vs. KSU and a W against the Blue Hens. Although for a certain OTE commenter the outcome of the Pitt game may not be so enjoyed (or maybe IT is). Much like Nebraska the Buckeyes only picked up one win in the B1G/Pac-12 tournament but it was against the Beavs who seem to be racking up victories against B1G foes left and right.

Penn State 2-5

02/17/17 at TCU L 3-6
02/18/17 at TCU L 1-12
02/19/17 at TCU L 3-9
02/24/17 vs. Xavier W 7-5
02/24/17 vs. Xavier L 5-7
02/25/17 vs. Xavier L 4-10
02/26/17 vs. Xavier W 6-1

Much like NW you have to give PSU credit for starting off against a tough customer (a preseason #1 no less) but the experience was pretty much the same in that they got swept. A split series with Xavier certainly helped confidence-wise though.

Purdue 3-4

02/17/17 at Texas St. W 9-3
02/18/17 at Texas St. W 12-8
02/18/17 at Texas St. L 11-13
02/19/17 at Texas St. L 5-14
02/24/17 at Little Rock W 6-4
02/25/17 at Little Rock L 0-2
02/26/17 at Little Rock L 0-13

Purdue would like to put the 2016 campaign behind them since they barely got to double digit wins last year and getting a split of a four game series with Texas St. should help. Following it up with a series loss to Arkansas-Little Rock can't be good though.

Rutgers 2-5

02/17/17 at Miami (FL) L 0-3
02/18/17 at Miami (FL) L 4-8
02/19/17 at Miami (FL) W 17-6
02/24/17 at Virginia L 3-7
02/25/17 at Virginia L 4-12
02/26/17 at Virginia L 2-18
02/28/17 WAGNER W 9-2

For the past three years the Knights have been leading off things in Coral Gables and for the last three years Miami has won the series soundly. Except for this year where, much like Ralphie in A Christmas Story, Buttgers started wailing on Scut Farkus Hurricane baseball on the last day as if the floodgates opened. If only that could have carried over to the series against Virginia.

Wisconsin

I

Players of the Week

Feb. 20th

Player of the Week: Dan Durkin Sr. Michigan State

Hit .500 on the week with 9 hits/11RBIs. This is his first player of the week award.

Pitcher of the Week: Tanner Andrews Jr. Purdue

In his outing against Texas State pitched 7 innings only allowing one earned run and striking out nine(!) batters. On the week took out 21 of 24 batters faced. This is his first pitcher of the week award.

Freshman of the Week: Jake Matheny Indiana

Had a .429 average with 5 RBIs and 2 HRs. This is his first freshman of the week award.

Feb. 27th

Player of the Week: Mason McCoy Sr. Iowa

Had an all around effort of 7 hits, 6 RBIs, and a .438 AVG. This is his second player of the week honors in his career.

Co-Pitchers of the Week

Oliver Jaskie Jr. Michigan

Against St. Louis only allowed 3 hits and struck out 6 batters. This is his third pitcher of the week honor.

Yianni Pavlopoulos Jr. Ohio State

Was the main reason the Buckeyes won against Oregon St. only allowing three hits and no runs. This is his first pitcher of the week award.

Freshman of the Week: Alex Erro Northwestern

Hit an amazing .700 on the week with 7 hits and a HR. This is his first freshman of the week honors.

Bonus Coverage!: World Baseball Classic

March 6th - 22nd on MLB Network

Spring training is just starting up for the MLB but for those that want a little more competitive spirit to their baseball watchin' check out the WBC which starts Monday on the MLB Network and features the best talent from around the world.

Pool A - Seoul
Chinese Taipei
Kingdom of the Netherlands
South Korea
Israel

South Korea -
Seung Hwan Oh

Israel -
Richard Bleier
Scott Feldman
Brad Goldberg
Ty Kelly

Kingdom of the Netherlands -
Xander Bogaerts
Kenley Jansen
Didi Gregorius
Jonathan Schoop
Andrelton Simmons

Chinese Taipei -
Wei-Chung Wang
Chien-Ming Wang

(heheheheh...Wang)

Pool B - Tokyo
Australia
China
Cuba
Japan

Australia -
Warwick Saupold

China -
Bruce Chen (pitched for Panama in '06 & '09)

Cuba -
Yoelqui Cespedes (half brother to Mets player)

Japan -
Nori Aoki

Pool C - Miami
Canada
Colombia
Dominican Republic
United States

Canada -
Ryan Dempster
Eric Gagne
Freddie Freeman
Justin Morneau

Colombia -
Julio Teheran
Tayron Guerrero
José Quintana
Jorge Alfaro
Giovanny Urshela

Dominican Republic - defending champs
Adrian Beltre
Robinson Cano
Manny Machado
Hanley Ramirez
Jose Reyes
Carlos Santana
Jose Bautista
Nelson Cruz
Gregory Polanco
Johnny Cueto
Bartolo Colon
(Wow)

United States -
Jonathan Lucroy
Buster Posey
Nolan Arenado
Matt Carpenter
Brandon Crawford
Paul Goldschmidt
Eric Hosmer
Ian Kinsler
Daniel Murphy
Adam Jones
Andrew McCutchen
Giancarlo Stanton
Christian Yelich
Danny Duffy
Chris Archer

Pool D - Jalisco, Mexico
Italy
Mexico
Puerto Rico
Venezuela

Italy -
Tommy Layne
Drew Butera
Francisco Cervelli
Gavin Cecchini
Giovanni Rescigno
Daniel Descalso
Rob Segedin
Brandon Nimmo

Mexico -
Yovani Gallardo
Adrian Gonzalez
Julio Urias
Yovani Gallardo
Jaime Garcia
Marco Estrada
Jorge De La Rosa

Puerto Rico -
Yadier Molina
Carlos Beltran
Francisco Lindor
Javier Baez

Venezuela -
Miguel Cabrera
Victor Martinez
Jose Altuve
Martin Prado
Alcides Escobar
Carlos Gonzalez
Odubel Herrera
Ender Inciarte
Salvador Perez
Felix Hernandez
Martin Perez
Franklin Morales
Francisco Rodriguez
Hector Rondon
Bruce Rondon

Schedules and players of the week courtesy of BTN.com