Upset Friday

My self-proclaimed Rivalry Week, see previous post, got off to quite a bang yesterday. Depending on your perspective, you could argue that every result in Big Ten baseball play Friday was an upset. Now, not all upsets are equal (think nine seeds beating eight seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament), but it was a fairly surprising day around the conference.

It begins for me in Ann Arbor where I spent Friday evening. When I heard that freshman Zach Putnam (photo top left, copyright Big Ten Hardball, btw) was going to make his first collegiate start for Michigan against #24 Ohio State, I thought two things. First, "Cool, I get to see Putnam make his first start". Second? "Giving a freshman his first start on Friday night against your hated rival, who just happens to be red hot, seems a tad risky". In the end, I learned why Rich Maloney coaches baseball and why I (poorly) write about it.

Putnam went 7.1 innings allowing only one OSU run and earned the win. Now, Putnam did get a bit of help for his mates. Michigan prevailed over #24 Ohio State, 14-3. Eric Rose and Mike Schmidt each had a pair of hits and drove in three runs for U of M. One of Schmidt's hits was his sixth homer of the year. If there was an offensive star for the Buckeyes, it was Matt Angle who had two hits and a RBI.

Back to Putnam for a moment. He started a bit rough, as one would expect from a freshman making his first start, but he settled down fairly quickly. Again, his run support probably did help, but college baseball can be a high scoring affair, so let's give the guy credit for keeping a potent OSU offense in check for seven innings.

I thought Putnam's off-speed stuff was the key. It appeared he kept the Buckeyes off balance most of the game. I didn't sit close enough to the radar gun folks to know what his fastball was clocked at, but Putnam impressed me more because he appeared to be a pitcher and not a thrower.

Dan DuLucia, OSU's starter, did get roughed up, but you can see why he's successful. He works fast and throws strikes. He's going to win quite a bit more before the season is done. I'm planning on heading back out to Ray Fisher Stadium today, so I'll hopefully have more to post about this series tonight.

Attention! We interrupt this post for some personal stuff and a shameless plug or two. At the game, I did get to meet a couple of fellow bloggers. Ian of Sweaty Men Endeavors , Fried Rice Thoughts and Motor City Sports Magazine and Sam of Blue Cats and Red Sox, Chicks Talk Football and Roar of the Tigers joined me (and Mrs. BTH) at The Fish.

My wife and Sam must have taken about four million photos of the game. Ok, maybe it was more like four hundred, not four million. It's still a ton-o-photos. Eventually, a link to most of all of them will appear in this space.

Ian and Sam are both intelligent, funny and very good writers. They actually know stuff that doesn't pertain to sports, as well. I strongly encourage you to check out their blogs. I also look forward to the next time we meet and discuss 80's music, the Detroit Lions, Sam's and my refusal to view Fever Pitch , blogging, and sports, in general.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Big Ten Hardball post. Thank you for your patience.

Let's see if I understand this correctly. A team cranks out 26 hits and scores 18 runs and loses? Yep, you read that right--26 hits and 18 runs. And loses. Yet, that was Illinois' fate last night as Northwestern's magical (is it too soon to use that word?) season continues. Pat McMahon and Antonio Mule eached jacked a pair of dingers in leading NU past the Fighting Illini, 19-18. The win, combined with OSU's defeat, gives NU sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.

McMahon hit for the cycle and drove in six of Northwestern's 19 tallies. Mule had four hits and just as many RBI. From the blue and orange perspective, Joe Bonadonna went 4 for 4 and five of his teammates had three hits a piece, although it wasn't quite enough.

Upset #3, if you are counting: Indiana bests Purdue, 8-4. Jay Brant and Zach Boswell each went yard for IU. Doug Fleenor posted his first win of the year in relief. Amazingly, the Go-Go Hoosiers only stole one base Friday. I'm just not sure what to think about that. Purdue's Neal Gorka went 3 for 4 and homered in the loss.

It's difficult to consider Minnesota's 9-0 triumph over Iowa an upset, although the Gophers were lower in the standings heading into Friday night, but I am surprised that Iowa didn't muster any offense. Brian Bull worked the first seven innings and improved his record to 3-3. 2B Luke McLean's three RBI led the Golden Gopher attack.

An interesting item I found while reviewing the boxscore, there were six batters hit by pitch. Doesn't that seem like an unusually high figure?

In what I think constitutes a mild upset, Penn State clipped Michigan State, 10-9, in ten innings. PSU's James Leitgeb knocked in the winner in the tenth with a single. Gary Amato picked up his fourth win of the year in relief. Lance Thompson and Cory Wine eached collected three hits.

Ryan Basham, basically my Pick to Click this weekend, homered for the Spartans. MSU also stole six bases (Basham stole his eighth). Apparently, I may need to start calling MSU the Go-Go Spartans.

Saturday is doubleheader day around the Big Ten, so the conference race can get even more scrambled today.