Weekend Action

Friday, March 31
Illinois 9 Purdue 7
Illini 1B Dave Schultz goes 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. Brian Blomquist earns the win and improves to 2-2. Matt Whitmore gets save number five. Purdue's offense is led by SS Mitch Hilligoss and Eric Wolfe with three hits a piece.

Michigan State 17 Indiana 7
Steve Gerstenberger was 5 for 5 with six RBI, scored three times and steals his second base of the year in leading the Spartans offense. MSU OF Ryan Basham goes 4 for 4 (one hit was his second homer), scores three, drives in three and steals a base, as well. IU's offense was led by LF Jay Brandt who homered (his third), had two hits, two runs, two RBI and stole two bases.

Ohio State 12 Iowa 5
Buckeye 2B Jason Zoeller hit a triple and a homer, knocked in three OSU runs and scored twice to pace the Ohio State attack. Zoeller was one of six Buckeyes to collect two hits on the day. OSU starting pitcher Dan DeLucia improved to 4-1. Iowa CF Nate Price went 4 for 5 and scored three runs.

Michigan 6 Northwestern 2
Craig Murray (3-1) tossed a complete game to open Big Ten play for the Wolverines. The righthander fanned seven Wildcats, walked only one and yielded nine hits in his nine innings of work. Doug Pickens and Derek VanBuskirk each had a pair of hits to lead the Michigan offense. Caleb Fields and Anthony Wycklendt each banged out a pair of hits for NU.

Penn State 7 Minnesota 3
The Nittany Lions opened the Big Ten campaign with a big road win at Minnesota. DH James Leitgeb had two hits and two RBI for Penn State. Lance Thompson, Scott Gaffney and Brian Ernst each had two hits for PSU. Gary Amato got the win in relief. Sean Kommerstad had a pair of hits for the Gophers.

Saturday, April 1
Illinois 3 Purdue 2 (Game One)
Purdue 10 Illinois 4 (Game Two)
Righthander Jake Toohey (2-2) pitched six innings of seven hit ball in the opener. Illinois closer Matt Whitmore got his second save in as many games. Eric Wolfe had another two hit contest for the Boilermakers.

In game two, Wolfe went 3 for 3 while Purdue DH Jordan Comadena hit his first homer and drove in three Boilermaker tallies. Brent Courdon improved to 2-2 on the year. Lars Davis and Dominic Altobelli each had a pair of hits for Illinois. Illini SS Shawn Roof stole three bases in the doubleheader.

Michigan State 2 Indiana 1 (Game One)
Indiana 12 Michigan State 7 (Game Two)
MSU's Jeff Gerbe pitched a seven inning complete game. He allowed four hits and no earned runs. Alan Cattrysse and Sean Walker drove in the Spartans runs.

IU CF Reggie Watson led the Hoosiers offensive charge in the nightcap. Watson went 4 for 4, scored twice, knocked in two and stole two bases. DH Cameron Satterwhite had three hits, three runs and two RBI. Joe Vicini notched his third triumph of the year. MSU freshman catcher Kyle Day went 3 for 3.

Iowa 7 Ohio State 1 (Game One)
Ohio State 6 Iowa 4 (Game Two)
Senior Jeff Maitland went the distance yielding only eight hits over seven innings and allowing one walk. The win moved Maitland's record to 3-0. Iowa SS Jason White had a pair of hits and scored twice. OSU's Jason Zoeller had two more hits as did 1B Eric Fryer.

In the nightcap, Fryer moved back behind the dish and drove in a pair of OSU runs and did DH Adam Schneider. Cory Luebke (3-2) pitched six innings fanning six and allowing nine hits. Rory Meister came in an notched his third save.

Northwestern 5 Michigan 0 (Game One)
Northwestern 4 Michigan 2 (Game Two)
Wildcat starters Dan Brauer and George Kontos each pitched complete game triumphs in the doubleheader sweep. Brauer (1-1) allowed five hits, four walks, but no runs in the seven inning shutout. Michigan lefty Paul Hammond also went the distance, but his offense couldn't crack Brauer's dominance. Antonio Mule had two hits for NU. Nate Recknagel did the same for U of M.

Kontos picked up in the second game where Brauer left off. The NU righthander tossed his own seven inning complete game allowing seven hits and both Michigan runs. Surprisingly, it was Kontos first win of the year (1-5). Northwestern SS Tommy Finn drove in two runs. Michigan CF Eric Rose had a pair of doubles amongst his three hits.

Penn State 12 Minnesota 2 (Game One)
Minnesota 5 Penn State 0 (Game Two)
PSU 2B Matt Cavagnaro homered and drove in five runs to lead PSU over Minnesota in game one. Cory Wine drove in two and had three safties in the opener for Penn State. Mark Wyner pitched a complete game for the Nittany Lions. In seven innings, Wyner struck out nine Gopher batters, giving up the two Minnesota runs while allowing only three hits and three walks.

Minnesota avoided the doubleheader sweep primarly behind the relief work of Tyler Oakes. In five innings of relief work, Oakes allowed the only Nittany Lion hit of the game, issued only a single free pass and yielded no runs. Andy Hunter and Kyle Baran each drove in a pair of Gopher runs. Baran had four RBI in the doubleheader.

Sunday, April 2 (as of now)
Purdue @ Illinois

Michigan State 9 Indiana 8, 10 inn.
In a game I actually saw (more on that in a later post), the Go-Go Hoosiers couldn't catch the Spartans. After watching IU tie the score by plating runs in the eighth (2) and ninth, MSU's Steve Gerstenberger tripled in the tenth and advanced home on a wild pitch to win the game.

The two teams combined to steal eleven bases on fifteen attempts. IU's Jay Brant, Reggie Watson and Keith Haas had two a piece. Adam Tripp homered for MSU and was one of three Spartans with two RBI on the day. Freshman Kyle Day had three Spartan hits. David Treager had three hits for the Hoosiers and DH Cameron Satterwhite went yard for IU in the loss.

Ohio State 15 Iowa 1
The Buckeyes offense returned to high gear Sunday afternoon. Ronnie Bourquin went 4 for 4 with three RBI to lead the potent OSU attack. Bourquin, Jacob Howell (three hits, two RBI) and Jedidiah Stephen (two hits, three RBI) each homered for Ohio State. Freshman sensation J.B. Shuck moved to 4-0 on the year. Shuck pitched eight innings of one hit, one run baseball, while striking out eight Hawkeyes.

Northwestern @ Michigan

Penn State @ Minnesota