Previews, Scores And A Bit Of Venting

I didn't make it out to the Oakland at Michigan game today. Oh, I got out of work a bit early with the intention to visit Ray Fisher Stadium, but let's just say things didn't progress as well as I would like. Most of the problems centered on the Michigan Department of Transportation's efforts to congest all traffic in metro Detroit. By the time I got from one side of town to the other and was still a good half an hour away from Ann Arbor, I wrote off the remainder of my plan.

I hope to make it out to The Fish tomorrow, but that's going to depend on the weather. Perhaps, a good night's sleep will renew my enthusiasm to fight traffic and orange barrels. Anybody seen my rain gear?

Now, I realize you care squat about my frustration with Detroit's ongoing road construction, but I had to vent. (Although, I clearly edited my thoughts.) I appreciate your patience with me, but I'll get on to what you presumably do care about -- Big Ten baseball.

Let's begin at The Exponent where Brian Petraits previews Purdue's weekend versus Western Illinois.

Paul Cordes of The Minnesota Daily looks at the Gophers three game set with Hartford.

Indiana Daily Student writer Lee Hurwitz discuss the Hoosiers meeting with IPFW.

Penn State opens its new ballpark this weekend and Chris Agostini of The Daily Collegian sets the scene.

College baseball's chief number cruncher, Boyd Nation, provides his current ISR numbers and his updated pseudo-RPI figures.

All of the Big Ten game scheduled for today are complete. I'll start with the one I didn't get to today.

Michigan 9 Oakland 3 (box)
Zach Putnam picked up win number three and drove in four runs. Jason Christian, Eric Rose and Doug Pickens each had three hits.

Ohio State 5 Harvard 3 (box)
Cory Luebke improved to 4-0. The OSU lefty came out of the bullpen to pitch six innings and fanned eight. Jacob Howell had three hits and three RBI for the Buckeyes who have won twelve straight.

Iowa 6 North Dakota State 5 (box)
SS Jason White stole home with two outs in the 11th inning to win the game. Iowa's LF Caleb Curry had two hits and three RBI. Mike Schurz pitched two innings and is now 3-0.

Iowa 8 North Dakota State 0 (box)
Steve Turnbull pitched a seven inning complete game shutout to help the Hawkeyes sweep the doubleheader. Iowa's starter allowed only two hits and struck out seven. Dusty Napoleon had three hits and five RBI. Travis Sweet had three hits and stole two bases.

Illinois 7 Dartmouth 4 (box)
Lars Davis goes 4 for 4 with two solo homers. Ryan Hastings had three hits and two RBI. Scott Shaw worked six innings gaining his second win of the season.

Minnesota 10 Hartford 0 (box)
Ethan Vogt twirled a complete game shutout. Super sophomore Matt Nohelty had three hits, scored twice, drove in a pair of runs and stole two bases. Kyle Baran and Dan Lyons each went yard.

Penn State 8 Central Connecticut State 1 (box)
PSU opened their new yard, Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, in grand fashion. Craig Clark worked eight innings to get a much overdue first win. C Rob Yodice had two hits, two runs and drove in two. Joe Blackburn also had a pair of hits and two RBI. Brian Ernst had a three hit game.

Two games were lost to the weather. Purdue at Western Illinois and IPFW at Indiana both got washed out. No other games involving Big Ten programs were on the docket.

I did get to watch two college games via television. I saw South Carolina demolish Mississippi State, 20-3. Yeah, it got ugly. The Bulldogs get two more shots at USC. I'm currently watching Arizona State beat up the "other" USC, 8-0 in the fourth inning. The Trojans have no answers for the Sun Devils at the moment. I'm a tad surprised that ASU is running and bunting with an eight run lead. Anyone think 'SC Head Coach Chad Krueter is happy?

It hasn't been the best of afternoons, but I'm thankful for what college baseball I do get to see. Here's hoping the rain holds off tomorrow.