Sunday's Baseball On Ice

Sunday finally provided us with some baseball. Unfortunately, it really didn't provide for much better weather. The temperatures in Big Ten country, and throughout most of the nation, appeared to be less than ideal for baseball. Perhaps, at some point, somebody can tell me how today's climate was that much better than the last two days, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Apparently, the powers-that-be in Ann Arbor thought it was still far too cold for baseball and cancelled today's games between Michigan and visiting Minnesota. If this wipes out the entire series, and I'm guessing it will, the cancellation could open up a huge can of worms. Time permitting, I'll ramble on some about that tomorrow evening. Let's get a look at what did happen today.

Illinois 8 #25 Ohio State 5 (box)
#25 Ohio State 10 Illinois 7 (box)
In the first game, Illini C Lars Davis had two hits and drove in three runs. 2B Ryan Hastings went 3 for 3 and scored three times. Mike Stankiewicz (2-3) worked two innings of relief and got the win. Jake Toohey came in and posted his second save on just nine pitches. OSU's Matt Angle and Eric Fryer each had a pair of RBI.

Angle and Fryer helped the Buckeyes captured the finale. Angle had three hits, scored twice, drove in two and stole his fourteenth base of the season. Fryer had three hits, three RBI and stole his second base of 2007. Justin Miller also had a three RBI contest for OSU. Josh Barrera's two innings of relief were enough to get him his fourth win. Rory Meister notched his third save. Illinois was led by another three hit performance from Hastings. Davis and freshman 3B Brandon Wikoff each had a pair of hits, Nick Stockwell had two hits and two RBI in the loss.

Northwestern 5 Indiana 3 (box)
Northwestern 1 Indiana 0 (box)
Ryan Myers posted a complete game victory in the opener. Myers (2-2) allowed six hits, five walks, three earned runs and struck out eleven Hoosiers. Wildcats OF Max Mann homered and drove in two to lead NU's offense. Freshman Jake Goebbert also drove in two runs. IU's Tyler Tufts was the tough luck loser. Tufts (3-3) also pitched a complete game. Chris Hervey paced IU's bats with a pair of RBI.

Although only a seven inning game, this was another dual complete game performance. The winner was NU's Dan Schwartz (3-1) who gave up six hits and one walk. The loser was Matt Bashore (3-3) who yielded six hits and no walks, but allowed the only run of the game. NU's Jake Owens drove in the lone tally. LF Aaron Newman had two hits. Jon Fixler and Ben Greenspan each had two hits for IU.

Iowa 6 Penn State 2 (box)
The final game of this series was another seven inning affair. Hawkeyes' DH Brian Burmester drove in two runs and OF Caleb Curry scored twice and stole a base to lead the charge. Scott Brune earned his first win of the year in relief. Penn State's Joe Blackburn had two hits and a RBI.

Michigan State 3 Purdue 2 (box)
MSU's Craig Brookes improved to 3-1. Brookes went 7.0 innings scattering eight hits and a walk while striking out five and giving up only one earned run. Mike Monterey worked the final stanza to get his fourth save. Dennis Jones, Steve Gerstenberger and Evan Friedland each had two hits for the Spartans. Alex Jaffee and Nick Overmyer each had a pair of hits for the Boilermakers.