Pitching was the story of Day One at the Big Ten Baseball Tournament. In the opener, Illinois' Kevin Manson tossed a complete game four-hitter leading the Illini over Ohio State, 3-2. 2B Joe Bonadonna hit his first career home run to break a 2-2 tie.
In the last game of the day, Mike Wanamaker threw a complete game for Penn State in their 6-1 triumph over Indiana. Wes Borden had three hits and Rob Yodice drove in two for the Nittany Lions.
Ohio State and Indiana will now face each other tomorrow at noon in an elimination game. The second game Thursday will feature Purdue vs. Penn State. The triple-header will conclude with Michigan taking on Illinois.
Just a few of sidenotes:
* It was a rather cold, windy afternoon. Nice for November and outstanding weather for January, but barely sneaking above sixty degrees in late May?
* Both St. John's and Notre Dame are out of the Big East Tournament. I wonder if that will eliminate St. John's from hosting a regional and if ND might be out of the field of 64?
* The Big Ten actually had the t-shirts available on the first day of the tournament. I hammer them when they do something wrong, so I have to give them credit when they are doing something right.
* The rumors persist that the Big Ten will indeed only play three game conference series beginning next year. Of course, the conference schools will have to find a way to make up for the lost eight games.
* Don't be surprised if all the other conferences opt to go to the four-game conference sets, complete with Saturday doubleheaders, to avoid having to play more midweek games. As always, the Big Ten is on the cutting edge of college baseball.
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3 comments:
Anyone going to the games tomorrow? We should have a little meet-up at some point.
Call me crazy but I like Penn State's chances today. I figure Macy vs Bischoff. That could be one hell of a game. Bischoff had a rough outing against Penn State earlier in the season. He went 4 innnings, 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), on 4 walks and 5 Ks. He never got Nakata or Blackburn out. Macy has looked good in the last 2 starts (granted they were against Minnesota and Iowa).
I envy all of you who were at the first game of the day. How close was the foul ball by Kennedy to being gone in the 9th? How close was Shuck to tracking down the game winning hit in center? The radio broadcast just couldn't encapsulate everything.
Side note, in the Big12 tournament, 3/4 games have been upsets in the first round of pool play. The only "non-upset" was the #4 vs #5. Strange.
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