Monday, May 05, 2008

IU Pounds Boilers, Illinois/NU Underway

Indiana took today's finale from Purdue, 13-1. Illinois is up on Northwestern, 5-4, in the sixth inning.

With the Boilermakers defeat, the standings look like this:

Michigan 20-4
Purdue 17-7
Illinois 13-10
Northwestern 11-12
Ohio State 11-12
Penn State 11-13
Michigan State 10-13
Indiana 9-15
Iowa 8-16
Minnesota 8-16

Michigan is now three clear with eight to play. The Illini have a rough road in, as they travel to Ohio State before closing the year with a visit from Purdue, but a win tonight gets them within three games of the second-place Boilermakers. Suddenly, a first-round tournament bye looks possible.

7 comments:

DillonPGP said...

Wow, what a fun game to watch via Gametracker. Illinois got a walk off 2-run HR from Aaron Johnson to beat Northwestern 10-9.

Illinois had a 6-4 lead entering the 7th. Northwestern tied it with 2 in the 7th and then took a 7-6 lead in the 8th. Illinois got a 2 -run HR from Craig Lutes to take an 8-7 lead. Northwestern got 2 in the top of the 9th on a RBI single and squeeze play.

Illinois got the tying run on base with 1 out, but Bonadonna was picked off. Wikoff singled before Johnson's walk-off shot.

Illinois pitcher Ben Resser was in order on the line for a Blown Save, Loss, Win, Loss and gets the win with 2.2 innings of work.

Unknown said...

I suspect that was "fun" for those of us who are not Northwestern fans.

formerlyanonymous said...

Man, I wish work would have had me at home this weekend. I would definitely been at tonight's game.

In regards to the last post, its a shame shuck couldn't stay on that top list. Other than Sunday's start, he's been worthy.

Unknown said...

Putnam's not in the lineup against Bll State today.

formerlyanonymous said...

Did he even travel? He didn't make it into the box score at all. Hopefully its just a day off for him and not anything to worry about.

Has Dufek taken over at 1B too? It seems his offense has been stellar recently. Definitely better than Berset's had been.

Unknown said...

Dunno. I listened on the Internet, and it was a wild ride.

In the fifth, they went into their blowout substitution mode (up 12-2), but then pitching went wonky. Travis Smith hit three batters in a row, and Mike Wilson was brought in to get out of the inning. He did, but then had trouble himself.

Maybe the bullpen wasn't mentally ready to play a day early and out of town, but it wasn't the most encouraging performance I've ever listened to. A couple times the bases were loaded, with no outs or only one and though they ended up not giving up any grand slams, it always seemed like a possibility.

formerlyanonymous said...

I caught some of it between work..."on m go..BLUUUE! dot-com" That catch phrase is getting old so fast. More importantly his, "Apologies to everyone out there, I called that one wrong."

I mean at least we get audio, but I wonder if the guy ever reviews his broadcasts?


Anyways, I read today that the softball tournament was decided by coinflip rather than tie breaker. That somewhat contradicts the baseball example I found from a few years ago.

I know this won't be a more pressing issue until next week, but I lack top end patience.