It's An Ugly Start

There are two final scores to report. Ball State slipped past Indiana, 5-4. UMass was one better than Northwestern, 4-3.

Scores from games in-progress include:

UNC-Wilmington 5 Michigan State 2, 6th inning
SE Missouri State 6 Purdue 5, 5th inning
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 16 Michigan 10, 7th inning

For those of you keeping track at home (and I know you are), that's two losses in the books and three not looking very good right now. UM fans can make the case, that based on the Wolverines first five games, they've got UW-M right where they want them. We shall see, but it's not a good start to the weekend.

Later today, we've got Penn State at #7 Texas. Illinois is also in the Lone Star State at Texas-Pan American. Iowa takes on Stetson (which sounds like it should be in Texas). Ohio State is at North Florida. UC-Santa Barbara is Minnesota's opponent in the Dairy Queen Classic.

I've just started to review the game details, but here two items of note.

* Michigan CF Ryan LaMarre has gone yard twice and has seven RBI so far.
* Josh Phegley, IU's All-America catcher, walked four times today.

I hope to be back with more updates later.

6:55pm Update # 1

It didn't get any better. All finals:

Wisconsin-Milwaukee 19 # 25 Michigan 11
# 7 Texas 9 Penn State 2
UNC-Wilmington 7 Michigan State 2 (Game One)
SE Missouri State 13 Purdue 10 (Game One)

Let's start with the obvious, that's a bad loss for Michigan. Losing is one thing, getting drilled by UW-M is another. None of the pitchers Coach Maloney trotted out to the hill did much to slow the run barrage. The Wolverines had allowed 19 runs in total in the previous five games.

As mentioned earlier, LaMarre ended up going 4 for 5 with two homers, two runs scored and seven RBI. Anthony Toth also had two hits, two RBI and scored twice. Freshman DH Jake McLouth continue his strong start by hammering his third homerun and driving in two.

Allow me a moment to veer back to the early games. The questions about Indiana's bullpen persist. The Hoosiers were leading their contest before giving up two in the seventh, one in the eighth and another in the ninth.

Starter Matt Bashore left after six having relinquished one run on seven hits and a walk. The lefty fanned six. Alex Dickerson and Jerrud Sabourin both collected a pair of hits in the loss. Evan Crawford homered for IU and Phegley did get just one official AB as he got four free passes.

NU somehow managed to plate three runs on just four hits. Of course, those four Minutemen errors probably helped. Wildcats' DH Kenneth Avila continued his hot streak with another hit today.

Purdue did regain the lead in their game vs. SE Missouri State, but couldn't hold on. Nick Overmyer (who is off to a good start) went 3 for 4 with four RBI and scored twice. Tyler Spillner also had three hits and three RBI in the losing effort.

The good news for the Boilers is that they are playing a doubleheader. The last score I saw was Purdue up 6-1 in the 4th.

UNC-Wilmington and MSU are playing a twinbill today, as well. UNCW took the opener, 7-2, as the Spartans only mustered five hits. The State highlight belonged to Johnny Lee who homered and drove in two.

Game Two has UNCW up, 4-3 in the ninth.

I doubt too many expect much from Penn State this weekend. Taking on the always-loaded Longhorns in Austin is not an enviable spot. Going against All-America, and possible Pitcher of the Year candidate, Chance Ruffin didn't help their chances in the opener. Unfortunately, the Lions' didn't help themselves by committing four E's.

PSU's Cory Wine, Jordan Steranka and Michael Glantz each got tow hits a piece in the 9-2 loss. Sternaka also drove in the two Nittany Lions' tallies.

Several games left on today's docket, so more updates may follow.

10:50pm Update

The final scores:
Stetson 11 Iowa 0
Ohio State 11 North Florida 6
UNC-Wilmington 4 Michigan State 3
Purdue 9 SE Missouri State 2

In-progress:
Illinois 8 UT Pan American 0, 8th
Minnesota 6 UC-Santa Barbara 3, 7th

I thought the score was bad, but the Hawkeyes managed only two hits. Justin Toole had both Iowa safeties. Let's move on.

OSU's Dan Burkhart and Ryan Dew homered to lead the Buckeyes. Burkhart had four hits and four RBI. Dew had three RBI. Drew Rucinski, who has been very impressive, posted the W.

Johnathan Roof had two hits for MSU in the loss. Jeff Holm had the lone Spartans' RBI.

Matt Jansen worked seven innings allowing two runs on three hits and four walks to post the victory for Purdue. Jansen struck out six. Dan Black homered and drove in two. Johnathan Moore also drove in a pair of runs for the Boilers.

Phil Haig went seven innings giving up only three hits and two walks for Illinois. Josh Parr has gone 4 for 4 with two RBI. Aaron Johnson hit a first inning grand slam.

Michael Kvasnicka and Jon Hummel have gone yard for Minnesota. A.J. Pettersen has three hits. Chauncy Handran started and worked six strong innings.

The best the Big Ten can do today is 4-8. Quite a difference over last weekend. This may be the last update for tonight. Enjoy the rest of your evening.