Connected Again

Technology can be a wonderful thing. When it's working properly. Unfortunately, my high speed internet connection hasn't been either high speed or connected for several days. If you were curious as to why I haven't commented on any of the midweek games or why I have yet to respond to your email inquiry, now you know.

Come to think of it, there's no guarantee that this post will appear. I'll attempt to type more quickly in hopes of make the maximum use of this window of opportunity. (Noting, of course, that the spelling errors will increase proportionately to my typing speed.)

Let's review midweek action. Northwestern and Minnesota lost. Michigan won.

West Virginia dropped Northwestern on Monday, 10-5. Kenneth Avila and Jake Goebbert were your stars. Avila went 4 for 5. Goebbert cracked his first homer of the season. Austin Markel hit two homers for WVU.

I should point out that I received an email suggesting I failed to select NU's Avila for the All-Weekend team. A case could be made, as the Wildcats' DH was 4 for 6, scored twice, walked twice, stole a base and got an HBP. I was told he played some secondbase this past weekend, as well, and that he should be given the nod at that spot.

It's a fair assessment. It seems a bit tardy to add him now (thank you, Mr. Internet Service Provider), but I should point out that Avila is off to a very strong 8 for 11 start.

Michigan came from behind (again) and beat North Florida. The final was 9-8. Kevin Cislo's three-run RBI single was the big hit. Chris Berset and Nate McLouth both went yard for the Wolverines who improved to 5-0. Mike Wilson, the third of five Michigan hurlers, picked up his first win of the year. Tyler Burgoon's early season dominance continued with 2.1 innings of one-hit, one-walk baseball. Burgoon earned his first save.

The Gophers fell to Hawai'i on Thursday evening, 6-2. Matt Nohelty got two more hits extending his personal hit streak to twenty games dating back to last season. Michael Kvasnicka, Derek McCallum and Nick O'Shea also had a pair of hits for The U. Vinnie Catricala had three RBI for the Rainbow Warriors. (They still are the Rainbow Warriors, aren't they?)

While we are on the subject of Minnesota baseball, the Gophers are hosting the Dairy Queen Classic this weekend. It will be the 25th edition of the tournament and Minnesota's athletic department is running an election for the 25th Anniversary All-DQ Team.

Look at the list of players that have participated in this event. It features some of the better college baseball players in recent history. You could almost substitute the DQ Anniversary ballot for a College Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

I'm not sure what the future of the Dairy Queen Classic is, as the Metrodome's future looks bleak, but it has provided an outlet from some of the best teams and players in college baseball to appear north of the Mason-Dixon line. (Before Memorial Day, no less.) I hate domes as much as the next traditionalist, but there's no denying its benefit to the Gophers' program.

There's more to share, but I'm going to hit the "Publish" button and see what happens. If there's success, expect more posts later today. Strike that. The internet's been way too squirrely to expect anything. We will both hope for more later.