Friday And Saturday

Okay, fine. I admit it. I'm a bad blogger. Usually, it's because of poor writing. Now, it's because I didn't post my traditional weekend link preview and have let two game days (not even counting my midweek absence) slip past without issuing a word. Look, what do you expect for free?

However, I haven't abandoned you completely. Let's rundown what's happened in conference action the last two days.

FRIDAY
Ohio State 1 Purdue 0
Northwestern 4 Iowa 3
Michigan State 8 Michigan 7
Illinois 15 Minnesota 10
Penn State 9 Indiana 7

SATURDAY
Ohio State 7 Purdue 4
Ohio State 11 Purdue 10
Iowa 10 Northwestern 1
Michigan State 3 Michigan 1
Illinois 10 Minnesota 7
Minnesota 12 Illinois 8
Indiana 15 Penn State 1
Indiana 3 Penn State 2

What in the world happened to all the quality Illinois and Minnesota pitching? The Gophers, in dropping two of three to the Illini, yielded 33 runs. After surrendering an average of 11 runs a game, Minnesota should be thrilled they took even a single contest. However, Illinois was not much better. The vaunted Illini staff got touched for 29 runs over the weekend. More often than not, you aren't going to win any games giving up nearly 10 runs an outing. Yet, the Illini won two. Go figure.

The Buckeyes weekend started with a shutout courtesy of Alex Wimmers and Jake Hale. OSU's staff then gave up fourteen runs in two games today, but OSU still managed to sweep out the home-standing Boilers. OSU sits atop the conference and might sneak up the polls. One wonders if the Illini's performance might get them some more votes? The Gophers? Well, I don't think they will have a number next to their name come Monday afternoon. Although, I'll contend they should even after getting beat up by the Orange and Blue.

Michigan State is a game away from giving the broom to Michigan. Regardless, the Spartans have won the series and keep themselves in the conference tournament chase. Both teams are at 5-6 in Big Ten play with tomorrow's finale back in East Lansing.

After dropping the opener to Penn State, Indiana took both ends of today's twinbill and are still pursuing the dream of their first Big Ten title in 60 years. One wonders where IU might be if this team had played their early non-conference schedule like they've played the last few weeks. The Nittany Lions might have seen their at-large tournament berth chances disappear today. We will see what the RPI looks like in the morning.

Iowa and NU play the rubber match of their weekend set tomorrow. The winner will get to hold onto their hopes of a conference tournament slot for another weekend. The loser will have a much more difficult road to travel.

Can I promise a post tomorrow? Nope. I'm hoping to get one in, but that will depend on how my day goes. However, I can offer you an option of sorts. I am, once again, scheduled to participate in the College Baseball Blog's weekend review chat. It runs from 9pm-11pm EST. Last week, I had some technically difficulty, but did manage to converse with a few Big Ten fans out there. (My thanks to those that participated.)

If you have some questions about the Big Ten, CBB's Brian Foley will probably send them my way. Although, feel free to bring your non-Big Ten baseball inquiries, as well. Brian and his staff will field questions about the entire college baseball landscape.