Purdue handed Illinois a setback in their chase for the conference title with a 12-5 win at West Lafayette. The Boilermakers victory also brings them a step closer to securing the sixth and final spot in next week's Big Ten Tournament. Purdue is now 10-11 in conference. Illinois falls to 15-7. Dan Black's three-hit, five-RBI performance led the Boilers attack.
At Bloomington, Jerrud Sabourin hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to lift Indiana to a 6-4 triumph over Michigan State. The Hoosiers are now 15-6 in the Big Ten. MSU is 12-10.
Michigan tried to keep the heat on Purdue by downing Northwestern, 16-6. The Wolverines are now 9-13, the Wildcats fall to 3-17. UM's Mike Dufek hit a pair of homers and drove in four.
(29) Ohio State has jumped all over Iowa early. It's 13-0, Buckeyes in the fourth inning.
In Happy Valley, Minnesota has increased their lead over Penn State to 5-0. It's also the fourth inning at State College. By my math, the Nittany Lions' hopes for the Big Ten Tournament ended with Purdue's win.
More later .....
Update (9:15pmEST)
The Gophers score a run in the top of the ninth to slip past PSU, 7-6. That leaves Minnesota (16-5) atop the Big Ten with two games to play. It's only a half-game lead, but it's a big half-game.
(29) Ohio State cruises to a 13-4 triumph in Columbus. Alex Wimmers dazzles again -- six innings of shutout baseball with 12 K's tossed in for good measure. The win pushes OSU to 16-6 and still hot on the heels of those Gophers.
Here's how the standings look as of tonight:
1. Minnesota 16-5
2. Ohio State 16-6
3. Indiana 15-6
4. Illinois 15-7
5. Michigan State 12-10
6. Purdue 10-11
7. Michigan 9-13
8. Penn State 7-15
9. Iowa 4-17
10. Northwestern 3-17
Yes, tomorrow will be interesting.
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4 comments:
I think Wimmers has sealed up Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. I was pretty reluctant to give him the nod, but he's been on a real.
6 IP, 5 hits, 12 K's.
At least is 7th 10+ K game.
Also, as fine as Arnett has been, he is not the Friday starter. He benefits a bit from pitching against the opposing #2 and getting more run support, than a typical Friday pitcher.
Penn State is making a comeback 6-5 now Minnesota.
Lets not lose fact that Purdue could actually reach the 5 seed. I'd much rather face Illinois in game 1 of the BTT than Indiana right now.
Totals:
Wimmers: 2.75 ERA, 8-1, 4 CGs, 110Ks/42BBs in 88.1 IP, .194 BA
Arnett: 2.78 ERA, 11-1, 6 CGs, 93Ks/34BBs in 94 IP, .215 BA
Conference:
Wimmers: 3.65 ERA, 3-1, 2 CGs, 61Ks/24 BBs in 49.1 IP, .192 BA
Arnett: 2.90 ERA, 7-0, 5 CGs, 58Ks/24BBs in 59 IP, .203 BA
As an IU fan, I would lean to Arnett because of the lower conference ERA, 4 more conference wins (and he didn't pitch yesterday or it probably would have been 5), the 5 complete games in conference play. The strikeouts for Wimmers is impressive, but Arnett going 8-9 innings in every game is more impressive to me. I think Arnett could strike out more if he wanted to, but he chooses to allow balls to be put in play to limit his pitch count to give his team the best chance to win. I think his going deep into the game explains his number of wins more than starting primarily the Saturday game. They are both great pitchers and very deserving though.
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