- Three teams -- Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State -- make the NCAA Tournament field.
- Indiana's romp through the Big Ten Tournament.
- The entertaining race for the regular season crown that came down to the final day of the season before OSU claimed it.
- Minnesota's road wins at places like TCU and Dallas Baptist.
- Illinois' series win at Louisiana State.
- Ohio State's win at Miami (FL).
- No-hitters from Ohio State's Alex Wimmers and Michigan State's Nolan Moody.
- MSU opening a renovated McLane Stadium.
- Indiana's Eric Arnett amongst the finalists for National Pitcher of the Year.
- Two Big Ten catchers -- Indiana's Josh Phegley and Ohio State's Dan Burkhart -- vying for the Johnny Bench Award.
- Derek McCallum, of Minnesota, in the running for the Dick Howser Trophy.
This season also featured one of the better crop of freshmen I can recall. Alex Dickerson (Indiana), Willie Argo (Illinois), Jordan Steranka (Penn State), AJ Pettersen (Minnesota), Eric Charles (Purdue) and Tony Bucciferro (Michigan State) were just a few of the first-year players making an immediate impact.
Yes, the season came to an abrupt and rather painful conclusion, but the year overall was far from a disappointment. In looking at the success of both teams and individuals, one could argue that it was one of the better baseball seasons around the Big Ten in recent history. Let's not lose sight of that after a weekend of lopsided defeats.
3 comments:
We enjoyed your blogs out west. We now begin the countdown to next year!
I'm happy to learn that IU's western connections are reading. I appreciate the kind words, as well.
Rest assured, your site along with Behind the Plate, Inside Pitch, the team sites and even the "brand X" sites (Varsity Blue, IBR, etc) have been life support for those of us who have lost our sons to baseball in the Midwest.
We started the season not knowing which teams made up the conference and ended the season feeling like we knew guys like Haveman, Black, Argo, Wimmers, McCallum, and a whole host of fabulous players that put on quite a display during the season as recorded in your all weekend team selections.
See you next year!!!
...p.s. GO HOOSIERS!!
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