I Love This Game

There are all kinds of unique joys following college baseball. One is the polls. Let's take a peek at what the most astute minds in college baseball think of the top teams. Collegiate Baseball has Illinois ranked as the nineteenth best team in the land. Ohio State isn't far behind at number twenty-two. Pretty cool, right? Yes, but that's just one man's (or publication's) opinion. What does everyone else think?

Well, Baesball America's Top 25 includes one Big Ten team, as well. However, it's neither the Illini or Buckeyes, it's Minnesota who holds the twenty-fifth slot in their poll. Wait. It gets better.

Ohio State returns to the poll at number thirty according to the NCBWA. The writers do list the "others receiving votes" addendum which includes Illinois, Minnesota and, yes, Michigan.

How about our friends at Rivals? Where does Kendall Rogers believe the Big Ten teams rank? Not in the Top 25, unfortunately. Although, those Gophers did merit some consideration.

Finally, the ever-reliable coaches poll courtesy of USA Today. The skippers didn't include a Big Ten team in their Top 25, either. In fairness, Illinois missed by only a single vote. The Illini finished first in the "others receiving votes" category, effectively making them #26.

Ohio State (36th), Michigan (42) and Minnesota (43) did all garner love from some of the coaches, but not enough to claim inclusion in the Top 25.

What does all this mean? I have no idea. And neither do our lovable poll voters. How Minnesota can get ranked by the lads at Baseball America and get consideration from Rivals (essentialy putting them in their top 30), but trail three other Big Ten programs in the Coaches' Poll is confusing and beautiful in a way. It's beautiful because the polls don't mean much. This is baseball. There's a championship tournament. A pretty stinkin' good one, at that.

Onto another unique matter in college baseball. Today, in fact, right now, Michigan is playing Eastern Michigan. Why is it unique for two programs only miles apart to play today? Because it isn't on the schedule. Let me try that again. It isn't on the schedule for tonight.

See, the coaches took one look at the weather forecast -- temperatures in the high 60s and sunny, after several days of similar conditions -- and realized it's March. The weather may not get any better than today for weeks. So instead of playing later this month, the two schools agreed to play tonight.

Can you imagine Michigan deciding to move a football game from Saturday to Friday because the weather was going to be so much better the day before the event was scheduled? How about a week earlier? It can't happen. It's just not logistically possible.

However, this kind of revised scheduling is all a part of playing college baseball, especially here in the north. It's funny, frustrating and somehow strangely appealing. No, the sport doesn't have 100,000 fans per game. No, it doesn't generate huge profits, if it generates profits, at all. Yet, there's a charm that comes when coaches preempt schedules for a healthy dose of sunshine and common sense.

Regional Photos

This is Eastern Michigan's Steve Bradshaw.

Odds, Ends and OPS

I know most of you raced home this evening to see if I did my math homework (i.e., Wednesday's OPS numbers). Well, I have, but I'll save those for the end. Let's look at some other news around the Big Ten first.

Before I get too far along, I had best post the boxscore from the Illinois at Indiana game I couldn't find a link to on Sunday. Both IU and Illini folks have been kindly dropping me the updated links. My thanks to all. Here's the box from a game in which Matt Bashore fanned eight over seven innings while allowing four hits, three walks and one run.

Michigan beat Toledo, 12-4. Want to guess who homered? Yep, Nate Recknagel went deep for the tenth time this season. The senior firstbaseman had three hits, three runs scored and two RBI. Zach Putnam also left the building amongst his three hits. Putnam also had two runs scored and four RBI. Kevin Cislo had three hits (didn't everybody?), three runs scored and three RBI. Derek VanBuskirk joined Recknagel and Putnam in the three-hit and homer club. Leif Mahler was the final Wolverine with three hits. Mike Wilson posted the win in relief.

In addition to winning games, Coach Hartleb at Illinois has been recruiting some, too. Here's a list of four more added to the Illini's incoming class.

The Illini's contest against versus Bradley was canceled as was Iowa's game against Nebraska.

Northwestern pounded Chicago State, 13-0. Jake Goebbert went yard twice. Nate Roberts and Jake Owens also homered. Owens, who had four RBI and scored three times, and Kenneth Avila both had three hit games. Goebbert, Roberts and Rob Campbell all had two RBI. Joe Muraski posted the win giving up five hits and no walks. This game only went six innings due to rain and lightning in the Chicago area.

Drew O'Neil grabbed another save in Penn State's 6-5 win over Pittsburgh. Read the PSU recap here. Scott Kelley, Ryan Boonie and Joe Blackburn all homered for the Nittany Lions. No box, yet. Kelley had three RBI, Blackburn had three hits.

There are some games in action this afternoon/evening and I may update those scores later. Or I may not. Maybe some of my OSU contingent will update the comments section with breaking scores.

Ben Walgamot of Purdue and Chris Fetter of Michigan were named the Big Ten hitter and pitcher of the week, respectively. Both are having first team all-conference caliber seasons.

I thinking you already read this, but Uncle Lar at Happy Valley Hardball points out that even though Michigan took three of four from PSU this past weekend, the Wolverines' RPI dropped ten spots. Their RPI is now in the 70s. That mark doesn't bode well for an at-large berth coming out of the Big Ten.

I attempted to watch some college baseball this afternoon, but, alas, the upper respiratory illness that has been plaguing the BTH household appears to have caught up with me. I saw about two innings of Oakland University's home opener against Eastern Michigan before admitting that my coughing might be louder than the ping of the bats and left the for home. My Grizzlies lost to EMU, 10-7. A six run ninth inning did in the boys in black and gold. (That hurts and I didn't even see it.)

Aaron Powell hit two homers and drove in four for EMU. It was a breezy afternoon and I'm a bit surprised that more balls didn't vacate the premises. OU's Andrew Stafford had a pair of hits and three RBI.

I know, I know. Enough with your OU talk, Brian, give us the Big Ten OPS leaders already. Alright, let's see who made this week's list.

Number one is Michigan's Nate Recknagel at 1.202. In second place is Northwestern's Jake Goebbert at 1.193. Josh Phegley of IU, who leads the conference in batting average, is third in OPS at 1.136. Fourth is Minnesota catcher Jeff DeSmidt at 1.090. Kipp Schutz of Indiana is next at 1.040. The sixth spot belongs to Eric Decker of Minnesota at 1.017.

Now, let me add two more names. Mike Kalina at Northwestern has missed action recently, so he doesn't have the at bats necessary to qualify him for the batting title. However, his OPS remains at 1.175. Purdue's Ben Walgamot finds his OPS at 1.071. Walgamot doesn't have enough official ABs to qualify yet, either. However, Walgamot has only five at bats less than Minnesota's Decker, so he does merit some mention here.

That's it for tonight. Thanks for stopping in and please pass the cough syrup.

More Midweek Results

Western Carolina swept their midweek series versus Ohio State. The Buckeyes dropped Tuesday's affair, 7-3. Jason Zoeller's homer and two hits were the highlight for OSU. WCU went yard three times. The Catamounts hit parade kicked into high gear Wednesday as Western Carolina beat OSU, 12-2. Zoeller and Matt Angle each had three hits for the Buckeyes, but the results were the same. WCU hit three more homers. 2B Kenny Smith had three hits, three runs scored and drove in four runs.

Western Carolina improved to 34-15. Ohio State concluded the series at 28-17.

Northwestern beat UIC, 6-2. Jake Owens, Jake Goebbert, Antonio Mule and Max Mann each had two hits a piece for NU. Mike Kalina drove in two Wildcat runs. Joe Muraski won his third game of the year. NU is now 14-32. UIC left Evanston at 26-17.

I'm currently watching Michigan beat Eastern Michigan, 8-0, on Comcast Local. It's the sixth inning in Ypsilanti. EMU does have the bases loaded against the Wolverines' Eric Katzman. The MAC leaders and Big Ten leaders were supposed to play two, but there was a two hour rain delay. It sounds like they are only going to play one.

UPDATE: Mike Boyd just hit a grandslam for EMU. It's 8-4, Michigan. Boyd has eight RBI off Katzman this season.

Big MAC Love For EMU

Congratulations to Eastern Michigan. The Eagles downed Tennessee today, 6-3. A very big road win for EMU.

For further reading, here's the UT analysis (distributed via CSTV, thus making it appear like a national news recap). For extra credit, note what the Volunteers' review doesn't mention.

EMU's Long And Winding Road Trip

In surfing for college baseball information, I came across the 2007 schedule for Eastern Michigan University. The Eagles not only have a daunting pre-MAC schedule, but I'm hoping they have frequent flyer miles. EMU faces, in successive three game weekend sets, Tennessee, Texas Tech, South Carolina, Arizona and Coastal Carolina.

A quick preview of the Eagles' road trip looks like this:

Ypsilanti, Michigan to Knoxville, Tennessee (433 miles)
Knoxville, Tennessee to Lubbock, Texas (1,030 miles)
Lubbock, Texas to Columbia, South Carolina (1,194 miles)
Columbia, South Carolina to Tucson, Arizona (1,729 miles)
Tucson, Arizona to Conway, South Carolina (1,844 miles)

If my math is correct, and that's always questionable, the Eagles will travel 6,230 miles to play in these five series. 6, 230! This supposes, of course, that EMU doesn't head home between each series or add dates to their 2007 schedule. The latter seems most likely as this is college baseball and schedules are not always worth the paper they are written on. Regardless, EMU will have a ton of mileage under their belts before taking on a single MAC opponent.

EMU also has three Big Ten opponents on it's schedule for next year. The Eagles will travel to Columbus to visit Coach Todd and Ohio State. David Grewe will bring his MSU Spartans into Oestrike Stadium in May. The Eagles will also have two games against the defending Big Ten Champion, Michigan. The Wolverines (in April) and Eagles (in May) will each host one game.