Four Named All-America By Ping

Ohio State's Alex Wimmers headlines four Big Ten Conference players to be named preseason All-Americans by Ping! Baseball. The Buckeyes righthander was the lone Big Ten star tabbed as a first-team selection.

Ohio State catcher Dan Burkhart, the conference's defending Player of the Year, collected a second-team choice as did Minnesota closer Scott Matyas. Indiana sophomore Alex Dickerson was named to Ping's third-team as a designated hitter.

Indiana, Ohio State Release 2010 Schedules

We can add Indiana and Ohio State to the programs that have issued their 2010 schedule. The Hoosiers made their new schedule public on October 27, while the Buckeyes' docket for the new year was released on November 5. Although, neither IU or OSU are able to reveal everything quite yet.

While official announcements have been made, there are plenty of TBD's on both schedules. Indiana has seven dates, all during their Spring Break Trip in Winter Haven, Florida, that don't have opponents listed as of yet. The Ohio State is seeking opposition on eleven dates, by my count. While this is not uncommon, it does make it more difficult to evaluate their schedules immediately.

Here's what we do know thus far. Coach Smith's team opens the year in San Diego with three games in two days versus USD. That's followed by a lone contest against San Diego State. Other attention grabbers from the non-conference slate include the Big East/Big Ten Challenge (the West Virginia game is the highlight for me), a three-game trip to Nashville capped by a contest with Vanderbilt, a home-and-home with Louisville and a midweek visit from Kentucky.

Michigan will be the first Big Ten visitor to Bloomington in 2010. Iowa, Purdue and Illinois will also come calling. The Hoosiers will pack their bags for conference dates at Ohio State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Michigan State.

For the Buckeyes, the non-conference highlights include a pair of games against Louisville (both in Columbus), the Big East/Big Ten Challenge dates (including an always interesting contest with Notre Dame and a game vs. a North Florida side that did some in-state damage a year ago) plus a three-game set in Knoxville topped off by a single affair with the host, Tennessee.

(As an aside, it should be noted that Ohio State has nineteen home games on the schedule in 2010. The Buckeyes also have eighteen games scheduled in Florida. 19 in Columbus. 18 in the Sunshine State. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.)

The conference slate has OSU opening the campaign at Northwestern. Other road trips include Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa. The home portion of the Big Ten schedule has Indiana, Penn State, Illinois and a season-ending series with Minnesota (that could be filled with post-season implications).

These two bring the total of Big Ten baseball schedules released to four. Michigan and Iowa had announced their 2010 schedules previously. Six more to go.

Rogers Grades Big Ten

It's report card time. Kendall Rogers of Rivals/Yahoo grades the Big Ten programs.

Three Hoosiers Drafted On Day One

Indiana University's Eric Arnett, Josh Phegley and Matt Bashore were all selected on Day One of the Major League Baseball Draft. Arnett went in the first round, twenty-sixth overall, to Milwaukee. Phegley went thirth-eighth overall to the Chicago White Sox and Bashore went forty-sixth to Minnesota.

Dickerson, Pettersen Honored

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has named their Freshmen All-America Team. Two first-year Big Ten standouts have been selected. Indiana's Alex Dickerson was tabbed as the first-team designated hitter and Minnesota's AJ Pettersen garnered a first-team nod at shortstop.

Putting A Bow On It

I didn't want to leave all of yesterday's negativity atop the blog, so how about we take a couple of minutes and share some of the positives from the 2009 season? Here are just a few highlights.

• 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.

Indiana's Season Comes To An End

Vanderbilt ended Indiana's season with a resounding 10-0 triumph at the Louisville Regional. Vandy's Steve Liddle had three hits and three RBI. Sonny Gray went eight innings holding IU to just seven hits and a walk while striking out ten. Kipp Schutz's three-hit game led the way for IU. The Commodores will face the loser of the Louisville and Middle Tennessee State affair tomorrow.

Not A Good Start

The Big Ten went 0-3 in today's opening day of NCAA regional play. Georgia destroyed Ohio State, 24-8. Baylor shutout Minnesota, 5-0. Finally, Louisville downed Indiana, 8-2. It's the loser's bracket and elimination games for all on Saturday.

I think it safe to say that overall it was an awful performance for the conference on Friday. As such, I don't find a compelling reason to review the stats. That will just compound the misery.

Let's do what the players need to do -- put today behind us and focus on Saturday. Minnesota will play Southern. Indiana gets Vanderbilt. Ohio State is awaiting the loser of the Florida State vs. Marist contest. Although, it should be noted that FSU is leading in the seventh. Regardless of who the Buckeyes draw, we know they'll be in the early game.

CBB Regional Previews, Webcast Links

The College Baseball Blog has finished up their regional previews. I'll just provide direct links to the regionals featuring Big Ten programs. Here's the Louisville Regional preview and the Tallahassee Regional preview.

Brian Foley at CBB has also tracked down the links to free webcasts of various regionals. Both of tonight's games involving Big Ten schools, Minnesota vs. Baylor and Indiana vs. Louisville, are available.

NCAA Regional Links

I'm guessing at least 30% of my readership is ready for some more baseball. As such, I'm here to provide links to all the places of relevance I've been able to track down.

TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL
Florida State is offering up a preview of the Tallahassee Regional. It's complete with plenty of additional links and some video.

Florida State's official site.
Georgia's official site.
Ohio State's official site.
Marist College's official site.

The Buckeye Nine (An OSU baseball blog)
Section B (Florida State's baseball fans)

LOUISVILLE REGIONAL
Louisville's official site. (It's actually their regional site. Seems the other one isn't working.)
Vanderbilt's official site.
Middle Tennessee State's official site.
Indiana's official site.

Behind The Plate (An Indiana baseball blog)
The Inside Pitch (IU student newspaper blog covering Hoosiers baseball)

BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
Louisiana State's official site.
Minnesota's official site.
Baylor's official site.
Southern's official site.

Kendall Rogers previews the Baton Rouge Regional.
The College Baseball Blog's Baton Rouge preview.
The Daily Gopher (SB Nation blog covering all things Minnesota)
Baylor Fans.com Baseball
Line Drives (LSU baseball blog from The Advocate)

The Big Ten issued their official press release prior to the tournament. It's a .pdf file.

A somewhat interactive (and kind of cool) tournament bracket courtesy of the NCAA.

College Baseball 360's tournament page.

Baseball America's staff will be hard at work this weekend. I'm guessing Aaron Fitt's blog will feature the breaking news.

The boys at BA have also produced their Top 100 MLB prospects heading into the draft. Check out the future pros in your regional.

And, of course, you know that Eric Sorenson's going to be all over the tournament. (By the way, thanks for including me on the selection committee, E.)

Louisville Slugger All-Americans

Collegiate Baseball and Louisville Slugger have announced their 2009 All-America Teams. Big Ten names make their appearance beginning on the second team. Co-Big Ten Pitchers of the Year, Indiana's Eric Arnett and Ohio State's Alex Wimmers, garnered second team nods. Buckeyes' closer Jake Hale is on the third team.

I find the lack of Big 10ers disappointing. (No love for Derek McCallum, Josh Phegley or Dan Burkhart?) However, All-America teams are a bit like beauty contests and it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Award Talk

The Indiana duo of Eric Arnett and Josh Phegley along with Ohio State's Alex Wimmers have all been named as semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award.

In addition, IU's Arnett is one of five finalists for the College Baseball Foundation's National Pitcher of the Year honor.

Arnett and teammate Matt Bashore were both selected to this week's National All-Star Lineup by the College Baseball Foundation.

Indiana Wins Championship; Goes To NCAA Tourney

Indiana University has captured the Big Ten Tournament title and claims the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament field. And, no, I'm not talking hoops. The Hoosiers' baseball team crushed Minnesota in the Big Ten title game, 13-2. Those IU bats that so many lauded before the season powered the Hoosiers to the crown.

IU must now wait for the tournament field of 64 to be announced to see where they are going to play next weekend. Minnesota and Ohio State (who the Gophers eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament earlier today) will also wait to see if they have done well enough for the selection committee to give them at-large berths to The Dance. (One would hope their RPI number alone would merit them inclusion amongst the sixty-four.)

Tonight, however, belongs to Indiana. Congratulations to the Hoosiers on their Big Ten Tournament title.

Indiana Advances To Title Game

Indiana thumped Ohio State, 13-3, and advanced to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament. IU's Tyler Rogers had three hits and four RBI. Alex Dickerson, Kipp Schutz and Jake Dunning each had two RBI for the Hoosiers.

The loss sends Ohio State into the loser's bracket and a date with Minnesota Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm. The winner of the Gophers vs. Buckeyes game will face the Hoosiers in the championship game tomorrow evening.

Some randoms thoughts before calling it a night:

My guess is that any hope Illinois has for a NCAA Tournament berth will disappear if the Hoosiers win the conference tournament. If IU secures the automatic berth and OSU and Minnesota garner at-large nods for their strong RPI figures, I can't imagine any scenario where the selection committee would take four Big Ten squads.

As the Illini are not a lock for an at-large berth, is it better for the conference overall if Indiana does win out? The Buckeyes and Gophers would appear to have at-large berths secure. (Or, at least, as secure as a Big Ten side can be.) If the Hoosiers claim the conference tournament title, wouldn't that mean three Big Ten teams would be amongst the 64 teams still playing next weekend? If Minnesota or OSU win the post-season crown, that would only put two Big Ten teams in the NCAA tourney. I'm just sayin'........

Can you hear all the national media (Aaron Fitt comes to mind) and me, wondering aloud where IU might be if they had played this well all season long? The answer, by the way, is that IU would have an at-large berth in the bag by now.

We've reached the point where the battle of attrition begins. Do any of these teams have enough arms ready to play into Sunday? OSU and Minnesota will need to, if they hope to win. And IU has already used their weekend starters heading into the championship game. Big leads may not mean much in the next couple of games.

Anyone else think Huntington Park looks great? Lots of quirkiness and interesting features. All the reports from Columbus concur with what I've seen on television -- it's a great venue.

Minnesota Pounds Illinois, 13-4

Minnesota eliminated Illinois from the Big Ten Tournament, 13-4. The Gophers' Nick O'Shea homered twice and had five RBI. Michael Kvasnicka hit a homer for the second straight game and also had a five-RBI afternoon for Minnesota.

Now, the question becomes "Is that the last game of the year for Illinois"? We won't know for sure until the NCAA Tournament field is announced, but they would appear to be barely holding onto their bubble position. Here's hoping the top seeds prevail in all the other conference tournaments.

One game left tonight and it's from the winner's bracket. Indiana will attempt to continue their dominant pitching run against regular season champion Ohio State. The loser gets to play Minnesota tomorrow afternoon in an elimination game. (Anyone want to guess who the Gophers send to the hill for that one?) The winner of tonight's affair between the Hoosiers and Buckeyes advance to the potential championship game Saturday evening.

Gophers Survive, Eliminate Boilers

Minnesota eliminated Purdue from the Big Ten Tournament, 12-3. Only four teams remain, the top four seeds heading into the tournament -- Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana and Illinois.

Gophers' starter Tom Buske tossed his first complete game.

The Gophers will now play in today's second game against Illinois. Not only is it an elimination game for both teams, but one does wonder if it's a potential do-or-die situation for the Illini in regards to their at-large NCAA Tournament hopes?

According the this morning pseudo-RPI at Boyd's World, Illinois is sitting at number 63. A win over Minnesota (who is 25 in pseudo-RPI) would certainly help the Illini. Staying alive in the conference tournament also gives them the opportunity to add wins and RPI points. Conversely, a loss this afternoon might bounce Illinois from both the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.

Buckeyes Down Illinois, 7-4

Game Five of the Big Ten Tournament saw Ohio State beat Illinois, 7-4. Things looked good for Illinois early as Will Strack was pitching well and Aaron Johnson's homer gave the Illini the lead. Eventually, Illinois even chased OSU's Alex Wimmers from the mound, but the Buckeyes posted a come-from-behind win.

Michael Arp drove in two for Ohio State. Johnson had three hits and three RBI for Illinois. Drew Rucinski got the win. Jake Hale picked up the save.

OSU advances in the winner's bracket. They will get a good look at the redhot Indiana Hoosiers tomorrow evening. Friday's slate begins with Purdue versus Minnesota in an elimination game. The winner of that game gets Illinois in yet another elimination game.

Tomorrow's schedule:

12:05pm - Purdue vs. Minnesota
3:35pm - Winner of PUR/MIN vs. Illinois
7:05pm - Indiana vs. Ohio State

All games on the Big Ten Network.

(Update 11:25pm) I've been informed that Minnesota will be the Boilermakers opponent in Friday's first game and Illinois will play the winner. I had the Illini in the opener against Purdue and the Gophers awaiting the winner. I've made the appropriate change.

Purdue Sends Spartans Packing; IU Dominates

In Game Three of the Big Ten Tournament, Purdue eliminated Michigan State, 12-9. Game Four saw Indiana pound Minnesota, 12-3. The Boilermakers will now face the Gophers in an elimination game on Friday. It will be a 12:05pm start.

In Purdue's win, Big Ten regular season batting leader Brandon Haveman had a four-hit, three-RBI game. MSU's Eli Boike had three hits (including a homer) and three RBI.

The Matt Bashore most of us expected to see all season showed up for Indiana in Game Four. The lefthander was dominant. Bashore worked seven shutout innings allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out nine Gophers. The Hoosiers Alex Dickerson had three RBI, Brian Lambert, Tyler Rogers and Jake Dunning all had three hits.

We now wait for the Illinois and Ohio State game to complete today's schedule.

All-Conference Questions

Over the years, I've been asked for my opinion about the selections for the All-Big Ten teams. Invariably, someone feels a player (or players) from their program has been overlooked and is seeking my two cents. These questions usually come from fans or parents. This year, I'm the one with the inquiries.

The longer I read yesterday's press release, the more my head began to tilt like a dog's. You know the look. Where the pooch gives you that strange, almost confused expression while leaning his/her head off to a side.

Nearly a day after the press release was issued, I'm still kind of lost as to the thinking behind some of the selections. Let me start by hitting the highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective).

• How is Minnesota's Derek McCallum not the Big Ten's Player of the Year?
• I know Ohio State is very well represented on the teams, but I'm not quite sure I can justify the absence of Drew Rucinski, Matt Streng and most notably, Zach Hurley.
• Just how important is batting average to the coaches? In some ways, it appears to me that the coaches simply honored players based solely on their batting average.
• Isn't it time to release the vote totals?
• How can Chauncy Handran, of Minnesota, get left off?
• And what of Michigan State's weekend starters -- Nolan Moody, A.J. Achter and Tony Bucciferro?
• I think it's cool the coaches opted for twin first-team catchers, as the numbers between Indiana's Josh Phegley and Ohio State's Dan Burkhart were nearly identical. However, instead of leaving Illinois' Aaron Johnson on the third team how about bumping him up to second team and lauding a player like MSU's Eric Roof or Minnesota's Kyle Knudson?

Like I said, I've got questions. And don't fool yourself. My questions don't stop there. I'll come clean and tell you that I feel the coaches didn't exactly get an "A" in the selection of the outfielders. On any team. (Oh, they may have some of the right names, but not in the right places.)

Now, there's a great possibility I'm alone on this island. Perhaps, I'm the only one that thinks this year's voting was a bit more suspect than usual. We all know that I'm wrong as often as I am right. Yet, I am curious if any of you found this year's all-conference selections interesting. Feel free to leave your comments (not that I generally have to encourage any of you to do that).

Arnett Shines In IU Triumph

Indiana humbled Purdue in Game Two of the Big Ten Tournament, 9-1. Co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, Eric Arnett held the Boilermakers to just four hits and a walk over seven shutout innings. The IU righty fanned ten. Michael Earley and Brian Lambert each drove in two runs for the Hoosiers. Kipp Schutz had a three-hit game. Dan Black led Purdue's counter-attack with a pair of hits.

The Boilermakers will now face Michigan State in an elimination game tomorrow. Indiana will take on Minnesota and Illinois will play Ohio State. The Hoosiers/Gophers contest will be the middle game (3:35pm) and the Illini/Buckeyes will begin around 7pm. All games are on the Big Ten Network.