By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot
My Illini were knocked out of the Tournament yesterday but I thought I’d stick around and see how things ended up. The Tournament was down to three teams this morning and ever shrinking. The offensive-minded teams of Purdue and Indiana took on each other for the privilege of facing powerhouse and top seed Michigan later in the evening. Read the rest of this entry »

By Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Ohio State but today, teams were dropping like flies from Big Ten Tournament competition. This started with the first game between Illinois and Indiana which was an elimination match between the two teams.

Indiana 14 Illinois 7

Despite the score, it was actually quite an exciting game. Indiana continued with trend of scoring early and often by putting 3 runs up on the board in the first inning. This was done by their simple strategy of a) get Jason Hervey on base and b) have Josh Phegley drive him in. For the game, Hervey was 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored and Phegley was 4 for 4 with 2 homers and 6 RBI. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

On the second day, we had three games on the docket, so let’s get straight to the action.

Indiana 10 Ohio State 8

In the first game, both teams were facing elimination and tension was a bit high both on the field and in the stands. By the time I got to Fisher Stadium in the top of the first, Indiana had already scored two runs. By the time I found a seat, Jake Hale had balked and Ohio head coach was having a conversation with the ump. Before the first inning was over, four Hoosier runs were across and I thought this would be a wash. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Thomas Nelshoppen of The Baseball Zealot

Wednesday was the first day of the 2008 Big Ten Baseball Tournament hosted by first place University of Michigan. The tourney was held in its newly renovated stadium. At least it’s new to me. I remember at last year’s tournament, they were beginning construction on it. At any rate, it’s very nice, looking very first class.

Today it was sunny but very cool and the two higher seeds cooled off their opponents with complete game performances. Read the rest of this entry »