All Things Gopher Baseball

Gophers win 12-1 in 7 over the Tommies. Sutherland went beast mode, going 4-4 with 2 HR and 7 RBI, and Hamilton was 3-3 with 2 RBI. Winkleman, Hemmesch, Capamaccio and Kirchhoff on the mound.

Gophers finish regular season non-conference play at 19-4. Team might be finding their second wind.
They would definitely be a dangerous team in the B1G tournament, especially in the double-elimination portion as we have more pitching depth than most teams at that level. 8-13 conference record but 2-10 in games decided by 3 or less runs. If the Gophers had managed to win 2 more of those games then we're competing for the 7th seed. Win 3 of those and we're competing for the 6th.
 














Big doubleheader sweep! Definitely not the cleanest day and certainly some missed opportunities with runners in scoring position especially in game one.
If we had lost game 1 those 3 strikeouts w8th bases loaded in the first would have been the difference
 






Tough 4-3 loss today. Had a chance in the 9th opted to have Spanier bunt tying run to 3rd but a shallow flyball from Hamilton and foul popup from Neels left Mosh at 3rd.
One of those games where the bounces certainly went Penn State's way with at least 5 Gopher flyballs being caught on the track and a number of other hard hit balls finding gloves while Penn State gets a bloop off the end of the bat that doesn't even make outfield grass to score a run.
 

B1G weekend recap
Gophers take 2 of 3 from Penn State. Would have been nice to get that sweep but at least they won thew series.

Iowa beat Illinois 2-1. Gotta give credit to Iowa, they beat the teams they should.

Northwestern beat Indiana 2-1. Man the Hoosiers have fallen on hard times. They are 2-7 in their last 3 series against Maryland, Iowa and Northwestern. Not exactly murderers row. Gophers are kicking themselves for dropping 2 of 3 earlier.

Michigan sweeps Maryland 3-0. WOlverines come to Siebert field on an absolute roll. They are 14-4 in their last 6 series.

Ohio State sweeps Nebraska 3-0. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year. Nobody saw this coming after Ohio State was left for dead. How Nebrasks is still in t25 is ridiculous, especially since when Purdue got swept by USC they were completely removed form NCAA bubble.

USC sweeps Rutgers 3-0. Big help to the Gophers

UCLA sweeps Michigan State 3-0. Big help to the Gophers

Oregon beats Washington 2-1. In typical fashion the Ducks cannot earn a series sweep.


In my opinion:
In the NCAA's: UCLA, Nebraska, USC, Oregon (UCLA will host; USC with a chance to host)
On NCAA Bubble: Michigan, Purdue (Michigan is close to being that last 4 team in. Purdue likely on outside still)

B1G Standings
PlaceTeamRecordRPI
1UCLA24-01
2USC19-810
T3Oregon17-727
T3Nebraska17-718
T5Purdue15-952
T5Michigan15-942
7Ohio State13-1188
8Iowa12-1279
T9Minnesota10-1486
T9Illinois10-1490
T9Washington10-14164
12Rutgers9-15117
13Michigan State10-17123
T14Indiana7-17112
T14Northwestern7-17126
T16Maryland6-1877
T16Penn State6-18200
 

B1G Schedule next weekend
Michigan (15-9) at Minnesota (10-14) - Wolverines are on a 14-4 heater right now. Will be a tough series for Gophers but they need to try and find a way to sneak at least 1 win.

Northwestern (7-17) at Illinois (10-14) - Gophers desperately need the kitties to beat the Illini this weekend. Illinois ends the season at Indiana so they have a very easy schedule the rest of the way.

Indiana (7-17) at Purdue (15-9) - Purdue still has a chance to make a case for the NCAA. They need a sweep this weekend though.

Iowa (12-12) at Nebraska (17-7) - I'm still in shock that the Huskers got swept by the Buckeyes. If you asked me two weeks ago who would win this series I'd have said it would be a sweep by Nebraska. Now I'm not so sure. I think they'll likely win the series 2-1.

Michigan State (10-17) at Ohio State (13-11) - Gophers are hoping that Ohio State continues their hot streak and takes care of Sparty.

Oregon (17-7) at UCLA (24-0) - This might be the last opportunity to hand the Bruins a conf loss. Should be a fun one.

Washington (10-14) at Penn State (6-18) - Washington needs to win this series but will the timezone shift be a factor?

Maryland (6-18) at Rutgers (9-15) - Gophers would like to see Maryland take this series.

Nevada at USC
 

A little off topic, Max Meyer had his best outing of his injury plagued MLB career. He went 7 innings, gave up one hit, one walk and struck out 7 to go to 2-0 on the season.
I forgot to post this earlier, but in other Gopher baseball alumni news, George Klassen made his MLB debut back in April, making 2 starts for the Angels. I didn't see either game but he walked 5 in each (11.57 ERA), before being sent back to AAA after the second outing. Baseball America listed him as #3 prospect in Angels system.
 




A few too many walks but really nice job limiting the Michigan bats to 4 hits.
Barr has been really good but thought the lineup did a nice job laying off the borderline pitches and not chasing a whole lot.
 

Great win! Sparty lost their opener so we have a pretty commanding lead for that last spot. But let's improve our seeding now by winning the series.
 


Coach McDevitt was the guest on the most recent Golden Gopher podcast.

Cliff's Notes: Nothing too interesting. He did say Morton was sat a couple weeks ago to manage workload - that he hasn't pitched many innings in prior years including going back to high school. Also, said this is the most fun group/year he has had during his coaching career. Said he told the team the next two weeks would be like postseason play with a need to win games to get into the conference tournament.

 

Tough loss. Blew a 5-0 lead. Bullpen couldn't hold it and defense misplayed 2 bunts late in the game. Combine those with an absolutely terrible fielder interference call in t9 and Michigan was gifted several extra outs in the late frame. Ump should be ashamed of that call.
 



Tough loss. Blew a 5-0 lead. Bullpen couldn't hold it and defense misplayed 2 bunts late in the game. Combine those with an absolutely terrible fielder interference call in t9 and Michigan was gifted several extra outs in the late frame. Ump should be ashamed of that call.
They didn't even call it interference they said he just got back to the base with no tag. The attrocious part is that has to be called out of the baseline. These are the same guys who missed the bunt tipping off the batter as well though that led to a 3 run inning.
Would have liked to see Hamilton be more aggressive with that 3-1 pitch. The homerun robbery of Neels was big.
 




Top Bottom