2015 Gopher Baseball

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ruppertflywheel said:
I keep telling you guys Anderson is set in his ways. He thinks he can recruit in a 150 mile area. The softball program is recruiting nationally and you can see the results. He's old and tired and trying to ride it out. He should have been dumped 3 years ago. Hell, the junior college down here in Panama City, Florida has 3-4 kids who could step right in and play for the Gophers. John won't get his tired
ass on an airplane and go and get players.
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John Anderson isn't going anywhere until he wants to. You put as much time and effort into a program as he has, you get that right. He knows exactly why you can't kids to come north. Because they can play for free down south. Many of the southern schools let local kids go to school for free for the first couple years and you don't have to call that a scholarship (since all students get it and not just athletes). That's hard to compete with. We've had the worst facilities in the Big Ten forever. We are the only division one program in 4 states, so recruiting locally isn't that awful. Yes the team is terrible this year, but so what. There's always next year...
 

Sparlimb said:
John Anderson isn't going anywhere until he wants to. You put as much time and effort into a program as he has, you get that right. He knows exactly why you can't kids to come north. Because they can play for free down south. Many of the southern schools let local kids go to school for free for the first couple years and you don't have to call that a scholarship (since all students get it and not just athletes). That's hard to compete with. We've had the worst facilities in the Big Ten forever. We are the only division one program in 4 states, so recruiting locally isn't that awful. Yes the team is terrible this year, but so what. There's always next year...
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I posted this in another thread but his contract is up after next season and I believe the plan was for this to be his last contract when he signed the extension a few years ago. We will have to see if he actually sticks to that or gets another extension.
 

Sparlimb said:
John Anderson isn't going anywhere until he wants to. You put as much time and effort into a program as he has, you get that right. He knows exactly why you can't kids to come north. Because they can play for free down south. Many of the southern schools let local kids go to school for free for the first couple years and you don't have to call that a scholarship (since all students get it and not just athletes). That's hard to compete with. We've had the worst facilities in the Big Ten forever. We are the only division one program in 4 states, so recruiting locally isn't that awful. Yes the team is terrible this year, but so what. There's always next year...
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Not buying it. I think what Goldy says is more spot on. Anderson isn't a professor with tenure. The
U doesn't owe him jack sh-t.
 

Gophers lose another B1G series as Rutgers wins game 3 6-5. Gophers hold a 5-3 lead as Rutgers got a run in the 6th, 7th, and 8th to take the lead. Mistakes were once again huge by the Gophers as there were way too many walks early and a couple of huge errors including 1 to start the 8th that led to the winning run. Gophers did threaten in the 9th leaving the tying run on 2nd. 6 runs, 7 hits, and 1 error for Rutgers 5 runs, 10 hits, and 2 errors for the Gophers.
 

Snapshot look at B1G through April 5

On the surface, it appears the B1G is having a really good year to this point. Certainly helps adding Maryland. It's early, but might this be a season the conference gets 3 or 4 NCAA bids?

In RPI order, with overall records (vs. DI opponents) and record vs. the RPI top 50.

B1G
17. Nebraska (23-10, 0-5 vs. RPI top 50)
18. Maryland (22-7, 4-3 vs. RPI top 50)
22. Ohio State (21-7, 3-3 vs. RPI top 50)
24. Illinois (23-6-1, 9-3 vs. RPI top 50)
26. Iowa (19-7, 6-2 vs. RPI top 50)
37. Michigan State (15-14, 4-8 vs. RPI top 50)
48. Indiana (18-10, 3-4 vs. RPI top 50)
57. Michigan (18-13, 6-7 vs. RPI top 50)
149. Minnesota (9-17, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
166. Penn State (8-17, 1-8 vs. RPI top 50)
179. Rutgers (10-19, 1-9 vs. RPI top 50)
208. Northwestern (8-22, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
230. Purdue (10-21, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
 


SelectionSunday said:
On the surface, it appears the B1G is having a really good year to this point. Certainly helps adding Maryland. It's early, but might this be a season the conference gets 3 or 4 NCAA bids?

In RPI order, with overall records (vs. DI opponents) and record vs. the RPI top 50.

B1G
17. Nebraska (23-10, 0-5 vs. RPI top 50)
18. Maryland (22-7, 4-3 vs. RPI top 50)
22. Ohio State (21-7, 3-3 vs. RPI top 50)
24. Illinois (23-6-1, 9-3 vs. RPI top 50)
26. Iowa (19-7, 6-2 vs. RPI top 50)
37. Michigan State (15-14, 4-8 vs. RPI top 50)
48. Indiana (18-10, 3-4 vs. RPI top 50)
57. Michigan (18-13, 6-7 vs. RPI top 50)
149. Minnesota (9-17, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
166. Penn State (8-17, 1-8 vs. RPI top 50)
179. Rutgers (10-19, 1-9 vs. RPI top 50)
208. Northwestern (8-22, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
230. Purdue (10-21, 0-6 vs. RPI top 50)
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Illinois is a legitimate National Title contender. Their pitching is as good as any in the country. Can hit the ball as well. Interesting enough, they are far from a shoe in to win the B1G. Says a lot about the conference in my opinion.

The Gophers are being left in the dust as relative newcomer Nebraska, newcomer Maryland, and Illinois are stepping up to the plate nationally. Michigan State and Indiana (obviously with their CWS appearance two years ago and National Seed last year) have significantly raised the profile of their programs recently and have to be considered to be in better shape than the Gophers. And now, it would be hard to argue that Iowa isn't surpassing the Gophers under their 2nd year coach. Historical B1G powers Ohio State and Michigan are right there as well, both currently in better shape than the Gophers.

I know I have alarm bells going off in my head regarding what is going on with the Gopher program. Hopefully, "it is baseball", and this is just a rough stretch this season... I'm having serious doubts and am not optimistic based on this program's recent trajectory. As of today, they are at best the 9th best program in the conference. Inexcusable considering they are arguably the conference's best program historically.
 


Gophers win game 1 over Nebraska 3-0. Ben Meyer got the win going 6.2 innings giving up 4 hits, 2Ks, and 4BBs and Jordan Jess pitched the final 2.1 innings for the save giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. Dan Motl and Toby Hanson led the offense Motl had 2 doubles, 1 run scored, and 1RBI. Hanson had a double and added an insurance run in the top of the 9th with his first career homerun on a no doubt shot over the right field fence.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Gophers win game 1 over Nebraska 3-0. Ben Meyer got the win going 6.2 innings giving up 4 hits, 2Ks, and 4BBs and Jordan Jess pitched the final 2.1 innings for the save giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. Dan Motl and Toby Hanson led the offense Motl had 2 doubles, 1 run scored, and 1RBI. Hanson had a double and added an insurance run in the top of the 9th with his first career homerun on a no doubt shot over the right field fence.
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Saw that. Just clobbered it!
 



Goldy Gopher said:
Gophers win game 1 over Nebraska 3-0. Ben Meyer got the win going 6.2 innings giving up 4 hits, 2Ks, and 4BBs and Jordan Jess pitched the final 2.1 innings for the save giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. Dan Motl and Toby Hanson led the offense Motl had 2 doubles, 1 run scored, and 1RBI. Hanson had a double and added an insurance run in the top of the 9th with his first career homerun on a no doubt shot over the right field fence.
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A pleasant surprise to start the weekend series. Nice win. Bizarre double play in the bottom of the 1st helped. Massive moon shot by Hanson. Ben Meyer and Jess pitched well. Is this weekend where the season gets turned around...?! 13 straight games at home coming up.
 

Gophers2Omaha said:
A pleasant surprise to start the weekend series. Nice win. Bizarre double play in the bottom of the 1st helped. Massive moon shot by Hanson. Ben Meyer and Jess pitched well. Is this weekend where the season gets turned around...?! 13 straight games at home coming up.
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Went to the game last night. Surprise is an understatement. Now sure where that performance came from, but was very enjoyable.
 

Gophers fall 7-4 in game 2. Pitching was again an issue for the Gophers as the real killer in this one was the 9 walks issued by Gopher pitching. The Nebraska tied the game at 3 with a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th and scored 4 runs in the 7th all with 2 out to get the win. Nebraska had 7 runs on 10 hits and committed 2 errors and the Gophers had 4 runs on 12 hits and committed 0 errors.
 

The good news is Gophers pitching did a much better job of throwing strikes today only walking 2 guys all game, the bad news is they were pounded for 17 hits in a 12-3 loss. Nebraska jumped out scoring 5 runs in the first 2 innings but the Gophers fought back with 3 in the top of the 4th to cut it to 5-3 unfortunately Nebraska answered immediately with a leadoff single and then a 2 run homerun in the bottom of the 4th and they would cruise from there. Gophers are now home for their next 13 games starting with NDSU Tuesday and it is crucial to be able to put together a very good home stand especially in the 2 conference series.
 



Lincoln gopher said:
Went to the game last night. Surprise is an understatement. Now sure where that performance came from, but was very enjoyable.
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Back to reality the rest of the weekend. Just got smoked today. That is happening way too often. Penn State is likely the only chance for the Gophers to win a B1G series. That is NOT good.

One bright spot this season on the pitching side of things is pitcher Jordan Jess. Throwing a lot more strikes this year. Has a chance to have a major role next year. Can never have enough solid lefties.
 

If B1G Tournament were held today

Wednesday, May 20 @ Target Field
Bracket 1
9 a.m. -- #3 Ohio State (7-2) vs. #6 Michigan (6-6)
1 p.m. -- #2 Illinois (8-1) vs. #7 Indiana (5-6)

Bracket 2
5 p.m. -- #1 Iowa (8-1) vs. #8 Michigan State (4-5)
9 p.m. -- #4 Maryland (8-4) vs. #5 Nebraska (5-4)
 

Gophers beat NDSU 13-5 today. 13 runs on 16 hits and 1 error for the Gophers while NDSU had 5 runs on 8 hits and 1 error.
 


Gophers win first 2 against Penn State 6-1 yesterday and 8-1 today.
 


Gophers finish off the sweep with a 9-5 win today. It didn't start off well for the Gophers as Freshman Fred Manke made his 1st B1G start and a couple Penn State hits, a few wild pitches and passed balls, and a Gopher error allowed Penn State to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Gophers would answer by sending 11 to the plate in the bottom of the 1st putting 6 runs on the board. Dan Motl was hit with a pitch up high in his 1st at bat and replaced by a pinch runner so hopefully he isn't out too long. Also because that was his only plate appearance his hitting streak will still be active at 17 games when he returns.
 

Gophers move into 8th tournament spot

Top 8 through April 19.

1. Illinois (10-1)
2. Iowa (10-2)
3. Ohio State (9-3)
4. Maryland (8-4)
5. Michigan (9-6)
6. Michigan State (7-5)
7. Nebraska (6-6)
8. Gophers (6-9)

Others
9. Indiana (5-8)
10. Northwestern (4-8)/Rutgers (5-10)
12. Penn State (2-9)
13. Purdue (1-11)
 

Gotta imagine Motl will be out at least for awhile after seeing this picture

 

Gophers beat South Dakota State 3-2 on a Matt Fiedler walk-off single. Gophers only managed 3 hits while SDSU had 10 but 2 of the Gophers 3 hits were homeruns from Michael Handel and Alex Boxwell. 4 Gopher pitchers combined to strike out 10 Jackrabbits while also not walking a batter. Now on to a huge series at Siebert against Michigan starting Friday night.
 

Great deal for Big 10 tourney

$30 gets you a tournament pass for all 13-15 games. Tickets went on sale today at Target Field Box Office.
 

Gophers and Michigan split a pair today. The Gophers won game #1 2-1 behind a complete game from Ben Meyer on the mound. Michigan took the nightcap 4-2, the Gophers had the momentum scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th to tie the game and had a man on 3rd with only 1 out in the bottom of the 6th when Michigan brought in a reliever who would strike out the next 2 batters on a total of 6 pitches giving all the momentum back to Michigan. In the 7th Michigan's leadoff man would reach on a wild pitch strikeout and they would move him around and eventually score him on a suicide squeeze play that would turn out to be the game winning run. One big stat the stuck out to me is how many times the Gophers struck out today as Michigan pitching recorded 14 in the 1st game and another 13 in the 2nd game.
 

Gophers drop game 3 to Michigan 12-3. Gophers scored 3 in the 5th to tie the game at 3 and it was a pretty good baseball game until the Gophers fell apart in the 7th inning. The inning started with a grounder back to the pitcher Jordan Jess that he couldn't keep his balance on to make the throw. Jess would retire the next Michigan batter but then a wild pitch and passed ball put the go ahead run on 3rd and after a walk to that hitter Jordan Jess would exit and Tyler Hanson would enter. Hanson would get the next batter to popup and maybe thought he had the 3rd out and strike 3 on the next hitter but it was called ball 3 and on the very next pitch the Michigan batter would hit a single to bring in the runner from 3rd. A hit by pitch to load the bases and a run scoring 4 pitch walk followed that up before Thonvold came in and walked in another run on 4 pitches. Michigan would finish up the inning by getting a double to clear the bases and take a 9-3 lead cruising the rest of the way to a win. Gophers continued to strike out quite a bit with another 11 today they will be off from conference play this week hosting Kansas State in the midweek and UC-Irvine next weekend.
 

Current B1G Tournament Bracket (through April 30)

Gophers hold on to #8 seed despite losing 2 of 3 to Michigan. It appears Nebraska, the Gophers, Indiana, and Rutgers will battle for the final 2 spots in the B1G Conference tourney. Nebraska has the easiest remaining schedule of those 4.

Wednesday, May 20 @ Target Field (1st round)
Bracket 1
9 a.m. -- #3 Ohio State (12-3) vs. #6 Michigan State (9-6)
1 p.m. -- #2 Iowa (13-2) vs. #7 Nebraska (6-9)

Bracket 2
5 p.m. -- #1 Illinois (13-1) vs. #8 GOPHERS (7-11)
9 p.m. -- #4 Maryland (11-4) vs. #5 Michigan (11-7)

Outside Looking In
#9 Indiana (6-10)
#10 Rutgers (5-10)
#11 Northwestern (4-11)
#12 Penn State (2-12)
#13 Purdue (1-14)

May 1-3 B1G Series
#1 Illinois @ #3 Ohio State
#2 Iowa @ #5 Michigan
#9 Indiana @ #4 Maryland
#13 Purdue @ #6 Michigan State
#7 Nebraska @ #11 Northwestern
#10 Rutgers @ #12 Penn State

Toughest to Easiest Remaining B1G Schedules (opponents' B1G record in parentheses)
1. Indiana (23-7)
2. GOPHERS (22-8)
3. Ohio State (30-15)
4. Rutgers (28-15)
5. Northwestern (28-20)
6. Michigan (17-13)
7. Illinois (23-22)
8. Maryland (22-24)
9. Iowa (23-28)
10. Purdue (20-25)
11. Nebraska (18-26)
12. Penn State (15-30)
13. Michigan State (10-37)

B1G Teams/RPI With NCAA At-Large Aspirations
#12 Ohio State (6-4 vs. RPI top 50)
#20 Nebraska (2-11 vs. RPI top 50)
#22 Illinois (7-3 vs. RPI top 50)
#27 Iowa (6-3 vs. RPI top 50)
#31 Michigan State (4-9 vs. RPI top 50)
#36 Maryland (9-5 vs. RPI top 50)
#62 Indiana (8-8 vs. RPI top 50)
#68 Michigan (3-5 vs. RPI top 50)
 

NCAA tourney field by RPI

This isn't a projection, more so a guide. What the NCAA baseball tourney field would look like if the selection committee only looked at RPI, which, of course, they don't (nor should they).

This would have 6 B1G teams in the field, though it's more likely 4 or 5 will end up making it. Either way, it'd be a historical number for the conference. Illinois, Ohio State, Maryland, and Iowa appear to be virtual shoo-ins.

NCAA Tournament by RPI (through April 26)
#1 UCLA (Pac 12 automatic)
#2 Dallas Baptist
#3 Miami-Florida
#4 Texas A&M
#5 LSU
#6 Florida State
#7 TCU (Big XII automatic)
#8 Florida
#9 Missouri State (MVC automatic)
#10 USC
#11 FAU (C-USA automatic)
#12 Ohio State
#13 Oklahoma State
#14 Vanderbilt (SEC automatic)
#15 North Carolina
#16 UCSB
#17 Louisville (ACC automatic)
#18 Radford (Big South automatic)
#19 Auburn
#20 Nebraska
#21 Bradley
#22 Illinois (B1G automatic)
#23 Arizona State
#24 USF (AAC automatic)
#25 Charleston (CAA automatic)
#26 Houston
#27 Iowa
#28 Georgia Tech
#29 Coastal Carolina
#30 Kentucky
#31 Michigan State
#32 Louisiana
#33 Virginia
#34 Ole Miss
#35 NC-Wilmington
#36 Maryland
#37 Oregon State
#38 Notre Dame
#39 Connecticut
#40 Southeastern Louisiana (Southland automatic)
#41 Rice
#42 Memphis
#43 Cal State-Fullerton
#44 East Carolina
#50 Oral Roberts (Summit automatic)
#52 UC-Irvine (Big West automatic)
#58 Nevada (Mountain West automatic)
#60 North Florida (Atlantic Sun automatic)
#61 Creighton (Big East automatic)
#63 Stony Brook (America East automatic)
#80 Columbia (Ivy automatic)
#86 Central Michigan (MAC automatic)
#98 San Diego (WCC automatic)
#106 Samford (Southern automatic)
#109 South Alabama (Sun Belt automatic)
#115 Southeast Missouri State (OVC automatic)
#122 Rhode Island (A-10 automatic)
#126 Rider (MAAC automatic)
#140 Alabama State (SWAC automatic)
#170 Grand Canyon (WAC automatic)
#176 Wagner (NEC automatic)
#190 UIC (Horizon automatic)
#227 Navy (Patriot automatic)
#238 Norfolk State (MEAC automatic)

Last 4 In: Rice (41), Memphis (42), Cal State-Fullerton (43), East Carolina (44)
Next 5: Tulane (45), Liberty (46), Alabama (47), Arkansas (48), Cal (49)
 

I have a hard time seeing more than four B1G teams getting in. They will always be undervalued.
Crazy year in the PAC 12 with Stanford being epically bad. UCLA is really good.
 

Agree.

5 is possible, but 6 would be a stretch,. Unlike most years, the conference tournament will have a lot of importance in terms of potential at-large bids. A lot of quality-win opportunities will be available, instead of just 1 or 2 teams having a chance for an at-large. As good as Illinois is, I don't think they're a clear-cut favorite like those last 2 studly Indiana teams have been.
 

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