All Things 2016 Gophers Baseball Season Thread

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Did MSU rest there starters or something? They are a team who is 19-4 and swept Iowa and it seems like we dominated them. No denying though it was a great weekend for the Gophers though.
 

dannygopher9100 said:
Did MSU rest there starters or something? They are a team who is 19-4 and swept Iowa and it seems like we dominated them. No denying though it was a great weekend for the Gophers though.
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Missouri State actually got their #2 starter who had been out a couple weeks back for this series. Think Missouri State came into this series with like 38 homeruns and Gophers pitching did a great job not giving up any homeruns and making Missouri State string hits together if they were gonna score runs. The offense for the Gophers has been very solid and if they get Toby Hanson back the offense will be scary for opposing pitchers. If the Gophers can get consistent solid pitching I think this team should have a chance to be a NCAA tournament bubble team.
 

This team does have great potential and getting Toby back would make this offense even more dangerous. I think having Gilbreath back will really help our pitching. Plus, I think we now have three pretty consistent starters in Fielder, Saywer, and Anderson. Hanson did very well in relief and looks like he will be a big help there. I know our offense did well but what impressed me was how our pitching helped keep Missouri's offense in check.
 

Updated: B1G's Top 5 in the RPI

B1G's Top 5
#22 Michigan State (18-3, 3-0 B1G)
#23 Michigan (16-5, 0-0 B1G)
#28 Gophers (11-9, 0-0 B1G)
#47 Nebraska (16-7, 3-0 B1G)
#76 Rutgers (8-14, 0-3 B1G)

April 1-3 B1G Series
Illinois (2-1) @ Nebraska (3-0)
Michigan (3-0) @ Northwestern (1-2)
Iowa (2-1) @ Gophers (0-0)
Purdue (0-3) @ Penn State (1-2)
Indiana (0-0) @ Rutgers (0-3)
 

When your playing teams like Oregon State, Seattle and Missouri state and all you games are away from home the RPI ranking is no surprise. A few years back they finally gave teams more credit in the RPI when they won games on the road. Northern teams had been complaining about that for years, since their non-conference schedule for the most part is on the road. To me it made sense to make that change.
 



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Fighting words! Looking forward to this weekend's series. Gonna be cold but I plan to attend tomorrow's game.
 


Gophers played pretty well. Strung together a few timely hits and took advantage of their opportunities offensively. Pitching was solid Fiedler started and got the win striking out 6 but also walking 4. Iowa only had 3 hits total and I don't think they had any after the 5th inning. One thing they won't like about today though is the 7 walks gotta keep that number down.
 




per Shooter:

For the first time in seven seasons, the Gophers baseball team last week became a top-25 team, moving to No. 23 in the country, based on Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which measures teams based on won-loss record and strength of schedule. Minnesota achieved the ranking primarily with victories on the road.

The Gophers (14-9) twice last week defeated Missouri State, which was a top-20 team with a 19-2 record before a three-game series in Springfield.

Entering last weekend’s Big Ten opener against Iowa, the Gophers led conference teams in hitting at .331. That’s 50 points higher than Minnesota has hit in the past five seasons. The Gophers were also second among Big Ten teams in fielding (.975).

Freshman shortstop Terrin Vavra, son of Twins bench coach Joe Vavra, is hitting .407. St. Paul Academy grad Matt Fiedler, the Gophers’ two-way player (pitcher-fielder), is hitting .394.

The second game of the Gophers-Iowa doubleheader at Siebert Field on Sunday will be televised on Big Ten Network. The Gophers-Wisconsin softball game April 12 at Minnesota also will be televised on BTN.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/04/02/charley-walters-paul-molitor-gets-ultimate-vote-of-confidence/

Go Gophers!!
 

Dalton Sawyer struggled a little on the mound only going 4.2 innings giving up 5 earned runs on 5 hits he also struck out 5 and walked 4. Tyler Hanson was solid in relief finishing out the game giving up 3 hits while striking out 6. Only thing he would like to change was the first batter he faced giving up a single to him and allowing the 2 inherited runners to score. Little bit frustrating day for the Gopher offense as they left 10 on base and also hit into a couple double plays to stop a couple good innings. Iowa's defense was also very good today making great plays on at least 5 well hit balls to take away hits. Matt Fiedler hit his 2nd homerun of the season in the 9th.
 

Gophers win game 3 and take the series. The long ball was key for the Gophers in the win and it started right away with back-to-back homeruns from Matt Fiedler and Austin Athmann in the 1st inning. Connor Schaefbauer added his 1st career homerun in the inning and knocked out Iowa's starting pitcher after just 2/3 of an inning. Schaefbauer would add another homerun in the 8th inning for a little insurance. Toby Anderson gave the Gophers a very solid start on the mound. He had 1 bad inning where he gave up 3 runs in the 2nd but other than that he shut down Iowa. Anderson went 7.1 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 5 and walking just 1. Jordan Jess closed out the game going the final 1.2 innings giving up 1 hit and striking out 1. The Gophers are scheduled for 2 midweek games Tuesday vs. NDSU and Wednesday vs. Northern Illinois. Then next weekend the Gophers have a huge conference series at preseason conference favorite #20 Michigan.
 



Couple thoughts

1. I was hoping for a sweep in this series but two out of three is about a B grade. An A grade has to be a sweep at home.
2. Hitting and run production was down today, but talked to Gopher insiders at the game on Friday and they said Toby should be back soon. His return should give our offense even more fire power.
3. Michigan series is going to be big. The biggest key in winning this series is to get good starting pitching.
 

B1G RPI Top 5 (through weekend of April 3)

B1G RPI Top 5
#28 Michigan (20-5, 3-0)
#33 Michigan State (19-4, 3-0)
#38 GOPHERS (13-10, 2-1)
#47 Nebraska (19-8, 5-1)
#62 Maryland (14-14, 1-2)

This Weekend
GOPHERS (2-1) @ Michigan (3-0)
Michigan State (3-0) @ Penn State (4-2)
Northwestern (1-5) @ Nebraska (5-1)
Ohio State (2-1) @ Maryland (1-2)
Illinois (3-3) @ Iowa (3-3)
Purdue (0-6) @ Indiana (1-2)
Rutgers vs. Saint Joseph's (non-conference)
 

Strange play in Gopher/Iowa game

Posted this another web site about the game.
Saw another unusual play Sunday in the Minnesota/Iowa game. Iowa was rallying in the top of the eighth with runners on second and third and 1 out down 5-3. Batter hits a deep fly ball to left and both runners tag. Gophers have a good relay and throw the guy out going to third. The runner going home let up and didn't cross home plate before the out at third. So no run counted and the Gophers were out of the jam. Iowa coach was pissed, first at the umps and then at his own players.
 


Gophers jumped on NIU right away with a 7 run 1st inning. Toby Hanson returned to the lineup playing all 9 innings at 1st base. Gophers got a bunch of pitchers work today and I think every position player besides Austin Athmann got some PT. Gophers continued to show some power with Terrin Vavra and Cole McDevitt each hitting their 1st career homeruns.
 

It was good to get Toby back, it may take sometime to get his timing back. I'm glad we won. Obviously conference wins are more important but you can't overlook the importance of winning mid-week games. One Iowa fan said one of the reasons why Iowa last year was not able to get a one seed in regions was too many mid-week losses. I think one win in the Big Ten tournament didn't help either. This weekend will be very interesting, another top 25 foe in Michigan.
 

Golden04 said:
It was good to get Toby back, it may take sometime to get his timing back. I'm glad we won. Obviously conference wins are more important but you can't overlook the importance of winning mid-week games. One Iowa fan said one of the reasons why Iowa last year was not able to get a one seed in regions was too many mid-week losses. I think one win in the Big Ten tournament didn't help either. This weekend will be very interesting, another top 25 foe in Michigan.
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Completely correct. Iowa shot themselves in the foot losing to Western Illinois and Milwaukee, among others. Given the Gophers record, midweek games will go a long way for an at-large bid.
 

Mid-week games are what killed Michigan State three years ago (were 1st team left out of NCAA), and they're hurting MSU again this year. Sparty having a really good season so far (19-5, 3-0) but RPI has dropped from low 20s to high 40s in large part because of mid-week home losses in the last two weeks to Oakland and Eastern Michigan. Those are the kind of losses that get you left out if you end up on the bubble.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
Posted this another web site about the game.
Saw another unusual play Sunday in the Minnesota/Iowa game. Iowa was rallying in the top of the eighth with runners on second and third and 1 out down 5-3. Batter hits a deep fly ball to left and both runners tag. Gophers have a good relay and throw the guy out going to third. The runner going home let up and didn't cross home plate before the out at third. So no run counted and the Gophers were out of the jam. Iowa coach was pissed, first at the umps and then at his own players.
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I have seen that even at the major league level. Guys scoring from third don't expect stupid expect stupid plays from runners behind them.
 

I'm not familiar with the NCAA selection process for baseball. Is there a deciding factor, like the pairwise for hockey, for the selection process? I see RPI mentioned a few times.
 

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pharmacygopher said:
I'm not familiar with the NCAA selection process for baseball. Is there a deciding factor, like the pairwise for hockey, for the selection process? I see RPI mentioned a few times.
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Generally RPI. Warren Nolan has a good site that let's you know where your team ranks.

http://www.warrennolan.com/

Just go to Baseball and click on the rankings. They have their own system and RPI listed...
 


love how well we're playing!!
 



What's strange is in Football and Basketball, playing conference games is a huge boost to your RPI. In Baseball, its a sucking sound. When a team you've never heard of like Longwood is a 153 spots better in the RPI than Purdue, it makes it trouble. That's why the Big Ten usually only sends one or two teams to the NCAAs. And wasn't Purdue the team that won the title for the first time in 90 some years one or two years back, was ranked and had an okay run in the NCAAs? What happened???
 

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