All Things Gopher Baseball Season 2014

Donate To GopherHole
Big Ten tourney bracket (through May 8): Gophers currently #5 seed

Just two weekends to go in the regular season. It'll be a major surprise if Penn State, Purdue, or Northwestern supplants any of the current top 8. An * denotes clinched spot in 8-team Big Ten Tournament field. First-round games are Wednesday, May 21. The battle is to avoid being seed #4, #5, or #8, all in Indiana's bracket. Much easier path to the title game as the #6 or #7 seed than the #4, #5, or #8.

Bracket 1
#3 *Illinois (13-5) vs. #6 Iowa (8-10), 9 a.m.
#2 *Nebraska (13-5) vs. #7 Ohio State (8-10), 1 p.m.

Bracket 2
#1 *Indiana (16-2) vs. #8 Michigan State (8-10), 5 p.m.
#4 Michigan (11-10) vs. #5 GOPHERS (9-9), 9 p.m.

Outside Looking In: Penn State (5-12), Purdue (5-13), Northwestern (5-15)

May 9-11
Indiana @ Penn State
Illinois @ Iowa
Ohio State @ Michigan
Purdue @ GOPHERS

May 10-12
Nebraska @ Michigan State

bye = Northwestern
 

Gophers beat Purdue 6-5 in a comeback win after falling behind 4-0. Alec Crawford got the start and looked a little shaky early giving up a couple of homers but settled in and limited the damage. Dalton Sawyer would end up with the win pitching 2.1 innings after the Gophers scored the eventual game winning run on a single in the bottom of the 8th.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/050914aaa.html
 

Gophers win an exciting game 2 6-5 this morning after the game was suspended because of weather last night. The game was suspended with Purdue up and having 1st and 2nd with 2 outs in the top 8th and the Gophers leading 3-2 and Dalton Sawyer came on today and got the last out. Purdue would get a 3 run homer in the top of the 9th to take a 5-3 lead but after 2 Gophers were retired in the bottom of the 9th Connor Schaefbauer would single and Tony Skjefte would follow with a 2 run homerun to tie the game up and send us to extras. After Purdue was retired 1,2,3 in the top of the 10th Bobby Juan would lead off the bottom of the 10th and end the game with a walk-off homerun!
 

Gophers complete the sweep winning game #3 4-3. The Gophers trailed most of the game and were down 3-0 until they finally got on the board in the bottom of the 7th. The Gophers would get 3 in the bottom of the 9th including a 2 out infield single from Schaefbauer to tie the game and then a walk-off hit by pitch from Dan Olinger to win it.
 

Big Ten tourney pairings (through May 14)

Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, the Gophers, Michigan, and Ohio State have clinched spots in the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha (Nov. 21-25). Iowa (@ Purdue) and Michigan State (@ Penn State) simply need one win to clinch the final two spots.

Bracket 1
#3 *Nebraska (16-5) vs. #6 *Ohio State (9-12), 9 a.m.
#2 *Illinois (16-5) vs. #7 Iowa (8-12), 1 p.m.

Bracket 2
#1 *Indiana (19-2) vs. #8 Michigan State (8-13), 5 p.m.
#4 *GOPHERS (12-9) vs. #5 *Michigan (13-11), 9 p.m.

Outside Looking In: Penn State (5-15), Northwestern (5-15), Purdue (5-16)

May 15-17
GOPHERS @ Indiana
Illinois @ Nebraska
Northwestern @ Ohio State
Iowa @ Purdue
Michigan State @ Penn State

bye = Michigan
 


Goldy Gopher said:
Gophers complete the sweep winning game #3 4-3. The Gophers trailed most of the game and were down 3-0 until they finally got on the board in the bottom of the 7th. The Gophers would get 3 in the bottom of the 9th including a 2 out infield single from Schaefbauer to tie the game and then a walk-off hit by pitch from Dan Olinger to win it.
Click to expand...
Quite the wild weekend, but they all ended in a good way.
 

Gophers will open a series against one of their toughest opponents of the season Indiana on the road tomorrow night. All 3 games of the series will be televised by BTN Thursday and Friday at 7 and Saturday at 2.
 

Very nice 2-1 win for the Gophers in 10 innings over Indiana tonight. Alec Crawford gave the Gophers a great start holding a very potent offense to just 1 run and 3 hits through 8 innings. Dalton Sawyer pitched the last couple innings for the Gophers allowing just 1 hit but worked out of a couple tough jams without giving up a run and earning the win while the loss would go to Indiana closer Scott Effross who gave up 3 hits and a run in the top of the 10th. Indiana ace Joey Donato also was very good going 9 innings and allowing just 1 run on 5 hits. The Gopher offense was lead by the #1 and #2 hitters Dan Motl and Connor Schaefbauer as they combined to go 5-8 with 2 runs and 2 rbi as well as 2 walks. With the win tonight the Gophers clinch the #4 seed for the Big Ten tournament next weekend.
 

Thought they blew it with the missed double play on the E from the shortstop, but hung tough.
Crawford pitched a great game.
 



Went to the Nebraska vs Illinois game last night, very similar to the gopher game. Pitching dual that lasted only an hour and a half. Wore my Gopher sweatshirt to the game. Husker fans were giving me encouragement for the sweep. Over 3000 at the Thursday night game. Over 5000 session tickets sold for the B1G tourney,I think that is more than was at all the games combined last year in Minneapolis.
 

Thanks for the report Lincoln. Big Ten now looking like a lock for 2 bids with Hoosiers and Huskers. Hoping someone other than IU or Nebraska wins the tourney so that the conference gets 3 bids to the NCAA.

Won't be able to make it to Omaha for the BTT. I love the move to the 8-team tournament. Enjoy the tournament.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
Went to the Nebraska vs Illinois game last night, very similar to the gopher game. Pitching dual that lasted only an hour and a half. Wore my Gopher sweatshirt to the game. Husker fans were giving me encouragement for the sweep. Over 3000 at the Thursday night game. Over 5000 session tickets sold for the B1G tourney,I think that is more than was at all the games combined last year in Minneapolis.
Click to expand...

I hope Indiana wins outright. Older brother and sister are Nebraska alums, so I grew up a Husker football fan. That being said, the Nebraska fan base thought they would come into the league and dominate in baseball and football and have been chirping that being in this crappy league has hurt both of those programs. The football game last fall was one of the best days of my life. Go Gophers! The attendance is not surprising as that is the only game in town. I went to Omaha last year to watch my other school, Oregon State, play in the CWS. Great stadium and an awesome event. Go Beavs!
 

Updated Big Ten Tournament Bracket (through May 15): Iowa clinches spot

Iowa's win over Purdue clinches a spot in the BTT for the Hawkeyes, while also eliminating the Boilers and Northwestern from BTT contention. The one spot remaining is Michigan State's with one Sparty win @ Penn State in their 3-game series that starts today with a doubleheader. Penn State gets the final spot if it sweeps 3 from MSU, but if bad weather shortens the series to less than 3 games, Sparty hangs on to the final spot.

Indiana (#1), the Gophers (#4), and Michigan (#5) are the only teams with their final seed already determined.

Bracket 1
#3 *Illinois (16-6) vs. #6 *Ohio State (9-13), 9 a.m.
#2 *Nebraska (17-5) vs. #7 *Iowa (9-13), 1 p.m.

Bracket 2
#1 *Indiana (19-3) vs. #8 Michigan State (8-13), 5 p.m.
#4 *GOPHERS (13-9) vs. #5 *Michigan (13-11), 9 p.m.

Still Breathing: Penn State (5-15)

May 16
GOPHERS @ Indiana
Illinois @ Nebraska
Northwestern @ Ohio State
Iowa @ Purdue
Michigan State @ Penn State (2)
 



beavergopher said:
I hope Indiana wins outright. Older brother and sister are Nebraska alums, so I grew up a Husker football fan. That being said, the Nebraska fan base thought they would come into the league and dominate in baseball and football and have been chirping that being in this crappy league has hurt both of those programs. The football game last fall was one of the best days of my life. Go Gophers! The attendance is not surprising as that is the only game in town. I went to Omaha last year to watch my other school, Oregon State, play in the CWS. Great stadium and an awesome event. Go Beavs!
Click to expand...

I understand your comments, but there is no doubt that Omaha and Nebraska is the home of college baseball because of the CWS.
 

Lincoln gopher said:
I understand your comments, but there is no doubt that Omaha and Nebraska is the home of college baseball because of the CWS.[/QUOT

Don't want the interlopers to get too uppity LOL. Plus they have been poaching some very good players that should be playing for Coach Anderson. I hope to make another trip down there for the CWS this year.
Click to expand...
 

Gophers lose game 2 7-3 to Indiana in a game where they played pretty sloppy. The Gophers did have 7 hits which was the same as the Hoosiers but struck out 9 times and left a lot of guys on base when they had chances for runs. Defensively the Gophers were far from at their best committing 4 errors and had a couple more misplays as well that ended up very costly.
 


Indiana takes game 3 and the series with an 8-0 win. Gophers had a few chances early but didn't capitalize on them and the Gophers did have 8 hits but never really put everything together offensively. Indiana really opened the game up with back-to-back-to-back doubles off Gopher starter Neal Kunik in the 6th inning where the Hoosiers ended up scoring 3 runs to take a 4-0 lead. Indiana added 4 runs in the 8th that all were charged to Jordan Jess and it may have been more if not for a Jordan Smith catch reaching over the fence. The Gopher offense was led by the freshman Matt Fiedler who went 3-4 today. Next up for the Gophers will be the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday night at about 9pm against Michigan and it will be on BTN.
 

Gophers couldn't avoid being put in Indiana's half of the bracket but at least their first-round game will be on TV. The teams in the other bracket don't get their first-round games televised.
 

For the life of me can't figure out why the Big Ten doesn't have every game of the tournament on BTN. Games 1,2, and 5 won't be televised. I understand this isn't football or men's basketball (the cash cows), but for crying out loud we're talking about baseball here. This isn't some second-rate sport. Oh well, I guess there's not enough money being generated by the conference to show those other 3 games.

On the bright side, at least we'll get to see the 100th showing of some sort of "classic" re-run!
 

SelectionSunday said:
For the life of me can't figure out why the Big Ten doesn't have every game of the tournament on BTN. Games 1,2, and 5 won't be televised. I understand this isn't football or men's basketball (the cash cows), but for crying out loud we're talking about baseball here. This isn't some second-rate sport. Oh well, I guess there's not enough money being generated by the conference to show those other 3 games.

On the bright side, at least we'll get to see the 100th showing of some sort of "classic" re-run!
Click to expand...
Agreed, I just figured they would televise the whole tournament especially since there really isn't anything else to show but then I looked at my guide this weekend and saw they weren't televising the early session the 1st day and the first game the 2nd day and I can't figure out why they would decide to do that but at least all the Gopher games will be televised.
 

I made the mistake of taking some time off on Wednesday and Thursday to watch the morning/afternoon games, then just found out BTN wasn't covering Games 1 and 2. I assumed all the games would be live on BTN, like they've always been. Live and learn, I guess.
 

Heading to games 2 & 3 tomorrow, unfortunately won't be able to stay for the Gopher game. Interested to see what kind of crowds they have for the non-Husker games.
 

1st game of B1G baseball tourney in the books

#6 seed Michigan State wins Game 1 of the Big Ten Tournament, 2-1 over #3 seed Illinois. Spartans play winner of #2 Nebraska/#7 Ohio State at 5 p.m. Thursday, Illini play loser of Huskers/Buckeyes at 9 a.m. Thursday.
 

2nd game of B1G tourney (OSU chokes away 6-0 lead, loses in bottom of 9th)

#2 seed Nebraska scores 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat #7 seed Ohio State, 7-6. Buckeye pitchers walk 4 and hit a batter in the 9th to fan the flames for Cornhusker rally. Red Wing's Pat Kelly ties the game with a 2-run single, the Cornhuskers only hit in the 9th.

OSU was up 6-0 in the 5th inning.

Buckeyes vs. Illini in elimination game at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Huskers vs. Sparty in the winner's bracket at 5 p.m. Thursday.
 

SelectionSunday said:
#2 seed Nebraska scores 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat #7 seed Ohio State, 7-6. Buckeye pitchers walk 4 and hit a batter in the 9th to fan the flames for Cornhusker rally. Red Wing's Pat Kelly ties the game with a 2-run single, the Cornhuskers only hit in the 9th.

OSU was up 6-0 in the 5th inning.

Buckeyes vs. Illini in elimination game at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Huskers vs. Sparty in the winner's bracket at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Click to expand...
When I saw the score was 6-3 going to the bottom of the 9th I turned on the live stats and as soon as the first 2 Huskers got on I figured it wasn't gonna end well for the Buckeyes. Kelly is always impressive whenever I watch Nebraska and I would think he should be drafted in a pretty decent spot this summer.
 

Gophs fall to loser's bracket with 3-2 loss to Michigan; play Iowa @ 1 p.m. Thursday

Thursday Slate
9 a.m. -- #3 Illinois vs. #7 Ohio State (loser eliminated) -- no TV
1 p.m. -- #4 GOPHERS vs. #8 Iowa (loser eliminated) -- BTN
5 p.m. -- #2 Nebraska vs. #6 Michigan State (Bracket 1 winners) -- BTN
9 p.m. -- #1 Indiana vs. #5 Michigan (Bracket 2 winners) -- BTN
 

SelectionSunday said:
Thursday Slate
9 a.m. -- #3 Illinois vs. #7 Ohio State (loser eliminated) -- no TV
1 p.m. -- #4 GOPHERS vs. #8 Iowa (loser eliminated) -- BTN
5 p.m. -- #2 Nebraska vs. #6 Michigan State (Bracket 1 winners) -- BTN
9 p.m. -- #1 Indiana vs. #5 Michigan (Bracket 2 winners) -- BTN
Click to expand...
Crawford definitely gave the Gophers a chance to win even though he didn't look to have his best stuff and really just got burned by the 3 run homerun from Michigan in the 7th. The Gophers really didn't do a whole lot offensively and even when they did have chances to score they struggled as I believe they were something like 1/10 with runners in scoring position. Gophers now will have to try to do it the really hard way by putting together 5 wins in a row.
 

A 2-1 loss to Iowa ends the season for the Gophers. Ben Meyer went all 8 innings only giving up 1 earned run and gave the Gophers a good chance to win but the offense really couldn't come through with a timely hit again as I believe they were something like 0-9 with runners in scoring position today. The Gophers had a chance to tie it in the top of the 9th after a leadoff walk and then a sacrifice bunt put the runner on 2nd but a strikeout and groundout would follow to end the game. The Gophers lose 5 seniors in Alec Crawford(Friday Starting Pitcher), Dan Olinger(1st baseman), Bobby Juan(Right Fielder), Kevin Kray(Relief Pitcher), and David Bettenburg(Reserve Player) so they will have to replace a few starters but they will have a lot coming back and should get a couple of players who were expected to be regulars this season back from injury.
 

Very disappointed in the Gopher's showing in Omaha. Need an offense desperately. It has been a three year slide in production. Seems like there are Minnesota kids on several rosters that are producing, that used to happen rarely. Time to step up recruiting and the offense and time for the staff to stop bitching about being a northern school and start producing.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom