All Things Gopher Baseball

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Around the Big Ten through 3/12.

Iowa 9-3 – Went 1-2 on a road trip at Texas Tech. Iowa has picked up some impressive non-conf wins.

Nebraska 9-4-1 – Followed up their impressive Cambria Classic showing by going 4-0 against Northern Colorado and Illinois State. Not the greatest of competition but Nebraska is piling up wins and that could come into play later.

Penn State 9-5 – Doors blown off in a mid-week loss to UNC. Took 2 of 3 from Ivy League Brown. I really don’t know what to take away from this team. Probably not as good as their record but they mostly beat the teams they should.

Indiana 10-6 – Schedule got a lot easier this week with a 4 game sweet at home vs Bellarmine. Also picked up a mid-week win against Purdue Fort-Wayne. I think Indiana was underrated at the start. They don’t appear to be 8th in conference

Illinois 7-5 – Went 1-1 at Coastal Carolina who is pretty solid team. Keep an eye out on the Illini. I think they’re going to be a tough out in conference play.

Ohio State 8-6 – 3 game sweet at Cal State Bakersfield. I still haven’t figured out the Buckeyes. Some really nice wins and some really bizarre losses.

Michigan State 8-7 – Midweek loss to Wofford (who is 14-1) and 3 wins over the weekend against Western Carolina (2) and Kansas (1). Sparty appears to be one of the teams fighting for the 7th or 8th seed in Big Ten.

Maryland 8-7 – Went 4-0 this week against UMBC (1) and 3 game sweep of Maine. Nothing to write home about.

Purdue 8-7 – Swept at Ole Miss. No surprise.

Rutgers 7-7 – Midweek win against Wagner and a 3 game sweep at Georgia Southern. Rutgers really needed that after their rough start.

Michigan 6-9 – Midweek loss to Oakland and Friday loss to Kennesaw State. Two game sweep over UAB.

Minnesota 2-14 – Two midweek wins against Northern Illinois and South Dakota State but were swept by West Virginia.

Northwestern 0-11 – Lost to St Louis on Friday but rest of weekend was cancelled.
 


Bateman guns down a man at the plate to keep it 2-2 heading to the bottom of the 9th. Another solid start from Shepard tonight.
 





This one is on the coaching staff. Turning to DeLuga in a extra inning tie game and then allowing him to stay in after walking the leadoff and 2nd man to start an inning and not only that loading the bases by walking a defensive replacement in the 9 spot to face the top of the order with a pitcher who struggles to throw strikes. What in the hell is this staff thinking? Just want the game to get over and don't care about the result? Atrocious game management all night for 14 and the crew!
 

It honestly does feel they reached a point where they no longer cared for the result.

It's been a grueling season and we haven't even hit conference play yet. Sigh.
 

Offense finally puts together an inning getting 5 in the 6th for a 5-1 lead and we immediately give 4 back with a number of hit batters and walks in the 7th, just can't handle success.
 





Klassen looks fantastic today. 1 hitter after 7.

Neels just hit his second HR.

2-0 in b7. Now let's close it out, boys!
 

Wietegrefe gives up a 2 run HR in the to tie game. Gophers lose it in the 10th. Another tough one.
 



DarrenTheGreek said:
Wietegrefe gives up a 2 run HR in the to tie game. Gophers lose it in the 10th. Another tough one.
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Its like this same storyline is on repeat this year. Competitive team sure but if you can't finish and turn it into victories it doesn't matter. It is much more enjoyable to watch when the team is competitive but in reality it doesn't matter if you lose a game late by a run or give up 10 in the 1st and lose 10-0 they are both still losses.
 


Gophers have strung together some good pitching starts and have played better defensively and made some plus plays in the field these past 6 games or so, but wins are still proving to be tough to come by. Still looking for answers in the bullpen, and the offense is really scuffling right now.

You are right. The homestand and even last Sunday have been more fun to watch when team is either close or has lead late in game, but at the end of the day 3-17 is still lousy.
 

Gophers swept by Houston, losing the finale today 5-2. We had tying run on second after an RBI double from Larson with nobody out in bottom of 7th but couldn't get him around, and then give up two in the top of the 8th. Another quiet day at plate - 8 hits (solo HR from Perry) and 4 walks and struck out 9 times at plate. Not a lot of well hit balls among the other outs, and unfortunately two which were resulted in double plays.

Weather looks a bit iffy for the series at Illinois State. 50% chance of rain both days.
 

It appears the series against Creighton this weekend has been moved to Omaha, and will just be a two game series, with games Friday (4pm) and Saturday (2pm). If you want to see Gopher baseball at Charles Schwab Field this year, this might be your only chance. Looks like FloSports streaming coverage for both games.
 

Another schedule update: Tomorrow's game with Illinois State has been moved up to a 2pm start.
 


Perhaps fortunes for the team are turning. I have seen runners called out on appeals for missing bases, but I can't recall ever seeing a someone called out for not touching home plate on a dinger.

Anyway, good day at the plate all around, a quality start from Sheppard, and 3 scoreless innings from bullpen.
 

SomeGopherFan said:
Perhaps fortunes for the team are turning. I have seen runners called out on appeals for missing bases, but I can't recall ever seeing a someone called out for not touching home plate on a dinger.

Anyway, good day at the plate all around, a quality start from Sheppard, and 3 scoreless innings from bullpen.
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I'm really not sure how they called him out there. If he did miss the plate it was by inches of the spike.
Shepard and Holetz have really been solid for us this season.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
I'm really not sure how they called him out there. If he did miss the plate it was by inches of the spike.
Shepard and Holetz have really been solid for us this season.
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That's why I prefer the stomp on the plate on a home run.
 

5-2 loss to Creighton today. Gophers didn't reach base until the 7th, where they got their only 3 hits on the day to score twice. Novotny started strong but a rough 6th inning did him in.
 


By far the best game of the year. A handful of guys on the pitching staff has certainly stepped up. Need a few more hitters to get hot and wins will happen more often. Klassen and Clausen have found the plate and look good.
 

Catching up on some former Gophers and how they are doing in their current college locations:

Sam Ireland is Saturday starter for Kansas and is 2-3 with 4.17 ERA and 1.09 WHIP.

Drew Stahl is starting second baseman for Oral Roberts, batting .292 with 5 RH and 21 RBI.

Chase Stanke has played in 13 games with 8 starts for Kentucky, batting .207 with 0 HR and 4 RBI.

Andrew Wilhite has played in 20 games with 13 starts for Ball State, batting .273 with 2 HR and 10 RBI.

Otto Grimm has played in 15 games with 10 starts for Saint Cloud State, batting .256 with 0 HR and 10 RBI.

Chase Becker is starting at Parkland College (JUCO in Champaign, Illinois), batting .297 with 2 HR and 17 RBI. He also has pitched in 2 games, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings.

Cody Kelly has played in 14 games with 12 starts for Missouri State (via NIACC last year), batting .213 with 4 HR and 13 RBI.

Not sure if I missed anyone.
 

Gophers are set to begin their portion of conference play but it’s already started for some others. Here’s how the Big Ten is setup at the moment.

Indiana (3-0, 17-7, RPI #25) – came out of NC with great RPI and a 3-game sweep vs Ohio State is excellent

Michigan (3-0, 12-11, RPI #80) – Swept Penn State which was a tad surprising. Still not sold on Michigan being an NCAA team. Low RPI means they need to have an excellent showing in conference.

Michigan State (2-1, 13-8, RPI #61) – Sparty isn’t great but they are sneaky. Took 2/3 from Boilers.

Nebraska (2-1, 13-8-1, RPI #119) – Haven’t been overly impressive since their solid showing in Cambria Classic. But taking 2/3 from Illini was good start.

Iowa (0-0, 16-3, RPI #48) – RPI took a hit since their last 7 games have been against weak competition….but to their credit they’ve won em all. Hawkeyes open against Maryland next weekend. That will be a huge series.

Maryland (0-0, 14-9, RPI # 95) – Disappointing start after being ranked in t15 to begin season. Desperately needs a solid showing against Iowa to salvage that RPI.

Rutgers (0-0, 12-11, RPI #19) – Surprisingly good RPI despite their average record. Campbell, Mercer and UCONN are very solid NC opponents that don’t generate much publicity. Opens at home against MSU. I’m curious to see this one for the reason I already mentioned about Sparty.

Minnesota (0-0, 5-19, RPI #244) – Pitching has improved (I’ll make a post about it later) but the hitting is in the doldrums. Ohio State will be a tough test.

Northwestern (0-0, 1-17, RPI #285) – If there is any B1G team worse than the Gophers right now, this is it. Too bad they aren’t on our schedule.

Illinois (1-2, 11-9, RPI #35) – After their solid showings by taking 2/3 from good teams like Southern Miss, Sam Houston State and splitting with Coastal Carolina….I was really surprised to see them only take 1/3 from the Huskers.

Purdue (1-2, 10-12, RPI #213) – I said weeks ago not to trust the Boilers record as it was against really bad opposition. They are 2-8 in their last 10. Up next for them? Northwestern and Minnesota. Unreal. They’ll probably pad their record further but the RPI doesn’t lie .

Penn State (0-3, 12-8, RPI #141) – I talked up PSU a little bit based on some solid showings in February but getting swept by Michigan and being outscored 8-28 over the weekend? Ish. Doesn’t get any easier now that they have to face the Hoosiers.

Ohio State (0-3, 12-10, RPI #55) – I thought Ohio State would be a tough out but Indiana handled them. Just in looking at the boxscores in that series, OSU managed to score 17 runs over the weekend….that’s good. But they gave up 30. That’s bad. Can Gophers hitters finally get going against these pitchers?
 
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Big Ten opener coming up in 25 minutes against the Buckeyes.

1. Bateman, CF
2. Counsell, 2B
3. Neels, 1B
4. Mezzenga, RF
5. Swenson, C
6. Merila, DH
7. Perry, 3B
8. Larson, SS
9. Berkland, LF
P - Novotny (0-3, 5.83 ERA, 29.1 IP, 31 H, 13 BB, 23 K)

Pitching for OSU is Isaiah Coupet (3-2, 4.03 ERA, 29 IP, 22 H, 9 BB, 42 K)

Impressive BB/K ratio for the Buckeye hurler. Hope the bats can wake up from the doldrums.
 


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