All Things Gopher Baseball

[Lincoln gopher]

Kruzan must be hurt. Ryerse started game 2.

 

[TNGophfan]

Kruzan must be hurt. Ryerse started game 2.

Or sick. Let's root for sick.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Kruzan must be hurt. Ryerse started game 2.

He was listed as the probable headed into the weekend, I'd guess sick I know its been running through the team

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Just can't have that 7th inning especially when you consider it is against the bottom of their order and then it is veteran guys on the hill doing it as well.
Another missed opportunity to score a guy from 3rd with less than 2 outs in this one too. Need to get the offense going in the midweeks and Indiana almost feels like a must win series to me.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

One of those weekends that was just a complete meat grinder at the plate for both teams. Liked the pitching and defense, but needless to say, not enough offense.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Pitching line for the weekend:
26.1 IP, 4 ER, 14 H, 18 BB/HBP, 17 K, 1.367 ERA

Take away the 7th inning of game 3 and it was an incredible:
25.1, 2 ER, 12 H, 15 BB/HBP, 17 K, 0.711 ERA

The hitting as drastically tailed off since going back to the Gonzaga series....heck maybe even the Omaha game. Illinois held a high-powered USC to only 9 earned runs across three games in LA the week before so it isn't cause the panic.

I agree that the Indiana series looms large this weekend. They have struggled mightily this spring.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

B1G weekend recap
Illinois over Minnesota: 2-1
Oregon over Indiana: 3-0
Purdue over Maryland: 2-1
USC over Northwestern: 2-1
Iowa over Penn State: 2-1
Rutgers over Michigan State 2-1
UCLA over Michigan 3-0
Washington over Ohio State 2-1
Nebraska over Maine 3-0

B1G Standings

Team	Conf	Overall	RPI
UCLA	6-0	17-2	10
USC	5-1	19-1	6
Oregon	5-1	17-3	29
Nebraska	3-0	14-5	50
Washington	4-2	8-11	239
Iowa	2-1	10-6	62
Rutgers	2-1	11-8	137
Purdue	3-3	12-6	19
Minnesota	1-2	15-5	45
Maryland	1-2	11-8	40
Northwestern	1-2	7-9-1	73
Penn State	1-2	5-13	241
Illinois	2-4	10-8	30
Michigan	0-3	9-9	61
Indiana	1-5	7-12	105
Ohio State	1-5	6-12	133
Michigan State	1-5	5-13	75

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

B1G Schedule next weekend
Minnesota (1-2) at Indiana (1-5)
Hoosiers have really struggled this spring. This is a series the Gophers need to win.

Nebraska (3-0) at Michigan (0-3)
Michigan has had 2 tough draws to start conference play. They really need to hold serve at home.

Penn State (1-2) at Purdue (3-3)
Purdue is underrated. They gave Oregon a tough series and won at Maryland. Penn State is just not good.

Rutgers (2-1) at Illinois (2-4)
This will be an interesting series. I think Illinois will take 2 of 3 but Rutgers isn't a doormat.

Northwestern (1-2) at Oregon (5-1)
The Ducks schedule has been a joke this year but if they want to host a regional or have designs to make a super then this is a series they should sweep.

Maryland (1-2) at UCLA (6-0)
UCLA is dang good. Going to be tough for the Terps to take one.

Washington (4-2) at USC (5-1)
I'm not convinced by Washington's 4-2 record. I think they beat up on a weak Indiana and Ohio State club. USC should take at least 2.

Iowa (2-1) at Michigan State (1-5)
I never know what to make of Iowa. To me they don't impress my eyeballs but they somehow always seem to overachieve. Starting with Penn State and Michigan State is a nice perk...2 of the weaker teams in the conference.

Butler at Ohio State

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Oof. NDSU isn't as bad as their record but that is a brutal loss. The bats are ice cold right now and the after such a promising start the season feels in danger of slipping away.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Oof. NDSU isn't as bad as their record but that is a brutal loss. The bats are ice cold right now and the after such a promising start the season feels in danger of slipping away.

That was an ugly game to watch, multiple chances we couldn't convert and then Bello thrown out at the plate in the 10th. Gotta find the offense again quick. I get you have Neels, Richter, Allen with a day off to start tonight but you gotta get some better at bats from those bench guys or we are gonna see some new guys getting opportunities real quick in these midweeks. Crucial weekend.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

Only was able to see the first 3 innings. Good to see Whelan pitch again. However, 8 runs in 43 innings going back to the end of the final Gonzaga game - gotta get out of this slump and get the offense going again. Agree that this upcoming series is an important one to win. The three west coast at-large teams from last year look really good again - looks like teams jockeying for the next tier within conference.

 

[rowdaboat]

How the hell did they lose to a 2 win NDSU?

 

[SomeGopherFan]

Big 10 conference announces new format once again for tournament. Ditches the meaningless games issue from pool play last year, but the Friday games in this format could be bloodbaths. Have to see how it plays out, but not sure the prior 8 team double elimination with single title game format wasn't better.

Big Ten Announces New Baseball Tournament Format

Two tournaments by 12 teams will replace the failed pool play format.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Big 10 conference announces new format once again for tournament. Ditches the meaningless games issue from pool play last year, but the Friday games in this format could be bloodbaths. Have to see how it plays out, but not sure the prior 8 team double elimination with single title game format wasn't better.

Big Ten Announces New Baseball Tournament Format

Two tournaments by 12 teams will replace the failed pool play format.

sports.yahoo.com

Not perfect but 100x better than the awful pool play format from last year.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Big 10 conference announces new format once again for tournament. Ditches the meaningless games issue from pool play last year, but the Friday games in this format could be bloodbaths. Have to see how it plays out, but not sure the prior 8 team double elimination with single title game format wasn't better.

Big Ten Announces New Baseball Tournament Format

Two tournaments by 12 teams will replace the failed pool play format.

sports.yahoo.com

I'm not a fan, could have went a lot of different ways to fix the mess of last year, adjusting to run differential instead of highest seed as tiebreaker would have been easy.
I think I'd almost lean towards just going single elimination and bringing in 16 teams, 9-16 play day one, 5-8 play the winners of those day one games day two, and 1-4 join day 3.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

Another tough loss. Offense scores 6 in the first 2 innings...then zilch. Their hitting was better than ours and their bullpen was a bit better than ours tonight. Allen losing the ball in the sun in the 1st was very untimely, but also Selvig was just not good tonight. I thought the biggest moment was when Sperry got two big swinging misses on sweeping breaking balls, then hung the 0-2 pitch for the ground rule double to make it 2nd and 3rd with no outs and a tie game.

Need to reverse this snowball.

 

[SomeGopherFan]

The slide continues. Morton pitched outstanding for 4 innings, but then Hoosiers erupt for 5 runs on 3 home runs in 5th. Offense again not good. A lot of rough at bats between pop ups and strikeouts. We are left with trying to avoid a sweep and then regrouping at home.

 

[IronRanger91]

Nice win today.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Hopefully the type of breakout complete game that gets things clicking again

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Everything went right today. I do think this team is a top half of conference team. Time to start another win streak at home next week. Break the Siebert curse!

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

B1G weekend recap
Indiana over Minnesota 2-1
Illinois over Rutgers 2-1
Nebraska over Michigan2-1
Michigan State over Iowa 2-1
Oregon over Northwestern 2-1
Purdue over Penn State 2-1
UCLA over Maryland 3-0
USC over Washington 3-0

Ohio State over Butler 3-0

B1G Standings

Team	Conf​	Overall	RPI
UCLA	9-0	21-2	8
USC	8-1	24-1	6
Oregon	7-2	19-4	46
Nebraska	5-1	18-6	33
Purdue	5-4	14-7	50
Iowa	3-3	11-8	109
Rutgers	3-3	13-10	100
Illinois	4-5	12-10	44
Washington	4-5	8-14	191
Minnesota	2-4	16-8	86
Northwestern	2-4	8-11-1	47
Penn State	2-4	6-15	211
Indiana	3-6	10-13	84
Michigan State	3-6	7-15	87
Michigan	1-5	11-11	58
Maryland	1-5	11-12	37
Ohio State	1-5	10-12	137​

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

B1G Schedule next weekend
Ohio State (1-5) at Minnesota (2-4) - A must win series for both clubs. Loser of this series is likely going to miss the Big Ten tournament.

USC (8-1) at Maryland (1-5) - Maryland inexplicably has a top 40 RPI. If they can somehow manage to win this series maybe they can make some noise for a late season push towards the postseason.

Michigan (1-5) at Rutgers (3-3) - Michigan is better than their 1-5 record and Rutgers is a decent team. Expect a competitive series here from 2 teams desperately trying to stay relevant.

Indiana (3-6) at Nebraska (5-1) - This is a series Nebraska needs to win if they want to make the NCAA's

UCLA (9-0) at Iowa (3-3) - Iowa hasn't looked great the last 2 weekends. If they can sneak one win they will be happy.

Northwestern (2-4) at Washington (4-5) - As I thought, Washington was exposed by USC. I haven't been impressed by either of these teams but someone has to win.

Purdue (5-4) at Michigan State (3-6) - The Boilers have been tough this spring. A series win here would be huge in their quest to finish in the upper-half of the division.

Illinois (4-5) at Penn State (2-4) - Like the Buckeyes/Gophers series, this is a big showdown for these clubs.

Oregon at UC-Santa Barbara

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Latest update for the production of outgoing/incoming transfers. As we get further into the year it's clear we miss the bats. With the exception of Hamilton, most of the incoming hitters have cooled off in the past few weeks. Nothing too bad though. You can make the argument that the volume of AB's we added has helped alleviate the loss of Berkland + Hockenson by making the lineup more balanced top to bottom.

Pitching wise I think we continue to demonstrate that we came out alright. Remington is going great at Illinois and Rooney is fine at Notre Dame but we added ~60 innings to the staff and have a nearly identical WHIP as the outgoing guys. I just wish a few more had another year. I hope as McDevitt gets more seasoned he will be able to get more of these type of guys a year earlier to their expiration.

HITTERS

Player	New School	AVG	OBP	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB + HBP	K
Drew Berkland	Notre Dame	0.330	0.422	88	29	8	0	3	14	14	18
Kris Hokenson	Murray State	0.307	0.396	88	27	5	0	3	14	13	19
Landen Lozier	Kansas	0.200	0.429	5	1	0	0	0	1	2	3
Preston Leon	Florida International	0.200	0.294	15	3	0	0	0	1	2	6
TOTAL		0.306	0.401	196	60	13	0	6	30	31	46
Davis Hamilton	North Dakota State	0.282	0.456	78	22	6	0	1	13	25	10
Ty Allen	Belmont	0.250	0.340	88	22	4	3	3	22	12	24
Jack Bello	Butler	0.230	0.347	61	14	5	0	1	10	11	23
Michael Lippe	Louisville	0.227	0.383	75	17	4	0	0	13	19	25
Ethan Cole	MN-Duluth	0.167	0.167	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	3
TOTAL		0.247	0.381	308	76	20	3	5	58	67	85

PITCHERS

Player	New School	ERA	IP	ER	H	BB	K
Kyle Remington	Illinois	2.66​	20.333	6	14	5	19
Noah Rooney	Notre Dame	4.82​	18.667	10	24	3	16
TOTAL		3.69​	39	16	38	8	35
Isaac Morton	Texas A&M	3.41​	31.667	12	25	13	31
Marcus Kruzman	St Thomas	3.38​	21.333	8	14	7	21
Ben Gregory	Maryville	3.57​	22.667	9	21	8	20
Brandon Jaenke	Viterbo	2.03​	13.333	3	7	3	13
Logan Winkelman	Missouri Western	6.75​	2.667	2	4	3	1
Josh Kirchhoff	Iowa Central, Missouri	2.57​	7	2	9	4	2
TOTAL		3.28​	98.667	36	80	38	88

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Latest update for the production of outgoing/incoming transfers. As we get further into the year it's clear we miss the bats. With the exception of Hamilton, most of the incoming hitters have cooled off in the past few weeks. Nothing too bad though. You can make the argument that the volume of AB's we added has helped alleviate the loss of Berkland + Hockenson by making the lineup more balanced top to bottom.

Pitching wise I think we continue to demonstrate that we came out alright. Remington is going great at Illinois and Rooney is fine at Notre Dame but we added ~60 innings to the staff and have a nearly identical WHIP as the outgoing guys. I just wish a few more had another year. I hope as McDevitt gets more seasoned he will be able to get more of these type of guys a year earlier to their expiration.

HITTERS

Player	New School	AVG	OBP	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB + HBP	K
Drew Berkland	Notre Dame	0.330	0.422	88	29	8	0	3	14	14	18
Kris Hokenson	Murray State	0.307	0.396	88	27	5	0	3	14	13	19
Landen Lozier	Kansas	0.200	0.429	5	1	0	0	0	1	2	3
Preston Leon	Florida International	0.200	0.294	15	3	0	0	0	1	2	6
TOTAL		0.306	0.401	196	60	13	0	6	30	31	46
Davis Hamilton	North Dakota State	0.282	0.456	78	22	6	0	1	13	25	10
Ty Allen	Belmont	0.250	0.340	88	22	4	3	3	22	12	24
Jack Bello	Butler	0.230	0.347	61	14	5	0	1	10	11	23
Michael Lippe	Louisville	0.227	0.383	75	17	4	0	0	13	19	25
Ethan Cole	MN-Duluth	0.167	0.167	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	3
TOTAL		0.247	0.381	308	76	20	3	5	58	67	85

PITCHERS

Player	New School	ERA	IP	ER	H	BB	K
Kyle Remington	Illinois	2.66​	20.333	6	14	5	19
Noah Rooney	Notre Dame	4.82​	18.667	10	24	3	16
TOTAL		3.69​	39	16	38	8	35
Isaac Morton	Texas A&M	3.41​	31.667	12	25	13	31
Marcus Kruzman	St Thomas	3.38​	21.333	8	14	7	21
Ben Gregory	Maryville	3.57​	22.667	9	21	8	20
Brandon Jaenke	Viterbo	2.03​	13.333	3	7	3	13
Logan Winkelman	Missouri Western	6.75​	2.667	2	4	3	1
Josh Kirchhoff	Iowa Central, Missouri	2.57​	7	2	9	4	2
TOTAL		3.28​	98.667	36	80	38	88

I think we knew Berkland and Rooney would be sizable losses with their multiple years of heavily experience. Remington has taken a huge step forward with his command and that is the difference in his numbers this season. Cool to see Hokenson performing well but I do not think he would be performing the same way at Minnesota, taking advantage of moving down a level.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

I'm not a fan, could have went a lot of different ways to fix the mess of last year, adjusting to run differential instead of highest seed as tiebreaker would have been easy.
I think I'd almost lean towards just going single elimination and bringing in 16 teams, 9-16 play day one, 5-8 play the winners of those day one games day two, and 1-4 join day 3.

I agree further tweaks are needed but it's a start. The B1G aspires to be more than 4-bid conference to the NCAA tournament. Prior to the PAC additions the B1G was a reliable 3-bid and PAC12 was a reliable 5-bid. Oregon State, Stanford and ASU/AZ would account for about 2 of those bids on average so let's just say the 4 team addition should account for an additional 2 bids. Thus at a minimum the B1G should be aiming for 5 bids. This new format REALLY hamstrings the 5th best team in the conference. Conference tournaments are designed to help those bubble teams build a resume and this format doesn't really do that.

Right now teams like Purdue & Illinois have favorable RPIs but would fall into the 5-12 seed range. They'll end up playing lower RPI teams and depleting their bullpens only to face a strong team on Friday and get blasted. In this format the best case scenario for a bubble team is to win both their play-in games and have their #3 starter going against the #1 of one of the top 4 teams. That's a tremendous disadvantage AND THAT IS BEST CASE. Worse case they need 3 games to advance to Friday and they have a midweek starter going against a #1 with a limited bullpen behind them. No chance.

A better solution (IMHO) would be to have the bottom 5-12 play an elimination game. Then have a double-elimination format until the semi-finals. SEC did it this way for years (not sure if they still do). You'd still have the same number of games in the tournament (17).

 

[Goldy Gopher]

I agree further tweaks are needed but it's a start. The B1G aspires to be more than 4-bid conference to the NCAA tournament. Prior to the PAC additions the B1G was a reliable 3-bid and PAC12 was a reliable 5-bid. Oregon State, Stanford and ASU/AZ would account for about 2 of those bids on average so let's just say the 4 team addition should account for an additional 2 bids. Thus at a minimum the B1G should be aiming for 5 bids. This new format REALLY hamstrings the 5th best team in the conference. Conference tournaments are designed to help those bubble teams build a resume and this format doesn't really do that.

Right now teams like Purdue & Illinois have favorable RPIs but would fall into the 5-12 seed range. They'll end up playing lower RPI teams and depleting their bullpens only to face a strong team on Friday and get blasted. In this format the best case scenario for a bubble team is to win both their play-in games and have their #3 starter going against the #1 of one of the top 4 teams. That's a tremendous disadvantage AND THAT IS BEST CASE. Worse case they need 3 games to advance to Friday and they have a midweek starter going against a #1 with a limited bullpen behind them. No chance.

A better solution (IMHO) would be to have the bottom 5-12 play an elimination game. Then have a double-elimination format until the semi-finals. SEC did it this way for years (not sure if they still do). You'd still have the same number of games in the tournament (17).

I think SEC has moved to a straight single elimination tournament in recent years. Wednesday 9 vs 16, 10 vs 15, 11 vs 14, 12 vs 13. Thursday 8 vs 9/16, 7 vs 10/15, 6 vs 11/14, 5 vs 12/13. Friday 1vs 8/9/16, 2 vs 7/10/15, 3 vs 6/11/14, and 4 vs 5/12/13. Saturday semis and Sunday championship.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Took awhile to get rolling tonight but 24 (!) free passes by the Tommies allowed the Gophers to coast. Wish I could have made it. Looked like a great night for a game. Let's hope for good weather this weekend.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Martin (2b) and Allen (rf) should buy Selvig a steak dinner. Their miscues on the right side led to an unearned run and has extended two innings.

Tied 2-2 in b5

Edit: Gophers have struck out 10 times thru 5 innings.....6 looking. They were good pitches. Need better ABs.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

One of the poorest offensive efforts at the plate I can remember.
Couple defensive mistakes gift a run.
Couple mistake pitches get hit over the fence.
Can't score a runner on 3rd less than 2 out situation in 8th, can't get the bunt down in the 9th to move the tying and winning run into scoring position with nobody out and then take one piped for strike 3. Just a poor poor game and one we really needed. This team has got me pretty upset right now.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

One of the poorest offensive efforts at the plate I can remember.
Couple defensive mistakes gift a run.
Couple mistake pitches get hit over the fence.
Can't score a runner on 3rd less than 2 out situation in 8th, can't get the bunt down in the 9th to move the tying and winning run into scoring position with nobody out and then take one piped for strike 3. Just a poor poor game and one we really needed. This team has got me pretty upset right now.

Exactly how I feel. What's also frustrating is that our lineup is overloaded with upperclassmen. They ought to know better. Tired of being rung up in strike three with a fastball at the knees.