Gopher Baseball 2019

[Lincoln gopher]

While watching that ugly game yesterday, I did hear the announcers say this about Meyers. The Gopher coaches told them that they don't know if he will play again this year, but if he does, he will not be a starting pitcher.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Gophers end Northwestern's season with a 6-5 win today in the regular season finale. Gophers got a 2 run home run from Jordan Kozicky in the 4th to go up 4-3 before a 3+ hour weather delay came. After the delay the Gophers added single runs in the 5th and 6th and got solid outings out of the bullpen with Bubba Horton getting in a little trouble but keeping damage to a minimum in 3 innings of work giving up 2 runs. Jeff Fasching went a couple scoreless innings and Brett Schulze picked up the save working the 9th. With the win the Gophers open up the Big Ten Tournament as the 4th seed and face Nebraska Wednesday night. Full bracket looks like this:
Wednesday
9AM #3 Illinois vs. #6 Maryland
1PM #2 Michigan vs. #7 Ohio State
5PM #1 Indiana vs. #8 Iowa
9PM #4 Minnesota vs. #5 Nebraska

 

[beavergopher]

Please do not lose to Nebraska. Is the only way we end the season above .500 is by winning the B1G Tourney?

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Some updates from Coach Anderson's press conference this afternoon. Patrick Fredrickson will start tomorrow night. Max Meyer is out of the boot and threw the other day but it wasn't great. Harder because the injury is on his plant leg. Probably won't pitch early in the tournament but could be available the deeper we go. Sam Thoresen is closer to returning and the way Anderson talked I think there is a possibility of Sam starting game 2. Coach officially called both Max and Sam day to day.

 

[LesBolstad]

Please do not lose to Nebraska. Is the only way we end the season above .500 is by winning the B1G Tourney?

Doesn't look good. Gopher clown show defensively in the first and down early.

 

[Sparlimb]

Nice win for the boys. Indiana 2 and out...

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Much better approach offensively this afternoon and a lot more success from the bats as well. Sam Thoresen looked really good early but then started to struggle with command in the 4th as it looked like he was dealing with a blister or something. Nick Lackney came in and really did a heck of a job going 6 innings with just 1 run and 1 hit. Aside from the 4th inning where the Gophers really looked bad it was a really good performance especially being on such short rest.
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[WoodburyTim]

Good lord the umpiring in the Big10 is for ****. I have watched a few games this year and attended a few games and I have been left very underwhelmed by the umpiring. And watching tonight if this is the best that the Big10 has to offer it is downright embarrassing. I have umped high school and Legion games and if I was that inept behind the plate I would be embarrassed. I hope these clowns don't get more than the 50 bucks or so you get for a high school game. The ump just rung up Wilhite on a pitch that was a good foot inside and high.

You watch the high school playoffs and the umping is superior to what the Big10 has to offer. It is sad that supposedly a major conference can't get umps who are inferior to what you see at a VFW game.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Gopher pitching was outstanding tonight while the bats struggled big time to execute. Gophers had a ton of men on throughout the game but couldn't execute well at all. Gophers got a 1-0 lead in the 3rd and clung to it until finally being able to come through with a couple big two out hits in the 9th. Jordan Kozicky has come a long way from his struggles early in the season at short. Has made a number of absolutely outstanding plays during the B1G tournament.
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[DarrenTheGreek]

Good win tonight. You never want to be in the loser bracket but potentially playing Ohio State twice is about as good as we could hope for in this situation. Let's hope we can make it 5-0 against them on the season. Bring it home, boys!

 

[big10guy]

Bullpen has been outstanding, Lackney Thursday and Duffy on Friday. Hopefully we can capitalize on offensive chances by moving runners and getting clutch hits. Our bunting attempts were atrocious last night. Fundamental baseball is so important in these close games where runs are scarce. C'mon guys, let's step it up and execute -- you can do this!

 

[Sparlimb]

Bullpen has been outstanding, Lackney Thursday and Duffy on Friday. Hopefully we can capitalize on offensive chances by moving runners and getting clutch hits. Our bunting attempts were atrocious last night. Fundamental baseball is so important in these close games where runs are scarce. C'mon guys, let's step it up and execute -- you can do this!

We did get the one base hit on a perfect bunt where no one for Iowa covered first base...

 

[Goldy Gopher]

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[Sparlimb]

Wonder if they'll show the crazy stat about how often the Big Ten Tournament Championship has contained either Ohio St or Minnesota or both. I remember at one point it was like 19 out of 20 years. Will have one this year too.

There have been 38 Big Ten Tournaments. Minnesota (10), Michigan (9) and Ohio St (9) have won the championship in 28 of 38. And those 3 teams have taken second 20 of 38 times.

Those 3 have won 183 tournament games and the rest of the Big Ten has won 152 tournament games.


https://bigten.org/documents/2018/9/10/Baseball.pdf

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Gophers force the winner take all game. Max Meyer was lights out the only thing that stopped him was a pitch count of 75 that kept him at 5.2 scoreless innings. The teams traded punches in the 8th with 4 runs each. The Gophers got a couple huge at bats from Eddie Estrada as he came through with a pinch hit solo shot in the 7th and a 3 run homer in the 8th.
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[Goldy Gopher]

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[Goldy Gopher]

The season comes to an end. Had a chance to jump out to an early lead but typical of most of the season just couldn't convert. Couple big middle innings put the Gophers down. Gophers battled back with a 5 run 7th but just couldn't get all the way back.
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[WoodburyTim]

Just a year that never quite seemed to click. Meyer's injury, missed chances and probably biggest whatever the problem was with Fredrickson. I guess a good sign that a 4th place finish and trip to the Big10 semifinals seems like such a disappointment.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Just a year that never quite seemed to click. Meyer's injury, missed chances and probably biggest whatever the problem was with Fredrickson. I guess a good sign that a 4th place finish and trip to the Big10 semifinals seems like such a disappointment.

Agreed I think it shows this program is kinda back to what it has been for most of 14's career. I remember back to 2015 I think when we missed the Big Ten Tournament and were like 10 games under .500 and think how quickly that has been turned around. Hopefully we never have to go back to that type of season.
With all the struggles this year I do think that if you would've had a healthy Max Meyer and Sam Thoresen available at the beginning of the B1G Tournament the Gophers would've won the auto bid and be headed somewhere next weekend as a very dangerous team.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

Agreed I think it shows this program is kinda back to what it has been for most of 14's career. I remember back to 2015 I think when we missed the Big Ten Tournament and were like 10 games under .500 and think how quickly that has been turned around. Hopefully we never have to go back to that type of season.
With all the struggles this year I do think that if you would've had a healthy Max Meyer and Sam Thoresen available at the beginning of the B1G Tournament the Gophers would've won the auto bid and be headed somewhere next weekend as a very dangerous team.

The pitching was a pleasant surprise given all the injuries. The pen was awesome down the stretch. I sure thought Fredrickson's problem was physical, but he sure had control problems. It would be nice to know what is up with him. The hitting was the biggest problem in my opinion. A team .250 something batting average isn't going to win many conference championships. Clutch hits were a rarity.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Watching the draft tonight got me thinking of Gophers past and I remembered a couple of pages after Reggie Meyer got drafted on whether he would stay or go after getting draft in the 30 something round and getting $5,000.00 from the Rangers. So I didn't remember any follow up on here, so I looked him up and it looked like the Rangers released him after 15 or so pretty bad innings last summer. Then as far as I can find he is out of baseball and didn't pitch this year at all. Anybody here know anything more? Did he get hurt? Otherwise it would be pretty sad if he didn't come back for his senior year and he didn't end up even playing baseball.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Watching the draft tonight got me thinking of Gophers past and I remembered a couple of pages after Reggie Meyer got drafted on whether he would stay or go after getting draft in the 30 something round and getting $5,000.00 from the Rangers. So I didn't remember any follow up on here, so I looked him up and it looked like the Rangers released him after 15 or so pretty bad innings last summer. Then as far as I can find he is out of baseball and didn't pitch this year at all. Anybody here know anything more? Did he get hurt? Otherwise it would be pretty sad if he didn't come back for his senior year and he didn't end up even playing baseball.

I didn't understand why he left at the time and still don't. A $5,000 signing bonus is nothing for the MLB. I have no idea if Reggie got hurt or anything. Guys drafted in rounds 30+ without a standout skill are pretty replaceable so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they cut him after a rough start although that would be a pretty short leash.

 

[WoodburyTim]

I didn't understand why he left at the time and still don't. A $5,000 signing bonus is nothing for the MLB. I have no idea if Reggie got hurt or anything. Guys drafted in rounds 30+ without a standout skill are pretty replaceable so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they cut him after a rough start although that would be a pretty short leash.

It is one thing to not be on your team of what would ave been your senior year if you are off making a few dollars trying to work your way up a farm system, but man it would hurt if you left and then come your senior season you were already out of baseball.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Two Gophers drafted in the first 10 rounds.
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[beavergopher]

Erstad resigns at Nebraska.

 

[pharmacygopher]

Erstad resigns at Nebraska.

Why? I don't follow Nebraska baseball closely.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

Why? I don't follow Nebraska baseball closely.

Spend more time with family, kids are growing up.

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Two more Gophers selected so far today as the draft winds down. Good for Nick Lackney to get an opportunity after having his best season. Eli Wilson will have a decision to make but I'd think there is a pretty good chance he signs.
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[Goldy Gopher]

College World Series is set. The conference breakdown is 4 from the SEC, 2 ACC, and 1 each from the Big Ten and Big 12. Good to see a B1G team back and Michigan has been playing their best baseball the last few weeks they could make a little run.
Michigan vs. #8 Texas Tech
#4 Arkansas vs. Florida State
#2 Vanderbilt vs. #7 Louisville
Auburn vs. #6 Mississippi State

 

[Goldy Gopher]

Purdue coach is on the move. Know they have a couple 2020 commits that the Gophers showed interest. Maybe they will open things back up.
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