Wow! Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa all facing elimination games right out of the gate...

[ptrich]

Things sure aren't going like the analysts thought they would. Michigan just bumped off Brecht and Iowa in 10 innings, 3-2, after Iowa walked in the winning Michigan run. Michigan was the higher seed at No. 4, but with Brecht on the mound, a person would have to have favored Iowa in that game. Brecht held Michigan down and he pitched into the 8th inning, but Iowa couldn't generate any offense for him.

Illinois and Iowa face each other in their elimination game.

 

[TomEric4756]

Things sure aren't going like the analysts thought they would. Michigan just bumped off Brecht and Iowa in 10 innings, 3-2, after Iowa walked in the winning Michigan run. Michigan was the higher seed at No. 4, but with Brecht on the mound, a person would have to have favored Iowa in that game. Brecht held Michigan down and he pitched into the 8th inning, but Iowa couldn't generate any offense for him.

Illinois and Iowa face each other in their elimination game.

More breaks for IU … as well as MD and Rutgers dark horses … I don’t expect Purdue to beat Nebraska’s best pitcher.

 

[TomEric4756]

And I don’t expect OSU to beat Foley.

 

[ptrich]

Nebraska eliminated Purdue, 6-2, and the Boilers were the first team to head home. Sears went six innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen. The Huskers face the loser of the OSU/IU game.

 

[82IU]

Indiana State just lost 10-9 in extra innings to SIU. Not good for IU'S cause if someone else wins MVC Tournament. ISU is solidly in and should be fighting for a hosting spot. I believe their RPI had them at #12. They had only lost 11 games this year (IU was one of their losses and a good win for us). They could still win it but now they are in the loser's bracket. Come on Trees help us out!
82

 

[ptrich]

Indiana State just lost 10-9 in extra innings to SIU. Not good for IU'S cause if someone else wins MVC Tournament. ISU is solidly in and should be fighting for a hosting spot. I believe their RPI had them at #12. They had only lost 11 games this year (IU was one of their losses and a good win for us). They could still win it but now they are in the loser's bracket. Come on Trees help us out!
82

Luke Hayden will be pitching one of the remaining games if the make it to two more games, but I don't know their pitching rotation schedule for the MVC tournament. Hayden has been their Sunday starter in the rotation all season long.

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

More breaks for IU … as well as MD and Rutgers dark horses … I don’t expect Purdue to beat Nebraska’s best pitcher.

Absolutely no chance that teams that didn’t make their conference tournament will make the NCAA field.

 

[Charlesroast]

Absolutely no chance that teams that didn’t make their conference tournament will make the NCAA field.

B1G is 4th in conference RPI, with 6 teams who went into final 2 weeks with chance to win regular season could very well end up with 2 bids. I think Illinois and Nebraska are in. Third team conference tourney winner or IU, maybe Iowa if either make Sunday championship game. I think IU chances are a little better based on Quad 1 record, but slot stealers are very important. Meanwhile, SEC likely gets 11 bids, with 4 regional hosts who are meeting today in the losers bracket, while 1st round host MSU and 3 who had losing conference records meet in the winners bracket. Such is college baseball.

 

[TomEric4756]

Absolutely no chance that teams that didn’t make their conference tournament will make the NCAA field.

Yes … MD and Rutgers were scratched before post time.

 

[BcBranimal]

The end of the ILL-IOWA game was some BS...

 

[ptrich]

The end of the ILL-IOWA game was some BS...

Absolutely. Iowa was just eliminated on what had to be the worst interference call that I've seen in a long time. Illinois was up on Iowa, 4-2 after batting in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, Iowa had the bases loaded and no outs. On a grounder which the Illini tried to turn into a DP, it looked like a run had scored with the batter reaching 1st with the out at 2nd. The runner sliding into 2nd was called for interference and the runner at 1st who had reached was called out on the call. The runner at 2nd slid straight into the bag with the SS inside and off the bag on his throw to 1st. The runner that scored had to go back to 3rd with two outs. There was a review and the call was upheld and after numerous replays I could see absolutely nothing that looked like interference. The Iowa coach exploded and was tossed from the game. The next batter Kd to end Iowa's season after they were the preseason favorite in the B1G, with Illinois moving on.

Iowa is likely to lose all three of their weekend rotation to the MLB draft.

 

[ptrich]

I really hadn't been paying much attention to Penn St. this season outside of seeing their scores and their position in the standings, and we took 2 of 3 from them at The Bart this season. However, it seems the leadership at PSU has decided to pump NIL money into the program, money that most programs don't have or won't spend for baseball. Here's part of an article I saw on how they have decided to up the resources in attracting players through the portal. So, I guess we can expect PSU to muscle their way into the upper hierarchy of conference through bucks being inserted into the program or at least they are giving it a shot. Here's part of the article I saw:

"Penn State had a very loud offseason. It started with the hiring of Mike Gambino, who was plucked from a successful Boston College program in the ACC after the university convinced him it was committed to long-term success. Penn State’s leadership backed up that claim by putting their money where their mouth was, literally, using NIL money via the transfer portal to make some significant additions."

"More than half of this year’s lineup was not with the Penn State program a year ago, as Gambino and his staff went out and recruited high-end transfers, including Joe Jaconski (North Carolina), JT Marr (College of Charleston), Adam Cecere (Wake Forest), Bryce Molinaro (St. John's) and Matt Maloney (Dayton). Cecere and Marr, the team’s Nos. 2 and 3 hitters, were the headliners of this group and Coach Gambino credits the two of them for changing the culture in short order."

“We believed we would be,” Gambino said about reaching the Big Ten Tournament. “We knew we had a tough row to hoe, and the cool thing was the group always believed it. You felt it the last couple weeks, we felt along the way we let a couple get away and we knew we were starting to play our best baseball. I think the entire group believed we would go to Maryland, win three baseball games and get here.”

"When I spoke to Minnesota head coach John Anderson a week ago the one team he specifically brought up when talking about the future of the conference was Penn State. In addition to the impact hire the program made with Gambino, not many of the Big Ten’s teams have significant NIL funds at their disposal. Anderson specifically pointed out the Penn State lineup and how it had flown under the radar despite a slashing .308/.405/.496 as a team."

 

[ptrich]

Per D1Baseball, here is their stolen bid watch for teams that could steal a bid, knocking a bubble team out:

We’ve averaged 3.3 stolen bids over the last ten seasons, so expect some thievery in the next few days. Here are your top five candidates:

• Pac 12 – Arizona is in the semi-finals along with bubble team Cal and potential thieves Stanford and USC.
• ACC – Miami has already advanced to the semifinals and would steal a bid with the automatic
• Big 10 – If Penn State (2-0), Michigan (1-1), or Ohio State (1-1) wins that would steal a bid.
• AAC—East Carolina (1-1) must navigate the loser’s bracket, or else we’ll have a bid thief. Wichita State (2-0) and Tulane (2-0) are in the driver’s seats.
• MVC—Indiana State (1-1) must also come through the loser’s bracket, or we’ll have a bid thief. Illinois-Chicago (2-0) is in the driver’s seat.