College Baseball 360 » Big Ten Tournament http://collegebaseball360.com baseball news, college baseball stats, sean stires, pete lafleur, college world series video, college baseball podcast, Fri, 14 Feb 2025 21:33:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 Big Ten Tournament Notebook: Day 1 http://collegebaseball360.com/big-ten-tournament-notebook-day-1/ http://collegebaseball360.com/big-ten-tournament-notebook-day-1/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 18:15:36 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=10089

Different year same results for Indiana

By Collegebaseball360.com Contributor Chris Webb

Columbus, OH–The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled to stay in Columbus through 2012, returning to downtown’s Huntington Park, the site of the 2009 tournament, for the final two years after being played in Bill Davis Stadium this season. For Indiana coach Tracy Smith the tournament could stay in Columbus forever. A year after dominating the field for Indiana’s second tournament title championship, in claiming a berth to NCAA regional play, the Hoosiers appear to be picking up in 2010 where 2009 left off. A scary notion for the other five teams in the tournament’s field.

Where the power arms of Eric Arnett and Matt Bashore led the Hoosiers’ title run a year ago, southpaw Drew Leininger is stepping in for the 2009 MLB Draft picks and not missing a beat. As Indiana hopes to become just the second sixth-seed to win the conference tournament, a feat Ohio State accomplished in 2007, Indiana got off to a great start in defeating three-seed Northwestern 5-0.  The victory saw Leininger pitch a complete-game shutout, scattering just eight hits over the nine innings while walking two, striking out six.

“I like pitching in Columbus” the sophomore stated in the postgame press conference. With the numbers he has put up on the Bill Davis mound you can’t blame him. Wednesday’s game would be the second time in 2010 that Leininger started a game in the home stadium of the Buckeyes. On April 10th Leininger pitched nine innings without allowing a earned run as Indiana won 6-4 in 10 innings. The performance of Leininger was vital to the hopeful tournament success coach Smith would state.

“The first game is so important when you’re not the first or second seed, if you start off in the losers it’s virtually impossible to climb you’re way back though. Huge performance by Drew, people might say ‘why did you stretch him out and not save him’ our mentality is we’re not going to save we have to win the first one and he did his job” said Smith.

With Leininger on the mound and the vaunted Hoosier offense in support, though the seeding would indicate an upset, there was little doubt who the better team was on the day, and it showed right away in the first inning. The Hoosiers scored four runs in the top of the first off first-team All-Big Ten pitcher Eric Jokisch, giving Leininger more than enough support to cruise to victory.

“I know every game I go to pitch our offense is going to put up numbers, they have the whole year” Leininger replied in speaking to the early run support. “I just have to go and hold them the best I can, I know that I’m going to get a lot of help and support” mentioned Leininger as he stated he was locating his fastball inducing groundballs.

“Drew’s been our guy all year, we know when he goes out there he gives us a really good chance of winning” said rightfielder Michael Earley who went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and run scored in the game. “He went out there today and got the job.”

Earley would be one of five Hoosiers to record a multi-hit game as every started recorded a hit in the 14-hit attack. Big Ten Player of the Year Alex Dickerson was held to two singles in three at-bats while scoring a run. With the victory Indiana will now play conference champion and one-seed Minnesota at 7:05. For Smith and his players they’re aware at what is at stake.

“One of my favorite sayings this time of year is ‘the hays in the barn’. I think as coaches a lot of the time, the only thing you can do late in the season is screw it up. You hope that you’re guys have a good attitude and relax. Our attitude with all of the things and injuries we’ve had to go through is just get in. We proved that last year once you’re in anything can happen. I know our guys are confident I love our mindstate. They’re not worried about failure or the results they’re just going out there and having fun which is what you want” said Smith following the game.

“We’re not going out and necessarily playing Minnesota, we’re going out there to play our game and not beat ourselves. We’re going to go out, do what we can” Earley stated in echoing Smith’s thoughts.

Big innings propels Hawkeyes flight

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Iowa Hawkeyes are as far as you can find from being the defending tournament champions. With a comeback 7-4 victory over Purdue, Iowa recorded its first Big Ten Tournament victory in 20 seasons.

In perhaps showing a bit of nerves and jitters, Iowa starter Jarred Hipped allowed two runs in the opening inning as a boisterous Boilermaker bunch enjoyed an early lead. In tacking on runs in the 3rd and 5th Purdue enjoyed a 4-0 at the game’s midpoint. Though trailing, Iowa head coach Jack Dahm felt no need to worry with his ace on the mound.

“I thought Jarred Hippen did a tremendous job in keeping us there. They got four runs but they weren’t going to score any more. That’s Jared continuing to mature as a pitcher, did an outstanding job plugging away, not panicing at all in playing pitch-to-pitch. Was an outstanding job by our guys and our pitching staff” stated Dahm.

With Hippen keeping Purdue at bay, the Iowa offense finally was able to string together a series of hits to put runs on the board in support of their ace. Tyson Blaser started the inning with a single through the left side followed by a Trevor Willis double off the center field wall. Willis advanced to third on a throwing error, Blaser scored. Kurt Lee singled to left to bring in Willis. Kurtis Muller followed in reaching by way of a fielding error. Both Lee and Muller would advance on a ground out before Mike McQuillan picked up an RBI with a single. Durant singled to right to score Muller to tie the start the game over at 4-4 going into the final four frames.

With Hippen cruising the momentum stayed on the side of the Black and Gold. Three runs were plated in the bottom of the sixth inning as a bunt single by Willis followed a walk and hit by pitch to load the bases. A double-play score the go-ahead and game-winning run before a Zach McCool two-RBI single scored to insurance runs. During the game deciding fifth and sixth innings Purdue was forced to use three pitchers to get out of the jam.

Purdue coach Doug Schreiber surprised some in electing to go with Matt Morgan on the mound opposed to All-Big Ten selection Matt Bischoff. Morgan pitched four innings allowing three runs, two earned off five hits in needing to be relieved in the fifth inning. Morgan did not walk a batter while striking out three. Joe Haase pitched just .2 innings in allowing the tying run off one hit in the fifth. Receiving the loss was Calvin Gunter after surrendering two runs to his credit in the sixth inning.

Trying to answer as to why Schreiber would sit his ace in game one, Dahm eluded to the fact his Hawkeyes have had a good bit of success against Bischoff while struggling against Morgan. There would be little unknown between the two as the teams squarded off in the Big Ten’s final weekend, a weekend that saw Iowa sweep Purdue, perhaps forcing Schreiber to go outside of the box. “He (Bischoff ) is one of the best pitchers in the conference, one of the best I’ve seen in the Big Ten in my seven years here, but for whatever reason we’ve had a lot of success against while Morgan has had a lot of success against us.

While questions were abound in Purdue’s pitching decisions, little could be had about Iowa as the sophomore Hippen continued to come up big. “I just had to keep them there” the left-handed stated in allowing the quick two runs. “I pitched the same way I had the entire season, I wanted to come out here and set the tone” said Hippen now 6-4 on the year.

It should come as no surprise that Hippen and his teammates felt little pressure when facing the early deficit. In the early season Iowa traveled to Austin, Texas for a four-game set with the Longhorns and Dahm spoke on how that trip provided confidence for his team in such a setting as tournament play.

“Before the first game against Texas we told our team we’re here for a reason. We have a strong nucleus of young players, freshman and sophomores, that one day will play in the NCAA Tournament either this year or next.  I told them when you’re in the tournament you’re going to play in an environment like Texas and we’re here to learn how to play in such an environment” said Dahm. “I felt that trip to Texas prepared us for the season and playing here.”

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/big-ten-tournament-notebook-day-1/feed/ 0 College Baseball Notebook-Week 14 http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-14/ http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-14/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 14:37:19 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=9709

The Last Notebook Of The Regular Season…

48…Game hitting streak by Florida International shortstop Garrett Wittels.  The sophomore has the second-longest hitting streak in Division One history after hitting safely in Saturday’s regular season finale vs. rival Florida Atlantic. Former Oklahoma State and MLB star Robin Ventura owns the all-time record with hits in 58 straight games in 1987.

.415…Wittels‘ batting average during the streak (and season to date).  He has played in 48 of his team’s 53 games this season and has collected 66 singles, 15 doubles, two triples, and two home runs during the streak.

2 2/3…Innings Wittels has also pitched this season.  He has a 3.30 ERA.

34…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Rhode Island’s Tim Boyce, who tossed his second straight complete game shutout last Thursday vs. George Washington.  The scoreless streak is the longest in Division One baseball in 2010.

7 2/3…Innings pitched before Boyce gave-up a hit in that game.  The senior settled for a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and just one walk to improve to 5-3 this season.

.109…Batting average of the combined 119 batters Boyce has faced during his scoreless streak, which dates back to April 30.  Boyce has given-up just 12 hits with 29 strikeouts and four walks during the impressive streak.

32 1/3…Scoreless innings streak by Wichita State sophomore Jordan Cooper that ended Thursday when Dallas Baptist’s Jason Kizran hit his 11th home run of the season.  Cooper gave-up the lone run in 7 IP with eight strikeouts to improve to 9-2 on the year.

11…SEC regular season championships won by Florida after the Gators won their series at South Carolina over the weekend heading into this week’s SEC Baseball Tournament.

14…Years since the Gators last won a series in Columbia, SC prior to their weekend win.  Third-year Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is the seventh head coach in school history to win an SEC crown.

332…Career strikeouts by Mississippi’s Drew Pomeranz to tie an Ole Miss school record.  Pomeranz fanned six in Thursday’s 5-3 loss to Auburn to hit the mark.  The junior lefty has 127 Ks in 86 2/3 IP this season.

19…Wins in SEC regular season play, the most in school history, by Auburn after taking the first two games of the series vs. Ole Miss.  The series win gives the Tigers their first SEC West Division crown since 1995.  Auburn will be the #2 seed at the SEC Tournament.

2,055…Combined career wins by Minnesota’s John Anderson (1,031) and Ohio State’s Bob Todd (1,024) prior to their weekend series in Columbus, OH.  Both have already been inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

2…Games won by Anderson’s Golden Gophers over Todd’s Buckeyes to give Minnesota the Big Ten regular season crown and knock Ohio State out of the Big Ten Tournament, which is being played this year on Ohio State’s Bill Davis Stadium.

3…Wins by Iowa over Purdue to end the regular season to give the Hawkeyes the #4 seed at the Big Ten Tourney.  It’s Iowa’s only season sweep of the season and the first for the Hawkeyes to end the regular season since 1980.  Iowa and Purdue will play in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

4…Complete game shutouts this season by Pepperdine’s Matt Bywater.  The senior set Pepperdine’s single-season shutout record with Friday’s 5-0 win over San Diego.  He was previously in a nine-way tie for first place with the likes of former Major Leaguer Mike Scott.

1…West Coast Conference loss by San Diego, which was 15-0 in league play heading into Friday’s action.  The Toreros have already claimed the WCC regular season championship, which comes with an automatic NCAA bid.

5…Complete games tossed by Bywater (5-5) this season to help the Pepperdine pitching staff to a WCC-best 11 CGs this year.

5…Complete games combined by the Portland, San Francisco and Gonzaga pitching staffs in 2010.

17…Consecutive times Vanderbilt’s Jason Esposito reached base safely prior to striking out looking in the fifth inning of Thursday’s 4-3 win over Arkansas.  Esposito’s streak fell one short of tying the all-time NCAA record of 18, which was set by Shaun Larkin of Cal State Northridge in 2002.

3…Games won by Clemson over Florida State to end the regular season and give the Tigers the ACC’s Atlantic Division crown.

2…Games won in the series by Clemson reliever Alex Frederick, who pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief in Saturday’s 8-3 win after earning the win in 2 1/3 innings of relief in Thursday’s 9-8 victory.

1994…The last time a Clemson pitcher won two games in an ACC three-game series prior to Frederick’s weekend feat.

4…Runs scored by Louisville with two outs in the 9th inning of Thursday’s 6-3 win over Notre Dame.  The Cardinals scored their runs on J.J. Ethel’s pinch-hit 3-run HR, which was followed by a solo shot by Jeff Arnold.

2…Runs scored by Louisville when the Cardinals were again down to their last out in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader vs. the Irish.  Adam Duvall’s 2-run triple gave Louisville the winning runs.

15…Wins by the Cardinals this season that have seen the winning runs scored in their last at-bat.  Louisville’s sweep of Notre Dame, coupled with UConn falling to Seton Hall in its regular season finale gave the Cards the Big East regular season championship.

3…Runs scored on a two out walk-off home run by West Virginia’s Kevin Griffin to give the Mountaineers a 3-2 win over Villanova The win clinched the #8 seed at the Big East Tournament for WVU and knocked Notre Dame out of a spot in the tourney.

1987…The last time Notre Dame (22-32) both finished with a losing record and failed to qualify for a conference tournament.  The Irish had been to the Big East Tournament every year since joining the conference in the 1996 season.

35… Straight Big South Conference games won by Coastal Carolina, which closed its 2010 regular season slate at 25-0 after taking two games from Radford (the finale was rained-out).

8…Runs scored by Washington from the 9th-11th innings to beat Oregon 13-11 in Friday’s series opener.  After the Huskies scored two in the 9th and four runs in the 10th inning to tie the game, freshman Chase Anselment capped the thriller with a two-run walk-off home run.

41…Regular season wins for UCLA after a weekend sweep of Cal.  It’s the first time in 31 years the Bruins (41-11, 16-8 Pac 10) have registered at least 41 regular season victories.

1969…The last time UCLA has been at least 30 games above .500.  With no Pac 10 Tournament, the Bruins conclude the regular season this week with a Tuesday game vs. Big West champion Cal State Fullerton and three games vs. Pac 10 foe Washington State.

9-1…Washington State’s record in its last 10 games after a weekend sweep of USC.  The hot streak has the Cougars (31-18, 14-10) in third place in the Pac 10, behind Arizona State (47-5, 18-6) and UCLA.

1…2009 College World Series team, North Carolina, that failed to qualify for its conference tournament this year.  The Tar Heels (36-20, 14-16 ACC) did not make the ACC Tournament despite a sweep of Viginia Tech to close the regular season.  Boston College made it in after a series of tie-breakers.

0…ACC teams that have ever made the NCAA Tournament without first qualifying for the ACC Tournament.  The Tar Heels, which had an RPI of 30 last week, will be on pins and needles until NCAA selections come out next Monday (May 31).

2…More NCAA Tournament automatic bids that were locked-up over the weekend.  Bethune-Cookman won the MEAC crown, while Bucknell took the Patriot League title.

1998…The last time Oral Roberts was not the #1 seed at the Summit League Baseball Tournament prior to this year.  The Golden Eagles were the regular season co-champs with South Dakota State this year, but are the tournament’s #2 seed after losing three of four games to the Jack Rabbits earlier this month.

27…Straight Summit League Tournament games Oral Roberts has won heading into this week’s tournament.

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-14/feed/ 0 College Baseball Notebook-Week 13 http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-13/ http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-13/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 13:14:00 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=9259

FIU’s Wittels Heads This Week’s “By The Numbers”…

Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

45…Game hitting streak by Florida International’s Garrett Wittels.  The sophomore had at least one hit in each of FIU’s three wins over South Alabama over the weekend to tie Roger Schmuck of Arizona State (1971) for the third longest Division One hitting streak of all-time.

47…Game hitting streak by Phil Stephenson of Wichita State in 1981 for the second longest streak in NCAA history.  Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura’s 58 game streak (which ended at the 1987 College World Series) is the longest in DI history.

3…Teams that have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Baseball Tournament.  San Diego and Cal State Fullerton joined Ivy League champ Dartmouth by claiming the their regular season crowns over the weekend.  San Diego won the WCC thanks to losses by Portland, while Fullerton claimed at least a share of the Big West after sweeping Long Beach State.  The Titans own the tie-breaker with UC Irvine and need just one win or one Cal State Northridge loss to win the title outright.

18-2…Fullerton’s record in its last 20 games since losing game one of its series vs. Irvine back on April 9th.

19…Straight NCAA Tournament appearances Fullerton will make when it plays in its NCAA regional this season.  It’s the third longest active streak in the nation behind Miami (37) and Florida State (32).

47…Days it took to complete TCU‘s 19-17 win in 12 innings over Air Force to clinch the 2010 Mountain West

Matt Purke (TCU photo)

Conference Championship.  The game began on March 28th in Colorado Springs, and was suspended due to weather.  It resumed in the 7th inning Friday afternoon in Ft. Worth with TCU leading 16-15.

12…Strikeouts by TCU pitcher Matt Purke, who gave-up just a run on five hits in six innings of relief in that game to improve to 10-0.  The freshman is the Horned Frog’s regular Friday starter.

8…Home runs TCU hit in that game to help the Horned Frogs to a new school record total of 84 HR hit this season.  The record had stood since 1998.

3…Weekend wins by Kentucky (29-23, 12-15) over LSU to hand the defending national champions their fourth straight SEC series loss.  The Tigers (34-18, 12-15) have lost 11 of their last 12 SEC games and 12 of their last 14 games overall.

19…Years since Kentucky had last swept a weekend series from LSU.

21…Years since LSU played in the NCAA Tournament but did not host a Regional.  The Tigers played in College Station Texas that year.  LSU has hosted 18 NCAA Regionals since then, but could find themselves on the road when the tournament starts this year.

16-8…Score by which Indiana trailed Kentucky heading into the bottom of the 8th inning of Tuesday’s game vs. Kentucky.  The Hoosiers plated five runs with two outs in the 8th and then added three more in the 9th to force extra innings before Michael Early’s walk-off hit gave IU an improbable 18-17 victory.

0-for-6…What Early was at the plate in the game prior to drilling a pitch off the left field wall to plate Dylan Smith with the game-winning run.

4 & 7…Home runs hit and RBI’s by St. John’s left fielder Jeremy Baltz in Friday’s 8-5 win over #6 Louisville (the Red

Jeremy Baltz (SJU photo)

Storm lost the other two games in the series).  The freshman leads St. John’s with a .412 average, 18 home runs and 68 RBIs this season.

14-0…Northwestern’s lead over Michigan in the middle of the third inning Sunday in Ann Arbor.

15-14…The final score of Michigan’s comeback win over the Wildcats.  The game ended on Mike Dufek’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

5 2/3…Scoreless innings pitched by Wolverine reliever Matt Miller to pick-up the win.  The junior struck out seven and gave-up just two hits to keep the Wildcats scoreless while Michigan scored the last nine of its 15 unanswered runs.

14…Straight games Virginia has won after sweeping North Carolina over the weekend.  North Carolina (32-20, 11-16) had won eight straight and 10 of its last 11 games heading into the series with the Cavs (43-9, 21-6).

2…Walk-off hits the Cavaliers needed to pull off the sweep.  John Barr’s 2-out RBI single capped Saturday’s game one 3-2 victory,  while John Hicks ended Sunday’s 5-3 win with a 3-run home run.

900…Wins at Ohio State by head coach Bob Todd after Sunday’s 11-6 win over Iowa for the Buckeyes’ lone win of the 3-game series.  Todd will retire at season’s end.

7…Scoreless innings pitched by South Carolina’s bullpen in a 3-game weekend sweep of Arkansas.  Five relievers combined to give-up just two hits after starter Tyler Webb left after giving-up three runs in three innings in Sunday’s 5-3 win to cap the sweep.

33…Consecutive Big South Conference games won by #5 Coastal Carolina (45-6, 23-0) after a 3-game sweep of #39 Liberty (37-15, 18-6).  The Chanticleers remain in good shape to receive a top 8 national seed after sweeping the second place team in their conference.

14,619…Fans who saw Florida’s 3-game sweep of Georgia over the weekend in Gainesville.  It’s the best 3-game attendance figure in program history.  Florida (37-12, 20-7) and South Carolina (41-11, 29-7) are tied for first place in the SEC East.  They go head to head this weekend.

4…Straight SEC series won by Auburn after taking two of three games from Tennessee.  The Tigers (35-17, 17-10) now lead the SEC West.

15…Years since Auburn last won the SEC’s Western Division.  They close the regular season this weekend at Ole Miss.

Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

10…Run deficit faced by Rice as the Owls prepared to bat in the bottom of the third inning Sunday vs. Southern Mississippi.

19…Unanswered runs Rice scored to beat the Golden Eagles 21-14.  Anthony Rendon paced the Owls, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and 4 RBIs to help Rice lock-up the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

7…RBIs by USM’s B.A. Vollmuth in the loss.  The sophomore shortstop belted a pair of home runs himself, including a grand slam.

1,000…Career wins by Arizona head coach Andy Lopez after his Wildcats topped #1 Arizona State 12-4 Sunday night in Tucson.  Lopez is the 16th active coach and the 46th all-time Division One coach to reach the milestone.

1…Loss by ASU’s Merrill Kelly (9-1) this season after giving-up six runs (five earned) in just 3 2/3 IP-his shortest start of the season.  The 12 runs are the most given-up by the Sun Devils this year.

25…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Rhode Island’s Tim Boyce (a new URI school record).  The senior struck out 10 and gave-up just two singles with his second straight complete game shutout in Friday’s 6-0 win over Richmond.

27 1/3…Consecutive scoreless innings pitched by Wichita State’s Jordan Cooper after Friday’s 3-0 win over Missouri State.  The sophomore fanned 14 and struck out at least one batter in every inning to improve to 8-2.

69…Walks issued to UT Arlington outfielder Michael Choice this season to set a new Southland Conference single season record.  Choice is batting .401 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Mavericks (26-26).  He was walked

Tony Nix (UC Riverside photo)

intentionally in the first inning of Sunday’s 11-8 win over Lamar to set the record.

19…Times Choice has been intentionally walked this season to help him lead the nation with his 69 free passes 2010.

10…Big Ten teams that are all still alive in the race to qualify for next week’s 6-team Big Ten Tournament. Four  teams, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, and Iowa, are tied for fifth place.

.266…UC Riverside’s Tony Nix’s season batting average entering last week’s action.

.341…Nix’s current average after a week in which he was 17-for-26 with three home runs, five doubles, a triple, 11 runs scored, and 15 RBIs.  Nix had a stretch during which he had nine straight hits, including a 6-for-6 game against Loyola Marymount.

4…Home runs hit by Bucknell’s Paul Shribman to help the #4 seed Bison beat #1 seed Army in the Patriot League’s best two of three semifinal series.  Shribman belted a grand slam in the series clinching win and finished the weekend by batting 8-for-13 with 9 RBIs and 7 runs scored.  Bucknell faces #3 seed Holy Cross in this weekend’s Patriot League Championship Series.

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-13/feed/ 0 Illinois 2010 Baseball Schedule http://collegebaseball360.com/illinois-2010-baseball-schedule/ http://collegebaseball360.com/illinois-2010-baseball-schedule/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:39:24 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=1733

Illini to Face Tough Slate in 2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois coach Dan Hartleb announced his team’s schedule for the 2010 season Tuesday, with the team slated to play in the second-annual Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge on Feb. 26-28, and tournaments at 2009 NCAA Tournament qualifiers East Carolina and Coastal Carolina early in the season. The Illini will face six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago in 2010 – East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Missouri, Dartmouth, Indiana and Ohio State.

“We feel like we’ve put together a schedule that will challenge us and give us an opportunity to prove ourselves against some of the top teams in the country at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge, the LeClair Invitational Tournament and the Caravelle Resort Classic,” Hartleb said. “Playing tough opponents early in the season will prepare us for the rigorous Big Ten schedule. We’ve also added a number of home-and-home series with in-state schools for the 2010 season, which has helped us improve our mid-week schedule.”

Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb

Illinois Head Coach Dan Hartleb

Complete 2010 Illinois Schedule (PDF)
The Illini will open the season with a two-game home series against Bradley on Feb. 20-21, then will travel to the Clearwater/St. Petersburg, Fla., area, for the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge, where it will face the challenging trio of Notre Dame, South Florida and St. John’s, three of the top five teams in BIG EAST conference play last year.

The next weekend, the Orange and Blue will travel to the Keith LeClair Invitational Tournament hosted by East Carolina, and will face the host Pirates, Western Carolina and West Virginia. The following weekend will be the Caravelle Resort Classic in Conway, S.C., where Illinois will play host Coastal Carolina twice as well as Lipscomb and Ball State. Over spring break, the Illini will take its annual trip to Winter Haven, Fla., where it will play in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Illinois will face 2009 NCAA Tournament qualifier Dartmouth twice as well as Bucknell, Akron, North Dakota State and Southeastern (FL) University.

After Spring Trip, the Illini will travel to Illinois State on March 30 and return home on March 31 for a game against Chicago State before opening the Big Ten slate against Penn State at Illinois Field. The next week will by a trying one for Illinois, as it travels to Bradley, faces Missouri at Busch Stadium on April 7, and travels to Iowa for a weekend series.

The Illini will return home to host Eastern Illinois on April 13 before traveling to Marion, Ill., for the annual game against Southern Illinois at Rent One Park on April 14. That weekend, Michigan comes to Illinois Field for a three-game series before Illinois State visits Champaign on April 20. The Illini face EIU for the second time in eight days on April 21 when the two teams meet at Grimes Field at Peterson Park in Mattoon, the site of the teams’ matchup in 2008. That weekend, the Illini wrap up the first half of Big Ten play at Michigan State.

Illinois then returns home for its longest home stand of the season, a six-game stretch in which it faces Bradley, Northwestern, Southern Illinois and Butler. The Illini then travel to Ohio State for a weekend series before taking off the middle of the week for final exams. Illinois gets back to action by hosting Purdue for a three-game series and finishing its mid-week slate with a contest at Illinois Field against Western Michigan on May 18. Illinois finishes the regular season with a trip to Bloomington, Ind., for the final Big Ten series of the season. The Big Ten Tournament will be May 26-29.

(Release)

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/illinois-2010-baseball-schedule/feed/ 0 Indiana Baseball Announces 2010 Schedule http://collegebaseball360.com/indiana-baseball-announces-2010-schedule/ http://collegebaseball360.com/indiana-baseball-announces-2010-schedule/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:54:55 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=731

2010 Hoosier Slate Included 12 Games vs. 2009 NCAA Teams

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana baseball team has released its 2010 schedule, head coach Tracy Smith announced today. The Hoosiers, who open the season in San Diego, will play at least 12 games against teams that participated in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

IU Head Coach Tracy Smith

IU Head Coach Tracy Smith

“We’re looking forward to what should be a challenging schedule in 2010,” Smith said. “It will be a good experience for our Southern California kids to open the season in San Diego where a lot of them are from, and with the second year of the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge and the Vanderbilt Tournament, we should face some strong early-season competition which will prepare us for the Big Ten.”

The Hoosiers open the season with four games in San Diego, in a weekend that will be a homecoming for IU’s four natives of Southern California. Indiana will take on the University of San Diego on both Friday and Saturday, with a doubleheader scheduled for the second day. IU will also play a Sunday contest at NCAA participant San Diego State during the four-game weekend swing.

The second weekend of the season sees the second annual Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge in Clearwater/St. Petersburg, Fla. IU will face off against West Virginia for the second straight year at the Challenge in addition to the first-ever contests against Villanova and Connecticut. The Hoosiers took two out of three games at the 2009 Challenge as the Big Ten won the battle of the two leagues, 15-9.

After playing its first game in the state on March 2 at Indiana State, IU then travels to the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn., hosted by Vanderbilt. The Hoosiers and Commodores, who faced off at the Louisville NCAA Regional last year, will be joined by Illinois State and NCAA participant Kent State at the weekend event.

Following a March 9 trip to face off with NCAA opponent Louisville, Indiana will embark on its Spring Trip, which will take the Hoosiers to Winter Haven, Fla., for the second straight year. Times and opponents are yet to be determined for the trip.

After a road game at Morehead State on March 23, IU has its home opener against 2009 Houston Regional participant Xavier on March 24 to begin an eight-game homestand. IU faces St. Francis and Taylor on March 26 and 27, and then Louisville visits on March 30 for the final game before conference play. Indiana opens Big Ten action on Friday, April 2, against Michigan for a three-game set.

During Big Ten action, the Hoosiers also play host to Iowa (April 16-18), Purdue (April 30-May 2) and Illinois (May 20-22). Road series include sets at Ohio State (April 9-11), Minnesota (April 23-25), Northwestern (May 7-9) and Michigan State (May 14-16), as Penn State leaves the conference schedule for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Other non-conference highlights include a trip to Gary, Ind., to face Valparaiso at Railcats Stadium and home games against Ball State (April 6), Indiana State (April 28) and Kentucky (May 11). Other conference road contests pit the Hoosiers against Miami University (April 20) and Evansville (May 18).

The Hoosiers will look to return to the Big Ten Tournament for the third straight season after taking the conference title in 2009, the second such championship in school history. IU has never made three straight conference tourney appearances since the tournament’s inception in 1981. The 2010 tournament is scheduled for May 26-30, with the location yet to be determined.

(Press Release)

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