Big Ten Network : Big Ten Championships Top Stories

Gopher men repeat as Big Ten champions

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:26:00 +0000

FINAL STANDINGS 1. Minnesota 160.5 2. Ohio State 112.5 3. Wisconsin 81 4. Purdue 67 5. Iowa 56 6. Indiana 51 6. Penn State 51 8. Michigan 42 9. Michigan State 41 10. Illinois 40 A sweep of the top three places in the heptathlon and five other individual champions propelled Minnesota to its second straight Big Ten men's indoor track and field championship on Sunday at the University Fieldhouse. "This means a lot to the program," head coach Steve Plasencia said. "The way we've been able to keep things going it seems like it's been coming for the last 10 or 12 years. Right now, it feels like this team is a very strong team." The Gophers totaled 160.50 team points, the second most in Big Ten Men's Indoor Championship history, to easily outdistance the rest of the field. Ohio State was second with 112.50 points and Wisconsin was third with 81.00 points. The point total also bettered the margin of last year's title, when Minnesota outscored second-place Michigan by 42 points. This marks the first back-to-back indoor titles for Minnesota, and the third overall in program history. "I scored it out last night and I scored it conservatively," Plasencia said. "And actually had Ohio State having us by a few points. Our guys came out today and seized it, and there is nothing you can say but congratulations to them on that effort. It meant so much for our guys to be able to do it at home. We don't get the opportunity to do things that often where people recognize what we do, you could feel it build within them. It seems like it's been building in them all indoor season." R.J. McGinnis successfully defended his heptathlon title and Aaron Studt captured the weight throw title after taking the shot put crown on Saturday. Ben Blankenship claimed the title in the mile and Harun Abda took the 600-meter championship. Ben Peterson was the champion in the pole vault on Saturday. McGinnis was in second place entering final event of the heptathlon, the 1000-meter run, and placed second in the event in 2:43.17 to move past teammate Jack Szmanda for the overall win. McGinnis totaled 5,708 points, while Szmanda was second with 5,643 points and Brock Spandl was third with 5,629 points. Spandl won the heptathlon pole vault title on Sunday and was second in the 60-meter hurdles event to move into third place overall. McGinnis' point total was the second best in the Big Ten this season. For the second straight day, Studt entered the finals of his event in second place and won on the final throw. He took the weight throw title with a heave of 66-9.25 to win by nearly five inches after placing fourth last season. Micah Hegerle was fifth for the Gophers in 64-2.50. Blankenship captured the Big Ten title in the mile with a winning time of 4:05.64. Blankenship, who placed fourth in the event last year, took the lead in the final two laps of the race and held off Indiana's Andrew Bayer by 0.27 seconds for the victory. Andy Richardson was sixth and Paul Hilsen was seventh in the event for the Gophers. Abda won pulled away from the field to take the 600-meter title with a winning time of 1:17.76. Logan Stroman finished second for the Gophers by winning his section of the finals with a time of 1:18.19. David Pachuta was sixth overall. Defending Big Ten high jump champion Matt Fisher placed second with a jump of 7-2.50. Last year's runner-up, Derek Drouin of Indiana, had an NCAA automatic qualifying performance to win the event in 7-5.0. Travis Burkstrand added a third place finish in the 800-meter run in 1:51.56. In the 5000 meters, Chris Rombough was fourth in 14:17.23 and Mike Torchia was one-tenth of a second behind to place fifth. The 4x400-meter relay team of John Holton, Abda, Pachuta and Stroman placed fourth with a time of 3:13.57. In the 4x400 Ohio State won in a time of 3:11.18 to set a new University Fieldhouse record. In all four University Fieldhouse records were set as Andrew Riley of Illinois won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.81 seconds, Thomas Murdagh of Ohio State claimed the 400-meter dash in 46.67 seconds and Ryan Foster of Penn State took the 800-meter run in 1:50.43. The entire 2010 Big Ten Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships will be aired by the Big Ten Network on Mar. 9 at 9:00 p.m. The NCAA Championships are in two weeks, March 12-13, hosted by the University of Arkansas.

PSU women delight crowd, win Big Ten title

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:17:00 +0000

FINAL STANDINGS 1. Penn State 111 2. Ohio State 88 3. Indiana 83 4. Minnesota 82 5. Wisconsin 72 6. Purdue 71 6. Illinois 67 8. Michigan 61 9. Iowa 36 10. Michigan State 30 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Bolstered by dual individual wins from junior Shavon Greaves (Lakewood, N.J.), a gold-medal run in the mile by senior Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), and a sizzling victory in the 4x400-meter relay, the Nittany Lion women's track and field team captured the program's second-ever Big Ten Indoor Championships victory, Saturday at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. "This championship is a dedication to our seniors, our leaders, and to the Penn State community and fans," said Director and Head Coach of Track and Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "This team is on a mission, and to be able to execute, and celebrate a championship at home like this is a testament to the tenacity of the athletes, and the tremendous coaching efforts from Coach (Chris) Johnson, Coach (Fritz) Spence, and my entire volunteer coaching staff. They are the reason this program continues to excel." Trailing in the team standings for much of the afternoon, the Lions screamed into first place with two events remaining, thanks to a 25-point haul in the 200-meters led by a victory from Greaves. Claiming her second-career Big Ten Indoor title in the event, Greaves blitzed to a facility- and meet-record, and NCAA-automatic qualifying 22.98. Greaves' blazing one-lap effort is also the fastest in the NCAA this year. Junior Caitlin Defusco (Schwenksville, Pa.) would join Greaves on the medal stand, thanks to a personal-best and NCAA-provisional qualifying 23.67, which would hold up for third. Senior Fawn Dorr (Akron, N.Y.), and freshman Doris Anyanwu (Beltsville, Md.) also got in on the scoring action, turning in fourth and fifth-place showings, respectively, with finishing times of 23.75, and 24.19. "Words can't even describe how excited I am," said Greaves on the team title. "I'm so excited that everyone ran so fast, about the seniors in position to win a triple crown. The atmosphere from on fire, so I just let that carry me. Now I'm ready to go run fast nationals." The same Nittany Lion quartet would also come back to cap the championship with a victory in the 4x400, running a season-best and NCAA-provisional qualifying 3:35.38, which is also a new Big Ten Championship record. The relay wins is the fifth-consecutive indoor conference title for the Nittany Lions, who have won eight of the last nine 4x400s in indoor and outdoor track. Franek mounted an impressive kick in the final lap of the mile to garner her first indoor conference victory finishing in a personal-best and Penn State record 4:37.95, bettering an outstanding field. Just over an hour later, Franek would prove her fitness, taking second in the 5000-meters, and adding another eight points to the Nittany Lion total. Franek would finish the race in 16:09.48. "I've never heard the place so loud, and I've never been so proud to be a Penn Stater," said Franek, following her 56-lap weekend. "From start to finish, we knew we wanted it and we went out there and grabbed it. We didn't let anyone get in our way." With its latest team title - the second the Nittany Lions have taken indoors - the Penn State women's program has now claimed a total of five Big Ten Championships including cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field. Across the athletic department, the title marks Penn State's fourth victory in 2009-10 and 64th all-time. "Victory is more meaningful when it's so demanding," continued Sullivan. "And the Big Ten came hungry and up until the last events, but the Nittany Lions responded and we are grateful it fell our way. We will be celebrating for a long time to come, but most importantly, we will look to get these athletes ready to continue their season at the NCAA Championships."

Ohio State wins Big Ten Championships

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:33:00 +0000

FINAL STANDINGS 1. Ohio State 860.50 2. Michigan 715.50 3. Minnesota 497 4. Purdue 417 5. Indiana 283 6. Iowa 223 7. Penn State 219 8. Wisconsin 217 9. Michigan State 205 10. Northwestern 169 DAY 4 COLUMBUS, Ohio – Everybody just have a seat and relax for a moment. Take a deep breath. Something has just happened on the campus of Ohio State University that will make believers out of anyone who doesn't believe that dreams do come true. Ohio State is the 2010 Big Ten swimming and diving champion! Saturday before a raucous and packed McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion crowd, the Buckeyes of swimming coach Bill Wadley and diving coach Vince Panzano captured their first Big Ten championship in 54 years with a stunning and winning total of 860.50 points. Two-time defending champion Michigan was runner-up with 715.50 points with Minnesota third with 497. "I wanted the team to have an open mind about this championship because it is possible to surpass what others think," Wadley, named the 2010 Big Ten Coach of the Year, said at the beginning of the meet. "I told the guys to have a better day than they ever dreamed is possible." The year was 1956 and the great Mike Peppe was Ohio State's coach when the Scarlet and Gray last hoisted a Big Ten championship trophy in swimming and diving. That win ended a glorious run of Big Ten – 12 total – and NCAA championships – 11 – for the Peppe-coached Buckeyes and the team has been fighting for a crown since. Not any more. The marvelous – and now magical – McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion gave the Ohio State coaches an incredible foundation for recruiting. And since the facility opened five years ago, the two have brought in not only talented athletes, but remarkable students – the team GPA last year was the best in the nation among all public schools – and selfless young men who this week swam and dove for something much greater than themselves. They competed for their teammates. They competed for their coaches and their parents. They competed with desire and they competed with warrior spirit. And, they competed for the pride of Ohio State University. And, oh my, how they competed…in waves! Ohio State led all schools Saturday and for the meet with 16 more individuals in either a finals or consolation finals, increasing the number to 47 individual event scorers with 33 of those scorers competing in a final. Saturday Ohio State placed 10 in the finals. Fueled by adrenalin and their teammates and the rush of being on the cusp of a championship – because they didn't get much sleep last night; how can one sleep when living a dream anyway? – the team performed magnificently…again. Senior Stefan Sigrist opened the meet with goose-bump inducing and record smashing performance in the 1650 freestyle, winning in an NCAA ""A"" time of 14:50.46 that bested both his own school record and the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion mark. Brent Hitchcock, Mark Nieman and George Markovic were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, for a 62-point event to get things started and increase Ohio State's lead to 98 points, 654.50-556.50. Big Ten 100 backstroke champ Andrew Elliott followed with school record of 1:42.92 to take third in the 200 back. Itai Chammah was eighth and Phil Seleskie and Markus Sievers finished ninth and 12th, respectively. Co-captain Joel Elber went 44.0 to place fifth in the 100 freestyle with Tim Phillips ninth and Andrew Olson 14th. The 26 points they earned kept the Buckeye lead safe at 76 points and pushed them over the 700-point mark for the first time in school history. Junior Elliott Keefer, who already won the 100 breaststroke championship Friday, led the entire way before just getting edged to finish second in the 200 breaststroke. His time of 1:54.13 broke the school record by more than a second and it also went under the NCAA ""A"" standard. Sam Pelkey was third and Daniel Malnik was seventh for a triple treat final. Justin Farra also scored, finishing 10th. Ohio State placed another trio of finalists in the 200 butterfly. Niksa Roki, Quincy Lee and Luke Stirton combined for 38 points with fifth, sixth and eighth-place finishes. Roki set a new school record with his time of 1:45.43. And so heading into the diving competition, Ohio State had its Big Ten title clinched with a commanding 136-point lead. On the platform diving event, senior Wes Wieser finished second to bank 17 more team points. The total gave Panzano's divers 101 points toward the team's championship score. It should be noted that Ryan Jefferson tried to score platform points. The senior exercise science/pre-med major had not dove off the platform – he chose to dive off the five –meter tower – in several years, but he wanted to try and contribute points – any points – to help the Buckeyes' cause. He didn't have to dive, but he did it anyway, for the team. And it didn't matter that he didn't score. Because the fact he tried was a reflection of the effort and the spirit that enveloped this team and enabled Ohio State to win the 2010 championship. The 400 freestyle relay team capped the evening by taking third in a time of 2:54.65, yet another school record for Ohio State, it's fifth of the evening and 11th of the meet. Taking what turned out to be victory laps for the Buckeyes was the team of Elber, Lincoln Fahrbach, Phillips and Olson. ""What has been really special about this meet is we have a great, great group of guys who were clearly competing for each other,"" Wadley said. ""And it gave the guys a great feeling about what they were doing and who they were doing it with. ""There's a saying that a man who stands alone on top of the mountain is alone. But when you are on top of that mountain with friends, then you are celebrating with friends."" Let the party begin. Day 3 Ohio State battled its way to the top of the team leader board on Day Three at the 2010 Big Ten Championships in front of a home crowd at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The Buckeyes will enter the final day of competition with 592.50 team points with Michigan trailing close behind in second place with 512.50 team tallies. The pair of frontrunners distanced themselves from the field by 190 points as Minnesota sits in third with 321 points, The Gophers are followed by Purdue (262) and Indiana (193) rounding out the top five. U-M added three more individual Big Ten titles on Friday to increase its meet total to seven overall. The Buckeyes responded with a trio of top finishes of their own to offset the Wolverine charge. Michigan posted a one-two finish in a pair of events, including the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Tyler Clary won the 400-yard individual medley for the second consecutive year, touching the wall in 3:40.27, while senior Andre Schultz (3:44.06) placed second. Later in the evening sophomore Dan Madwed defended his 2009 title in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 1:34.57 to set a new pool record. U-M freshman Hassan Abdel Khalik was right behind him, touching second in 1:34.97. The Wolverines picked up their third individual crown of the evening on the strength of a strong performance from Chris Brady in the 100-yard butterfly. The U-M senior claimed top honors in the event for the second consecutive season, hitting his first NCAA automatic qualifying time of the season (45.92). For the first time at this year's conference championships, Michigan was edged out for the top podium spot in a relay event. Ohio State nabbed the Big Ten title in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:18.30. Minnesota's quartet finished the race in the runner-up position (1:18.37), followed by U-M in third place (1:18.54). Purdue's David Boudia successfully defended his second Big Ten title in as many days with a winning score of 485.35 in three-meter competition. The Big Ten Championships will conclude Saturday with preliminary action beginning at Noon ET. The fourth and final day of competition features finals in seven events including the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, platform diving and 400-yard freestyle relay. Day 2 After Day Two at the 2010 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Michigan and Ohio State sit in a tie atop the team standings with 274.5 points. Minnesota finished the day in third place with 179 team tallies, followed by Purdue (134) and Indiana (119) rounding out the top five. Michigan's Tyler Clary re-set a Big Ten Championships record in the 200 individual medley, touching the wall in 1:42.68, to better his own record set in the prelims earlier today. The Wolverines later returned to the winner's podium after claiming their third Big Ten relay title in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:07.97. The Championships host picked up its first individual title as Buckeye senior George Markovic set a McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion Record of 4:15.35 in the 500 freestyle. The Sydney, Australia, native betterd his time from last year's event by a full two seconds to improve upon his third-place finish in 2009. Minnesota's Michael Richards captured top honors in the 50-yard freestyle, turning in a time of 19.53 to best the field. Purdue's David Colturi continued his dominance in the diving well, setting a McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion record of 442.00 points in the one-meter competition to eclipse the previous mark of 439.10 by Joona Puhakka of Arizona in 2005. Fellow Boilermaker David Boudia took second with a mark of 407.20 off the lower springboard. I'm just ecstatic and proud of myself and my team," Colturi said. "That was the most fun I've ever had." The Big Ten Championships will continue Friday afternoon, with preliminaries beginning at Noon ET and finals at 7 p.m. Friday's final events include the 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke three-meter diving and 200-yard freestyle relay. DAY 1 COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's swimming and diving team sits in first place after the first day of competition at the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. U-M swept both relay events, including a record-setting performance in the 800-yard freestyle relay, on the evening to take the early lead. Michigan, winner of the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay, earned all 80 points up for grabs on day one. No. 9 Ohio State sits in second with 64 points after finishing runner-up to the Wolverines in both relays. In the second and final relay of the evening, the Maize and Blue picked up its first NCAA automatic qualifying time while setting a Big Ten, Big Ten Championships and pool record. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Dan Madwed (Stamford, Conn./Towson), senior André Schultz (Sao Paolo, Brazil/Colegio Palmares), senior Charlie Houchin (Raleigh, N.C./William G. Enloe) and Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly) finished in 6:15.80, almost eight seconds faster than second-place Ohio State. The Wolverines kicked off the evening with a season-best time in the 200-yard medley relay, touching the wall in 1:25.72. The quartet of Alon Mandel (Netanya, Israel/Eldad), Chris Brady (Wilmington, Del./Mount Pleasant), James Ridgeway (Chicago, Ill./Saint Patrick) and Neal Kennedy (Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska) combined for the relay win, improving their season-best time by almost three seconds. The Big Ten Championships will continue tomorrow (Feb. 25), with preliminaries beginning at noon and finals at 7 p.m. Tomorrow's events include the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, one-meter diving and 400-yard medley relay.

Indiana wins second straight Championships

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:59:00 +0000

STANDINGS 1. Indiana, 758 2. Minnesota 572.5 3. Michigan, 462.5 4. Purdue, 460 5. Ohio State, 399.5 6. Wisconsin, 384.5 7. Penn State, 333 8. Northwestern, 238 9. Iowa, 120 10. Michigan State, 89 11. Illinois, 51 DAY 4 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With record-setting performances from Kate Fesenko and Donna Smailis highlighting the day, a complete team effort resulted in a second straight conference title for the Indiana women on the final day of competition at the Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Indiana finished with 758 points, outdistancing second-place finisher Minnesota by 185.5 points. Michigan took third with 462.5 points. "From the divers to the swimmers, there was no better team," said head coach Ray Looze. "The worked so hard for this over the course of the season. You always hope your team is going to put together a performance like this." Indiana took home a whopping seven individual Big Ten titles and two relay crowns. Individual honors went to Taylor Wohrley, named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and Fesenko, named Swimmer of the Meet and Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. Looking to bounce back from last night's disappointing finish in the 100 backstroke, Fesenko blew away the 200 backstroke field by topping her own Big Ten record with a time of 1:51.32. That was the start of a 1-2-3 sweep for the Hoosiers as Taylor Wohrley posted a new personal best with a time of 1:55.25, and Ashley Jones also set a new PR with a finish of 1:55.44. Kim Tracey finished third in the bonus final and 19th overall with a time of 1:59.61. Fesenko posted the fastest qualifying time in the 200 backstroke by more than three seconds with a 1:52.03. Wohrley cruised to victory in heat five with a time of 1:55.40, second fastest of the morning. Jones also qualified for the championship final with a time of 1:55.56. Tracey posted a career best to finish second in her heat, touching the wall in 1:59.63, just 3/10ths of a second off an NCAA provisional time. "I kind of surprised myself a little bit," Fesenko said. "I didn't expect such good results but I am really happy, especially for the team. Not everyone believed we could do this, but we believed in ourselves." "This was so much fun," Wohrley said. "I went into this meet not focused on myself but on scoring points for the team. I think having so much fun here reflected on how I swam." DAY 3 Indiana resumed its place atop the team standings after claiming three individual titles on Day Three of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in West Lafayette, Ind. The Hoosiers will enter the fourth and final day of competition with 451 points, 32.5 points ahead of runner-up Minnesota. The Gophers also compiled three conference titles to amass 418.5 points. With seven events remaining, Purdue currently occupies the third spot with 318 team tallies. Behind the Boilermakers, Michigan's 314.5 points and Ohio State's 283.5 total round out the top five. Indiana's Allysa Vavra picked up her first Big Ten title by running away from the field with a time of 4:06.94 in the 400 individual medley. Her mark is the second-fastest time in program history and automatically qualifies her for the NCAA meet. The Hoosiers picked up their second Big Ten title of the evening on the strength of Margaux Farrell's winning performance in the 200 freestyle with a career best time of 1:45.32. Senior Donna Smailis continued the IU winning streak taking the title in the 100 fly. The Highland, Ind., native touched the wall in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 52.66, setting an new career best and school record in the event. Later in the evening, Smailis returned to post a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 52.55 – also a career best. Minnesota earned top-honors in the 400 medley relay, edging Indiana by one second in 3:35.12 for the Big Ten title. Later in the evening, Gopher junior Jillian Tyler returned to the pool to repeat as individual champion in the 100 breaststroke with an NCAA automatic time of 59.35. Already the one-meter champion, Minnesota's Kelci Bryant continued her winning ways on Day Three, sweeping the springboard events with a winning mark of 386.60 in the three-meter competition. Ohio State's diving tandem, Bianca Alvarez and Chelsea Davis rounded out the top three spots in the event, recording scores of 375.0 and 363.05, respectively. Wisconsin junior Maggie Meyer claimed the Badgers' fourth title of this year's Big Ten championships by matching her own school-record time to take the 100-yard backstroke in an NCAA "A" qualifying time of 52.27.The win gives Meyer her fifth career Big Ten title, and her first in an individual event. Prior to the start of the evening session, the conference office also announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for women's swimming and diving are Illinois' CeCe Marizu, Indiana's Amilee Smith, Iowa's Caitlin Polz Michigan's Claire Tyler, Michigan State's Kara Wackerle, Minnesota's Megan Braun , Northwestern's Genny Szymanksi, Ohio State's Sara Ratica, Penn State's Daphne Skelos, Purdue's Christine Inman and Wisconsin's Lauren Borja. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year. DAY 2 Minnesota surged into first place on the strength of two top finishes during the second day of competition at the Big Ten Championships inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. Through seven completed events, the Gophers have compiled 204.5 team points and sit just slightly ahead of Michigan (195.5) and Indiana (191) in the team standings. Purdue occupies the fourth place position in the team race while Wisconsin maintained its ground in the top five with 150.5 overall tallies. After entering the day in second place, the Golden Gophers wasted no time in gaining ground as Ashley Steenvoorden claimed top honors in the 500 free (4:39.47). In the last event final of the evening, Kelci Bryant posted a 348.20 mark off the one-meter springboard, besting runner-up Bianca Alvarez of Ohio State by more than 20 points to win the event in convincing fashion. The Badgers also swam away with two conference titles during Thursday competition. Sophomore Becca Thompson was the common denominator in both championships, leading off the Badgers' winning effort in the 200 free relay (1:28.97) before defending her individual crown in the 50 free. Michigan's Margaret Kelly captured the fifth event championship on the day in the 200 individual medley. The victory marked the sixth Big Ten title for the Wolverine senior. Kelly's time of 1:56.01 is a new Big Ten Championships record and automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Championships. The time also broke the two-year-old conference championships record, which she owned, of 1:56.80, set at the 2008 Big Ten Championships. DAY 1 A victory in the 800 free relay and a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay kick-started the Hoosiers' run at the 2010 Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. Indiana currently sits in first place with 72 points, followed by Minnesota (64) and a three-way tie for third with Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin with 62 points. "It was a great start for the Hoosiers tonight," said assistant head coach for women's swimming Pam Swander. "We are pleased to have Big Ten champions in the 800 free relay, and the 200 medley relay moved from seventh position to third. It was a big day for us." The first of two events on the day was the 200 medley relay. Senior Kate Fesenko got the Hoosiers started with the backstroke leg, clocking a 24.66 to put the Hoosiers in second. Freshman Ashley Specht went 28.08 on her breaststroke leg as IU fell to third. Senior Donna Smailis went 24.07 in the fly as IU maintained third. Sophomore Margaux Farrell went 22.32 in her 50-yard freestyle as IU finished third with a time of 1:39.13. That is an NCAA provisional time and the fastest time by the Hoosiers this year. Smailis led off for the Hoosiers in the 800 free relay, clocking a time of 1:45.90 over her 200 yards. Brittany Strumbel was next, and pulled IU into the lead. Fesenko took the third leg and maintained a slim margin for White on the anchor leg. The IU record holder in the 200 free, White brought the Hoosiers home for the one-second victory over Purdue with a time 7:06.66. Smailis' leadoff time is an NCAA B cut and the second fastest time in school history. "We are all really excited because we have been working hard on our 200 free," Strumbel said. "It is great to get that win." The action gets underway in earnest on Thursday with the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 1-meter diving and the 200 freestyle relay. Sophomore Nikki White is the defending Big Ten champion in the 500 freestyle.

Penn State wins first Big Ten Championship

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 17:46:00 +0000

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: – Propelled by an individual victory from senior Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) the No. 18 Nittany Lion women's cross country team captured the program's first-ever Big Ten Cross Country Championship, Sunday at the Blue/White Golf Course. "Today was amazing," said Director and Head Coach of Track and Field/Cross Country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "You couldn't have scripted it any better. We came into this thinking that we had a shot at a championship but so did Minnesota and so did Illinois. We just knew that we had to execute at 100-percent." In a two-woman battle with NCAA 5,000-meter champion Angela Bizzari of Illinois for much of the race, Franek took full advantage of the challenging hills on the latter half of her home course, pulling away from her Illini foe and speeding down the home stretch to win her first career conference cross country title. Franek's winning time of 20:03 over the 6,000-meter race is the second-fastest time ever run on the Blue/White Golf Course. FINAL RESULTS 1. Penn State, 71 2. Illinois, 77 3. Minnesota, 80 4. Michigan, 122 5. Michigan State, 137 6. Iowa, 150 7. Indiana, 161 8. Ohio State, 164 9. Purdue, 204 10. Wisconsin, 254 11. Northwestern, 326 "It was awesome," said Franek. "It's truly amazing to be on the team that won, and win the individual race. I think it's a testament to being on our home course and knowing it really well, and feeling comfortable at home. I think that helped a lot." The standout senior, who also finishes with All-Big Ten First Team honors, is the second Nittany Lion to win the Big Ten individual crown along with Kim McGreevy – the 1996 Big Ten Champion and current assistant cross country coach at Michigan State. "Going into the race, I really tried to not focus so much on results but on just taking advantage of the competition and seeing what I could do against it,"" said Franek of her race plan. "I just tried to prepare myself for the race to the best of my ability, and hoped that that was enough to pull off the win." "Bridget was absolutely flawless today," continued Sullivan. "She set the tone for this championship drive, and everyone came out and the fought and it really did come down to a homestretch kick." Running second for the Nittany Lions was freshman Nicole Lord (Media, Pa.), who finished ninth overall in 20:52. Lord's impressive effort, which was the highest finish among rookies in the entire field, was good for second team All-Big Ten accolades. Classmate Brooklyne Ridder (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the next Lion finisher and the third freshman in the field, scoring a 16th-place effort in 21:16. "This group of freshmen and sophomores have been the spark that its taken for this team to really unite," said Sullivan of her contingent of underclassmen. "They really have a selfless confidence, and they're just a group of kids that love what they're doing, and they're committed to what they're doing." Closing hard down the homestretch as the Lions' fourth and fifth was sophomore duo Caitlin Lane (Greenwich, N.Y.) and Kara Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.), who would wind up 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Lane would stop the clock at 21:24, while Millhouse finished right on her heels in 21:27. Freshman Natalie Bower (Pleasant Unity, Pa.) and senior Claire Berryman (Morgantown, W.Va.) rounded out the Nittany Lion top seven, turning in 39th and 41st-place finishes, running 21:48, and 21:50, respectively. The Nittany Lions totaled 71 points, edging out Illinois and Minnesota in the tightly contested top three. Illinois would take runner up honors with 77 points, while Minnesota would place third with 80. Michigan scored 122 for fourth, with Michigan State rounding out the top five with 137. Next up for the Nittany Lions is the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Nov. 14, at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, in Princess Anne, Md. The top two teams at the race will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23, along with the top four individuals.

Ohio State earns first-ever No. 1 tourney seed

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 16:03:00 +0000

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - Ohio State captured the Big Ten regular-season Championship after defeating border-rival Michigan in front of a home crowd at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening. With the win, the Buckeyes earn their first-ever No. 1 seed and an automatic spot in the semifinals in the 2009 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament. The postseason event will be held on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, Ind., with opening round matchups slated for Thursday, Nov. 12, semifinals contested on Friday, Nov. 13, and the championship game played on Sunday, Nov. 15. The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The Big Ten Championship is the Buckeyes' third overall and second in the past three seasons. The Scarlet and Gray complete the conference slate with a 4-2 ledger, leaping over Penn State in the Big Ten standings by virtue of its 1-0 victory over Michigan on Saturday to clinch the title outright. At 3-2-1 in the conference, Penn State and Northwestern finished in a tie for second place, earning No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively in the conference tournament. NU will face defending Big Ten champion and sixth-seeded Michigan State in the tournament opener at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday. The contest will mark the second meeting between the two teams in as many weeks with the last matchup resulting in a 1-0 decision in favor of the Wildcats on Saturday. Tournament host Indiana occupies the No. 4 seed in the bracket and will face No. 5-seeded Wisconsin at 12:30 p.m. ET in Thursday's second quarterfinal matchup. The Hoosiers, who denied Penn State sole possession of the conference crown with a 2-1 triumph on Friday evening, proved victorious in their first meeting against the Badgers on Sept. 25. Quarterfinal action will conclude with second-seeded Penn State taking on No. 7 seed Michigan at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday. The two teams last faced off on the opening weekend of Big Ten play with the Nittany Lions coming away with a 2-0 victory. The top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes will await the winner of the 4/5 matchup between Indiana and Wisconsin in Friday's first semifinal at 2 p.m. ET. The second semifinal will pit the winner of Northwestern-Michigan State and Penn State-Michigan at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET. The tournament championship game will be held at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 15. For the third-straight season, the semifinals and final will be televised live by the Big Ten Network. Tickets will be sold as day passes and are available for purchase the day of the game for $8 per day for adults and $5 for students and children.

Big Ten announces sportsmanship awards

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 10:02:00 +0000

Park Ridge, Ill. – The Big Ten today announced the 22 student-athletes named Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners for the 2008-09 academic year. These individuals were chosen from a group of 276 student-athletes honored throughout the academic year who had displayed positive sportsmanship. One member of each varsity sports team on every campus was chosen by his or her institution as a Sportsmanship Award honoree. From each university's list, two Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners were then selected. All of the Sportsmanship Award honorees have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these student-athletes must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The 22 Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners include 14 Academic All-Big Ten honorees and 11 All-Big Ten selections from the 2008-09 season. In addition, Illinois' Angela Bizzarri, Indiana's Jorge Campillo, Michigan State's Javon Ringer, Minnesota's Ladia Albertson-Junkans and Penn State's Gayle Hunter have each earned All-America honors during their careers. The 2009 Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners appear below, and the complete list of Sportsmanship Award honorees for all sports from each school is attached as a PDF. 2009 Outstanding Sportsmanship Award Winners Illinois: Trent Meacham, Sr., Men's Basketball, Angela Bizzarri, Jr., Women's Track & Field Indiana: Jorge Campillo, Sr., Men's Golf, Ashley Rhoades, Jr., Women's Track & Field Iowa: Christian Bierich, Sr., Men's Tennis, Wendy Ausdemore, Sr., Women's Basketball Michigan: C.J. Lee, Sr., Men's Basketball, Teddi Ewing, Sr., Softball Michigan State: Javon Ringer, Sr., Football, Lisa Senakiewich, Sr., Women's Track & Field Minnesota: Jamal Abu-Shamala, Sr., Men's Basketball, Ladia Albertson-Junkans, Sr., Women's Track & Field Northwestern: Eric Peterman, Sr., Football, Annie Bosslet, Sr., Field Hockey Ohio State: Taylor Candella, Jr., Men's Cross Country, Alyssa Meyer, Sr., Women's Gymnastics Penn State: Gerald Cadogan, Sr., Football, Gayle Hunter, Sr., Women's Track & Field Purdue: Andre Koop, Jr., Men's Swimming and Diving, Kristen Phillips, Jr., Women's Cross Country Wisconsin: Nate Larkin, Jr., Men's Track & Field, Audra Jeffers, Sr., Women's Volleyball

Top-seeded OSU beats PSU, wins Big Ten crown

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:15:00 +0000

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Ohio State men's soccer team is making a case for the renaming of the Hoosier city to Bluem-ington. Head coach John Bluem and the No. 25-ranked and top-seeded Buckeyes captured the 2009 Big Ten Tournament title with a 1-0 win over Penn State Sunday afternoon on Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium. David Tiemstra scored the game-winning goal with 43 seconds remaining in regulation to give Ohio State its second tourney title in three years and its third overall, as well as the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes are now 12-4-4 on the season, while Penn State drops to 12-7-2. "I am breathless. What a hard fought game," Bluem said. "We did not have a good first half today. Penn State, to their credit, were very good all day long today. They gave us fits. They shut us down completely. It took a great effort by Tiemstra to steal a win. I was already thinking about penalty kicks." Tiemstra, a native of Clarendon Hills, Ill., also scored the game-winner vs. Michigan to lead the Buckeyes to the regular-season championship Nov. 7. This is the first time in program history Ohio State has won both the regular-season and tournament championships. Tiemstra and Doug Verhoff were named to the All-Big Ten Tournament Team, while Verhoff earned Defensive Most Valuable Player honors. Penn State's Jason Hertzog was the offensive MVP after netting a hat trick to lead the Nittany Lions over Michigan State in the semifinal. The Buckeyes will find out their NCAA Tournament fate at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The selection show will air live on ESPNews. This will mark Ohio State's seventh appearance in the national tournament, all coming under Bluem's reign.

Big Ten releases baseball all-tournament team

Sun, 24 May 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Indiana won its first Big Ten Tournament crown since 1996 and will be making its first NCAA Championship appearance since that same year after beating Minnesota, 13-2, on Saturday night. The 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament drew a total of 12,219 fans over a four-day period, marking the conference's highest overall attendance number in at least the past decade. The previous high in that span was 6,728, set in 1999 when Ohio State hosted the tournament at Bill Davis Stadium. The single-day high for the 2009 event was 4,575, set on Thursday, marking the largest total in at least the past decade. The single-day mark exceeds the previous high of 3,012, also set in 1999. 2009 Big Ten Baseball All-Tournament Team P – Eric Arnett, Indiana P – Matt Bashore, Indiana P – Tom Buske, Minnesota C – Dan Burkhart, Ohio State 1B – Nick O'Shea, Minnesota 2B – Derek McCallum, Minnesota 3B – Vince Gonzalez, Indiana SS – Jake Dunning, Indiana OF – Pete Cappetta, Illinois OF – Kipp Schutz, Indiana OF – Eric Decker, Minnesota DH – Alex Dickerson Most Outstanding Player: Matt Bashore, Indiana

Nothing new: UW men claim 11th straight crown

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 13:29:00 +0000

MADISON, Wis. -- Winning never gets old. For the 11th-consecutive season, the Wisconsin men's cross country took its rightful place atop the podium as Big Ten Champions. The Badgers extended their own conference record for consecutive championships in dominating fashion, placing five of their runners among the top eight finishers. Wisconsin has now won 43 Big Ten team titles, an incredible 31 more than Michigan State, which owns the next-most championships with 14. The Badgers' recent domination of the Big Ten has resulted 28 team championships in that last 33 years. FINAL RESULTS 1. Wisconsin, 26 2. Ohio State, 91 3. Minnesota, 97 4. Indiana, 106 5. Michigan, 117 6. Iowa, 149 7. Illinois, 166 8. Michigan State, 188 9. Penn State, 232 10. Purdue, 279 The UW posted a team score of 26, the lowest score since 2005 when the Badgers won the title with only 16 points. Ohio State finished in a distant second place with a team score of 91. They were followed by Minnesota with 97 points and Indiana with 106 points. "There was a lot of pressure on our guys going into the Big Tens," head coach Mick Byrne said Sunday morning from University Park, Pa. "But they responded well and won the conference meet. We're really proud." Sophomore Elliot Krause was the first to cross the finish line for the UW, finishing in second place in a time of 25:05, earning first team All-Big Ten honors in the process. This race marks the first time that Krause was the top finisher for the Badgers. Last season it was teammate Landon Peacock who took the runner-up spot at the Big Ten Championship race. For the second-straight year, Minnesota's Hassan Mead took the individual title. Redshirt freshman Maverick Darling was the next Badger runner to cross the line Sunday, claiming a fourth-place finish in a time of 25:16, also earning first team All-Big Ten Honors. Darling has now finished among the top seven in all three races he has run in the 2009 season. True freshman Mohammed Ahmed finished in fifth place in a time of 25:21, earning first team All-Big Ten honors. Ahmed was the first freshman to cross the finish line, adding Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors to his resume. Ahmed is the seventh Big Ten Freshman of the Year in UW history and the first since Brandon Bethke claimed the award in 2006. Wisconsin senior Craig Miller finished in 7th place with a time of 25:29, earning his first career first-team All-Big Ten honor. That gave UW four runners on the Big Ten's first team, the most since placing four on the first team in 2006. Last year, Miller finished in 14th place in a time of 25:01 and earned a second-team All-Big Ten bid. A 2008 first-team all-Big Ten selection, Peacock rounded out the scoring for Wisconsin, earning second-team All-Big Ten honors with his eighth-place finish in a time of 25:34. Senior Ryan Gasper finished in 12th place in a time of 25:41, earning his first second-team All-Big Ten bid. At the 2008 Big Ten Championships, Gasper just missed the podium by finishing in 16th place in a time of 25:06. Junior Jack Bolas finished in 16th place in a time of 25:50, true freshman Reed Connor finished in 32nd place in a time of 26.16 and sophomore Phil Thomas finished in 33rd place in a time of 26:18. "The guys were packed real well," explained Byrne. "It was a great team race. The guys fed off each other and it led to a great race." The Badgers will now enjoy a weekend off before competing in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship hosted by Indiana on Nov. 14. The 8k race is set to start at 11 a.m. (central). "This is the time of year we train for and love," Byrne added. "We're looking forward to Regionals and the NCAA championships."

Gophers advance to final after 9-6 win over Ohio State

Sat, 23 May 2009 20:27:00 +0000

The 20th-ranked Minnesota baseball team (38-16) defeated No. 23 Ohio State (40-17) 9-6 to eliminate the Buckeyes from the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday, May 23. Ohio State was the third team that the Golden Gophers eliminated from the tournament. With the win, the Golden Gophers advanced to the Big Ten Championship game to face Indiana at 7:30 p.m. It marks the eighth time in Minnesota's last eight Big Ten Tournament appearances that the Golden Gophers have advanced to the championship game. Minnesota was led by junior Eric Decker (Cold Spring, Minn.) who reached base all five times he came to the plate, and was 4-for-4 with a home run, two runs and a career-high four RBI. Senior Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) went 3-for-6 with two runs and a stolen base. On his third hit of the day, Nohelty became the third Golden Gopher in school history to reach the 300-hit mark in his career, joining Robb Quinlan (1996-99) and Sam Steidl (2001-04). He also stole his fifth base of the Big Ten Tournament to set a new tournament record. Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) was also 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI, while redshirt freshman Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) was 2-for-5 with a double, a run and two RBI. Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) reached base three times, and was 2-for-4 with two runs. Freshman Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) also went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Sophomore Scott Fern (Eau Claire, Wis.) gave up eight hits, four runs, walked two and struck out two, as he pitched a career-high 4.1 innings to get Minnesota into the fifth inning. Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) picked it up from there as he got the Golden Gophers into the eighth inning, going 2.2 innings, giving up five hits, two runs, no walks and collecting two strikeouts. Rasmussen picked up the win to move to 4-0 on the season. Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) picked up his 14th save of the year, as he pitched two innings, gave up two hits and struck out three batters. It was Matyas' second two-inning save in as many weeks. Ohio State starter Eric Best gave up nine hits, five runs, walked one and struck out two in 3.2 innings to take the loss to fall to 7-4. Minnesota also got to Drew Rucinski who gave up six hits, four runs and walked two batters. Minnesota jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning as it batted around. Nohelty led off with a single, and moved to second on an errant pickoff throw. Two batters later, McCallum crushed a one-out RBI double to right center field to put the Golden Gophers ahead 1-0. Kvasnicka reached on an fielder's choice, when McCallum was thrown out at third. Knudson followed with a single to make it first and second, and O'Shea plated both Kvasnicka and Knudson to put Minnesota ahead 3-0. Decker followed with a bloop RBI single to plate O'Shea to give the Golden Gophers a 4-0 lead. Ohio State got three runs back in the bottom of the first to cut the Minnesota lead to 4-3. Zach Hurley led off the inning with a single and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Cory Kovanda to make it first and third. Michael Stephens followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-1. Dan Burkhart and Ryan Dew followed with a pair of RBI singles to make it 4-3. Fern settled down to retire the next three batters to keep the Golden Gophers' one-run lead intact. The Buckeyes tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the second when Cory Kovanda had a two-single, stole second and came home to score on an RBI single by Stephens to tie the game. Minnesota took a 5-4 lead in the top of the third inning when Decker crushed a pitched over the wall in right center field. The Golden Gophers pushed the lead to 6-4 in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Decker singled and stole second to get things started. Gominsky brought him home with an RBI double to right center field to give Minnesota a two-run lead. Minnesota scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to take an 8-4 lead. With two outs, Kvasnicka singled and moved to second on a Knudson walk. O'Shea hit a chopper to the shortstop who stepped on second base at the same time that Knudson arrived to load the bases. Decker followed with a two-out, two-run single to put the Golden Gophers ahead 8-4. The Golden Gophers pushed their lead to 9-4 with a single run in the top of the seventh inning. Nohelty got things started with one-out single, stole second base and moved to third on a bunt single by AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.). McCallum plated the ninth run when he drove in Nohelty with a sacrifice fly to right field. Ohio State cut the lead to 9-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Dan Burkhart hit a home run that skipped off the top of the fence. The Buckeyes put runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth inning on back-to-back singles by Michael Arp and Tyler Engle. Matyas struck out the next two batters, before Cory Kovanda delivered an RBI single to cut the Minnesota lead to 9-6. Matyas struck out Stephens to get out of the inning. In the ninth, Matyas retired the first two batters before Justin Miller reached on a double. Matyas got Arp to pop up to second base to give Minnesota the victory. Ohio State was led by Stephens who was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, while Burkhart was 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and a run. Dew was also 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Minnesota eliminates Illinois with 13-4 win

Fri, 22 May 2009 19:14:00 +0000

After scoring three runs in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament against Indiana, the 20th-ranked Minnesota baseball team's (37-16) bats woke up in a big way as they pounded out 25 runs and 29 hits on the way to defeating Purdue (25-26) 12-3 and Illinois (34-20) 13-4 on the third day of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, May 22 at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. With the pair of victories, the Golden Gophers eliminated both Illinois and Purdue, and set up a matchup on Saturday, May 23 at 2:35 p.m. (CT) against the loser of tonight's Ohio State-Indiana matchup. "This tournament is all about starting pitching and we had a pair of great performances today from Tom (Buske) and Seth (Rosin)," said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. "I was worried after all the traveling we had done in the past two weeks and yesterday's game that our team was lacking some energy. We talked about that after yesterday's game, and I thought our team came and responded in a big way this afternoon." Minnesota has now won two or more games in its last eight Big Ten Tournament appearances, and in 19 of John Anderson's trips to the Big Ten Tournament. The bats weren't the only thing working for the Golden Gophers, as Minnesota's starting pitchers each pitched career-highs in innings and ate up 17 of the 18 innings in the two games for the Golden Gophers. In the first game, Golden Gopher starter Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched the first complete game of this career as he gave up seven hits, three runs, walked two and struck out four to pick up his ninth win of the season. In the second game, Minnesota starter Seth Rosin (Shoreview, Minn.) tossed a career-high eight innings, gave up six hits, four runs, walked two and struck out three. Rosin won his sixth game in a row to move to 7-1 on the season. Offensively, Minnesota was led in the second game by sophomore Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) who was 3-for-4 with a home run, scored three runs and tied a career-high with five RBI. In the two games, Kvasnicka went 5-for-10 with two home runs and six RBI. Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) also was 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI, and narrowly missed a third when he crushed a potential grand slam foul in the sixth inning. O'Shea finished the day 5-for-10 with two home runs and five RBI. Golden Gophers senior Matt Nohelty (Rotschild, Wis.) also reached base four times, and was 2-for-4 with three runs and two stolen bases against Illinois. Overall, Nohelty reached base eight times, went 4-for-8, scored six runs and stole four bases. Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) also was reached base four times against Illinois, and went 1-for-2 with two runs. AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) reached base twice, and went 1-for-4 with two runs on the day. Eight of the nine Golden Gophers collected hits on the afternoon, as Minnesota collected five home runs and eight stolen bases in the two games. The Golden Gophers got on the board quickly with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead. For the second straight game, Nohelty led off with a single and stole second base. Pettersen dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and the second baseman's throw sailed past first base to allow Nohelty to score to make it 1-0. Two batters later, Kvasnicka crushed his second home run of the day to right center field to put Minnesota ahead 3-0. Illinois scored a single run in the top of the third on an RBI single by Brandon Wikoff to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 3-1. Minnesota pushed its lead to 6-1 with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, McCallum and Kvasnicka delivered back-to-back singles to make it first and second. After Illini starter Bryan Roberts recorded the second out, O'Shea crushed a three-run homer to left center field to put the Golden Gophers ahead 6-1. Illinois cut the Minnesota lead to 6-2 on a solo home run by Willie Argo to left field in the top of the fourth. O'Shea answered quickly with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Golden Gophers back up 7-2. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Minnesota blew the game open as it sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored five runs to push its lead to 12-2. Nohelty started things with a one-out walk, and moved to second on a Pettersen single. McCallum was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kvasnicka followed with a two-run single to move the score to 9-2. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases. O'Shea hit a slow grounder to the third base, who threw the ball away trying to get McCallum on the force at home. Kvasnicka and McCallum both scored on the play to move the score to 11-2. Knudson followed by coming around to score on a wild pitch to make it 12-2. Illinois scored two runs in top of the seventh on an RBI triple by Pete Cappetta and a sacrifice fly by Josh Parr to cut the lead to 12-4.Minnesota finished the scoring when Kvasnicka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Golden Gopher reliever Tim Ryan (Eagan, Minn.) pitched the only inning by a Minnesota reliever on the day, as he tossed a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game. Illinois was led by Argo who went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, while Wikoff was also 2-for-4 with an RBI. Cappetta also went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

Hooisers stomp Buckeyes 13-3

Fri, 22 May 2009 22:45:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Indiana bats continued to sizzle, bashing 16 hits in a 13-3 victory over top-seeded and 27th-ranked Ohio State on Friday night at the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers will now play in the championship game at 7:05 on Saturday night against the winner of Saturday afternoon's Ohio State-Minnesota contest. Tyler Rogers and Alex Dickerson had three hits each, while Jerrud Sabourin, Josh Phegley, Kipp Schutz and Jake Dunning posted a pair of safe knocks apiece. Rogers drove in four runs, including a bases-loaded double, while Sabourin and Phegley scored three runs each for Indiana. Blake Monar picked up the win for Indiana, allowing just five hits and five walks in 6 2/3 innings for the Hoosiers. He surrendered three runs, two earned, in improving to 5-3 on the season. Matt Igel and Joey O'Gara combined for 2 1/3 of one-hit, shutout relief to close out the game for IU. The Hoosier bats have been scorching hot in the tourney, scoring 34 runs with a .392 average on 49 hits. Indiana has already broken the Tournament record with 15 doubles. IU's pitchers have an ERA of 2.00 and have just a .188 average against. They have allowed just seven runs. Ohio State struck the opening blow in the game with a run in the top of the first. Zach Hurley led off the game with an infield single to deep short and he moved to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout and a groundout moved the leadoff hitter to third, Big Ten Player of the Year Dan Burkhart came up and laced a single to center field to score Hurley and make it 1-0. In the second, the Buckeyes drew a leadoff walk and took advantage of an Indiana miscue to score another solo run. Justin Miller drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a groundout. That brought Tyler Engle to the plate with one down. Engle chopped a ball down the third base line and Monar handled it, but his throw to first went wide and Miller came around to score to push OSU's lead to 2-0. Indiana finally began to figure out Dean Wolosiansky in the bottom of the fourth, sending nine men to the plate and scoring three runs. Sabourin led things off with a single through the left side and Phegley followed by doubling down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position. Dickerson followed by lacing a ball into left field to score Sabourin and make it 2-1. Kipp Schutz followed with an RBI fielder's choice to plate Phegley and tie the score. Vince Gonzalez followed with a walk and a single by Brian Lambert loaded the bags, and two batters later Jake Dunning picked up an RBI infield single to give IU a 3-2 lead. That's when Indiana's defense picked up Monar. The freshman hit a batter, surrendered a single and gave up a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Cory Kovanda then hit a hard grounder to third, and Vince Gonzalez came home to Phegley for one and the catcher fired on to first for a 5-2-3 double play. Monar then gave up a flyout to right off the bat of Michael Stephens to end the inning with no damage. IU refused to keep the game in doubt any longer, striking for seven runs on six hits to make it 10-3. IU started with five straight singles to score two runs with the bases loaded and chase Wolosiansky from the game. Jared Strayer came on and hit Brian Lambert to bring in another run to bring Rogers to the plate with the bases still packed. Rogers crushed a 1-0 pitch deep into the gap in left center to clear the bases and make it a 9-3 ballgame. He scored with Dunning delivering a sac fly for Indiana's 10th run of the contest. Monar surrendered his final run in the seventh before giving way to Igel. The lefthander came on and got a flyout to left off the bat of Dan Burkhart to end the inning. IU tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on three this and an error to result in the final score. IU is seeking its first championship since 1996 and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. IU can win either Saturday night's contest or a Sunday afternoon game at 12:05 p.m. contest to win the conference tournament. Fans can watch Saturday's game on the Big Ten Network or listen to Matt Brady and Jeremy Gray on WHCC 105.1 FM in the Bloomington area or worldwide on XM/Sirius Channel 196. Live audio and GameTracker will be available for the Indiana game at IUHoosiers.com.

Buske leads Gophers to win over Purdue

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Senior Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched his first career complete game, as he led the Minnesota baseball team (36-16) to a 12-3 victory over Purdue (25-26) in its second game of the Big Ten Tournament at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. Buske saved Minnesota's bullpen for the second game of the day, as he went a career-high nine innings, gave up seven hits, three runs, walked two and struck out four. Buske picked up the win to move to 9-3. The nine wins were the most by a Golden Gopher pitcher since 2003 when Glen Perkins had the same total. The win for the Golden Gophers gave them at least one win in their last 15 Big Ten Tournament appearances. John Anderson has led Minnesota to at least one victory in 23 of his 25 Big Ten Tournament appearances. Offensively, the Golden Gophers were led by Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) who was 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs and four RBI. With the four RBI, McCallum moved his total to 76 RBI, which is fourth on the Minnesota single-season list. McCallum's home run was the 16th of the season moving him into a tie for fifth on the Golden Gopher single-season list. The 16 home runs are also the most by a Minnesota player since 1999. Junior Eric Decker (Cold Spring, Minn.) also reached base five times, and was 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, while senior Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) reached base four times, and went 2-for-4 with three runs, an RBI and two stolen bases. AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) also went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, while Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) finished 2-for-5 with a home run, a run and two RBI. Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) also collected three hits, as he went 3-for-6 with a run and an RBI. All nine Gopher hitters reached base on the day, and six players had multi-hit games.Purdue starter Matt Morgan took the loss to fall to 6-5, as he gave up eight hits, six runs, walked four and struck out four in 4.2 innings. Minnesota got on the board first with a single run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Nohelty led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a bunt by Pettersen. McCallum plated Nohelty with an infield RBI single to get the Golden Gophers on the board first. Purdue pushed two runs across in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead. Brandon Haveman led off double off the glove of O'Shea, and moved up to third reached first on an error. John Cummins plated Haveman with a fielder's choice RBI ground out to tie the game. The next two Boilermakers drew walks to load the bases, and Eric Charles plated Cummins with an RBI single to give the Boilermakers a one-run lead. The Boilermakers moved their lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third on a solo home run by John Cummins.Minnesota reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth with three runs to make it 4-3. Nohelty drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved up on a single by Pettersen that dropped in when Purdue outfielder lost his balance. McCallum followed by lining a three-run homer to right center field to give the Golden Gophers a one-run lead back. The Golden Gophers added two runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. O'Shea led off with a single, and Decker plated him with an RBI triple to center field to give Minnesota a 5-3 lead. Morgan retired the next two hitters to keep Decker at third, but Nohelty came up with a clutch RBI double against Purdue reliever Connor Sestak to give the Golden Gophers a three-run lead. Minnesota pushed a single run across the plate in the top of the sixth to give the Golden Gophers a 7-3 lead. McCallum led off the inning with a walk, and moved to second on a single by Kvasnicka. After a double play, McCallum moved to third and came home to score on an RBI single by O'Shea. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Purdue loaded the bases for Eric Charles with two outs. Charles hit a soft ground ball to third base, but Geason barehanded the ball and made a great off-balance throw to get the third out. The Golden Gophers added three runs in the top of the seventh to push the lead out to 10-3. After reaching on a fielder's choice, Nohelty stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Nohelty came home to score on an RBI single by Pettersen to make it 8-3. Two batters later, Kvasnicka crushed a two-run homer off the scoreboard to put Minnesota up 10-3. Minnesota added a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to make it 12-3, when Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.) brought home a run on an RBI ground out and Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) when Pettersen reached on an error by the shortstop. Purdue was led by Haveman who went 3-for-5 with a run, while Cummins was 1-for-4 with a home run, two runs and two RBI.

Ohio State rallies to beat Illinois 7-4

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:56:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two weeks after Ohio State and Illinois played a thrilling game in front of more than 5,000 fans at Illinois Field, the two teams hooked up for another tense and terrific ball game at the Big Ten tournament at Huntington Park. This time, Ohio State pulled out the win, 7-4, to remain in the winner's bracket of the tournament and face Indiana Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Unlike two weeks ago, when Ohio State lost its only game of the season when leading after the seventh inning, the Buckeyes came from behind with two runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to come back from a 4-1 Illinois lead and improve to 40-15 on the season. ""I thought our hitters did a good job battling back,"" Ohio State head coach Bob Todd said. ""This was a good team effort, though, with good pitches when we had to have them and a good job by our hitters."" Three consecutive singles to open the Ohio State half of the sixth led to two Buckeye runs and a tightening of the score, to 4-3. Michael Stephens, Dan Burkhart and Ryan Dew singled to load the bases. Stephens scored on Justin Miller's sacrifice fly and Burkhart scored on Michael Arp's fielder's choice. An Ohio State error put the leadoff Illini on board in the seventh. After an infield pop-out, Brandon Wikoff doubled to right to put men on second and third. Ohio State starter Alex Wimmers was replaced at that point by Drew Rucincki, who perhaps saved the game by getting the final two outs of the inning on a fly to right - followed by a strong throw home by Arp to keep the runner from advancing - and a lineout to short. Rucinski's effort in the seventh gave the Buckeyes and their partisan crowd a lift and the team capitalized on it. Matt Streng and Zach Hurley drew walks to open the inning and Cory Kovanda laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases. A couple RBI ground outs - by Stephens and Dew - would be the extent of the Buckeyes' scoring, but the two runs gave the Scarlet and Gray its first lead of the game at 5-4 and, more importantly, the lead after the seventh inning and in those situations, Ohio State is 33-1 this season. Make that 34-1. After a perfect, 1-2-3 inning by Rucinski in the eighth inning, the Buckeyes added two insurance runs in the eighth. Matt Streng singled home Arp, who took a fast ball in the back and then stole second to get into scoring position. Zach Hurley tripled to deep center field to score Streng. Hurley attempted an inside the park home run as he was waved home by third base coach Pete Jenkins, but two perfect strikes from center to second and then home got Hurley, who admitted afterward that he ""ran into some quicksand rounding third."" Ruckinski's performance, which earned him his 10th win of the season in relief against two defeats, and a 7-4 lead set the stage for the ninth inning and the introduction of the best closer in the nation, according to Ohio State coach Bob Todd: Jake Hale. The big man from Albany, Ohio, didn't disappoint. After giving up a leadoff single, he sent the next three batters down in order – strikeout, groundout and strikeout – to extend his school record saves total this season to 16. ""The bullpen rose to the occasion,"" Todd said. ""Illinois is an outstanding hitting ball club."" Wimmers went 6.1 innings, scattered six hits, gave up three earned runs, walked four and struck out nine. Illinois starter Will Strack suffered his first loss of the season (6-1) with 6.0 innings of work. He allowed 10 hits and five earned runs. Illinois jumped on top in the top of the second, Aaron Johnson hitting his 10th home run of the year with a man on for a 2-0 Illinois lead. Figures that Miller, who hit .680 the last two weeks of the season, would be in the middle of an Ohio State run in the second to cut the lead to 2-1. He walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Arp's double to right center. Ohio State had runners on in the next three innings, including two in the fourth, but could not tie the score. Illlinois right fielder Pete Cappetta threw out a Buckeye going to third with one out in that inning to help calm a minor uprising by Ohio State in the fourth. Illinois added to its lead in the sixth. Brandon Wikoff walked to lead off the inning and scored on another Johnson hit, this one a double laced into left center field. Two batters later and with men on first and second, Cappetta singled to right center to drive in Johnson and give the Illini a 4-1 lead. This Ohio State team has been through a ton the past two weeks –peaks and valleys and emotions and quiet contemplation and waiting and wins (four consecutive now and six in its last seven games) – that something like a 4-1 deficit wasn't going to stop this team. And it didn't. Game Notes and Random Thoughts from the Press Box: - What a crowd. What a wonderful, wonderful Big Ten touranament crowd that came out to watch the Friday night game between Ohio State and Illinois. Final tally: 4,575 fans. Thank you Columbus sports fans...Buckeye fans. Thank you very much. (Think Elvis Presley impersonation with that "thank you, thank you very much.") - Great news: the crowd Friday surpassed the conference average for overall tournament attendance over the last five years. - The great Steve Arlin has owned the top two single season strikeout totals in Ohio State history for over 40 years: 165 in 1965 and 129 in 1966. Alex Wimmers moved into Arlin's rare air by striking out nine batters to take over second place with 131 strikeouts this season. - Ohio State's only loss this season when leading after seven innings occurred two weeks ago at Illinois. The Illini scored three unearned runs in the ninth to win, 5-4, in front of an Illinois record crowd of 5,214 fans. - Eight of nine Ohio State starters had hits including two apiece by Zach Hurley, Cory Kovanda, Ryan Dew and Matt Streng. Arp had two RBI and Streng two runs scored. - Hurley's triple was the 25th triple of the season for this team, tying the school single season record of 25 set by the 1991 team and tied by the 2006 team. - The schedule tomorrow: Purdue vs. Minnesota at 12:05 p.m.; the winner will play Illinois at 3:35 p.m.; Indiana and Ohio State meet at 7:05 p.m.

Bashore hurls Hoosiers to Big Ten semifinals

Thu, 21 May 2009 19:58:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A day after Eric Arnett shut down Purdue to the tune of seven shutout innings, teammate Matt Bashore matched his cohort's effort, allowing just two hits and two walks, while striking out nine in seven innings of scoreless baseball as the Indiana baseball team (30-25) rocked second seed and 21st-ranked Minnesota (35-16) to the tune of a 12-3 win. Brian Lambert, Tyler Rogers and Jake Dunning each had three hits in the game as the Hoosiers jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. Indiana advances to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, where it will take on the winner of tonight's Ohio State/Illinois game at 7:05 p.m. Earlier in the day, Purdue knocked off Michigan State in the loser's portion of the bracket, and the Boilermakers will take on the Gophers at 12:05 p.m. in an elimination game. The Hoosier offense smashed 18 hits in the game, 10 in the first three innings, en route to the nine-run win. Every member of the starting lineup hit safely in the contest, with Josh Phegley, Alex Dickerson and Kipp Schutz also tallying multi-hit games. Dickerson drove in three runs for Indiana, while Jerrud Sabourin scored a trio of runs in the victory as well. IU got out to a hot start with two runs on three hits. Lambert led the game off with a first-pitch single up the middle, and Sabourin was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on with nobody out. That brought Phegley to the plate, and the catcher ripped a single to center field on a hit and run that plated Lambert and moved Sabourin to third. After a Dickerson strikeout, Schutz ripped a single through the right side to make it 2-0 Indiana in the top of the first. Bashore had a rough bottom of the first for the Hoosiers, as he issued consecutive one-out walks to A.J. Pettersen and Derek McCallum. But the junior bounced back with a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning with IU still ahead by a pair of runs. Those would be the only two walks that Bashore would surrender in the contest. In the top of the second, Indiana plated four insurance runs of Chauncy Handran. With one down, Dunning got the rally started with a double to left field and he was followed by an RBI double off the bat of Lambert to make the score 3-0 in favor of Indiana. A single by Sabourin and a double by Phegley scored another run and Dickerson followed with a line-drive double to right center that plated two more to push the edge to 6-0 Hoosiers. After that it was all zeroes until the sixth inning. Handran settled in well and kept IU off the scoreboard for the next three innings, and Bashore continued his dominant performance for the Hoosiers. The Tipp City, Ohio, native did not surrender a hit until the fifth inning, when he gave up a leadoff single off the bat of Nick O'Shea that fell just in front of Evan Crawford to put a tally in the hit column. Two batters later, Justin Gominsky reached on an infield single, but Bashore got a flyout and a strikeout to end the inning with the shutout still in tact. After the Hoosiers got a run on an RBI single from Schutz in the sixth, they plated a trio of insurance runs in the seventh. Dunning brought home the first two runs with a single up the middle to make it 9-0 and Dickerson put IU into double digits with a single to left center that made it 10-0. Bashore finished off his stellar outing with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out Gominsky on a 3-2 pitch to end the seventh. The junior struck out nine in the game to put his season total at 101, just two behind Arnett on the year. They are just the fourth and fifth Indiana pitchers to post triple digits in Ks in a year. Bashore also lowered his ERA to a season-low 3.57. After Indiana scored a solo run in the eighth, the Gophers got their first scores with three runs off reliever Drew Leininger in the bottom of the eighth. With one run on the board and the bases loaded, Matt Carr came on and surrendered a two-run double, but he put out the fire with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning with IU still ahead 11-3. The Hoosiers tacked on a tally on a Crawford RBI double in the top of the ninth to result in the final score. Stay tuned to IUHoosiers.com to find out who Indiana will take on in the semifinal matchup. The contest will be carried live on WHCC Hoosier Country 105.1 FM in Bloomington and worldwide on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio on channel 196. Live audio and GameTracker will also be available for the game at IUHoosiers.com.

Purdue drops Michigan State to advance

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:44:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Purdue baseball team left a season-high 15 runners on base but survived to live another day at the Big Ten Tournament with a 12-9 win over Michigan State in the first elimination game at Huntington Park on Thursday. The victory improved the Boilers to 25-25 for the season and extended their stay in the conference championship tournament, while the Spartans dropped to 23-31 in their final game of the year. The Boilermakers scored at least one run in eight of their nine turn's at bats, including a crucial game-high three in the ninth to help ward off a late Spartan comeback attempt. Purdue scored single runs in the first, second and fourth innings, and tacked on two runs each in the third and fifth to cruise out to a 7-2 lead through four and half frames. The resilient Spartans responded with back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth by Eli Boike and AJ Shindler to cut the advantage to 7-4, and a double by Eric Roof and a fielding error by first baseman John Cummins later in the stanza forced Boiler starter Matt Jansen from the game with runners on the corners, one out and the tying run at the plate. Reliever Drew Wurdack entered and got out of the jam on a nice double play started by Eric Charles at second and completed by shortstop Barrett Serrato and Cummins to quash the rally and end the frame. Purdue plated a single run in the top of the sixth on a bases loaded walk to Alex Jaffee, but MSU answered back with a two-run homer by Seth Williams to edge closer at 8-6. After swapping zeros in the seventh, the only inning in which the Boilers did not score, Purdue and MSU exchanged single runs in the eighth to a head into the final frame with the Boilers leading 9-7. In a scene eerily familiar from a conference game in the regular season series in which Purdue and MSU plated five runs each in the ninth in 9-8 Boiler win, the Boilermakers extended the advantage to 12-8 on a two-run double by freshman Barrett Serrato and an RBI double by senior Alex Jaffee. MSU rallied to pull within three on a one-out, two-run triple by Jeff Holm and could have brought the tying run to the plate, but Kevin Cahill entered for Wurdack and retired Jeff Roof on strikes and Williams on a grounder to second to nail down his sixth save of the season and send Purdue deeper into the league tournament. Wurdack (4-1) picked up his fourth win of the season with four innings of work out of the bullpen. The right-hander allowed five runs on six hits with two walks. MSU starter AJ Achter (3-6) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings pitched. The right-hander struck out four and walked three. Offensively, Purdue rapped out 15 hits to Michigan State's 14. Purdue's Brandon Haveman continued his torrid senior season by going 4 for 6 with two doubles, three RBIs and a run scored to lead the way individually. The effort improved the Boilers' leadoff hitter's Big Ten-leading batting average from .408 to .417 for the year. Haveman's classmate Cummins chipped in with a 3 for 5, two-run day, and junior Dan Black hit his team-leading 15th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third, and finished the contest 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Serrato, making his first career start in a Big Ten Tournament game, went 2 for 5 with the key two-run double in the ninth for his two RBIs and two runs scored. Senior classmates Jaffee and Eric Nielsen rounded out the bottom of the order 1 for 2 and 2 for 6, respectively. Jaffee drove in one and scored twice, while Nielsen added a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. The Boilermakers, who lost to Indiana 9-1 on Wednesday to drop into the loser's bracket, will return to action on Friday at 12:05 p.m. to face the lowest-seeded loser of the No. 2 Minnesota-No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 Ohio State-No. 4 Illinois matchups which are currently on going.

Arnett baffles Purdue in IU's opening-round win

Wed, 20 May 2009 18:47:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Eric Arnett allowed just four hits and one walk, striking out 10, to lead the Indiana baseball team to a 9-1 victory over Purdue on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers (29-25) will now take on No. 2 seed Minnesota (35-15) on Thursday at 3:35 p.m. in the second round of the postseason. Arnett lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.58 on the season and now has 103 strikeouts on the campaign. He also improved to 12-1 on the season, matching the school record for wins, set by Brian Partenheimer in 1997. He is just six strikeouts away from matching Indiana's single-season strikeout record as well. Offensively, IU got three hits from Kipp Schutz and Chris Hervey went 2-for-4 with his third home run of the season, as the senior led off the game with a longball over the left field wall. The Hoosiers also got multi-hit games from Jerrud Sabourin, Vince Gonzalez, Tyler Rogers and Brian Lambert. After the Hoosiers got ahead 1-0 on Hervey's leadoff bomb, the Boilers threatened Arnett in the second. Dan Black got a leadoff single, but Arnett helped his own cause by delivering a good pickoff throw to catch the junior leaning. After striking out Drew Madia, Arnett surrendered consecutive hits to Eric Charles and Nick Overmeyer, but the junior used his awareness on the mound to catch Charles off second base to end the inning. The three hits were the only three that Purdue would muster until the seventh off Arnett, and the Hoosier bats struck with solo runs in the third and fourth to boost their lead to 3-0. Hervey got a one-out single in the third and IU used a single up the middle from Sabourin to move him to third. Josh Phegley then brought Hervey home on an RBI fielder's choice to score IU's second run. In the fourth, Gonzalez got a leadoff single to right and two batters later, it was Lambert bringing him home with a smash double to right center to push IU's lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the fifth, the Hoosiers opened the floodgates with five runs and five hits to make it an 8-0 ballgame. Phegley reached on an error to start the inning, and then three straight doubles by Schutz, Michael Earley and Gonzalez plated three runs. After a Rogers groundout moved Gonzalez to third, the freshman came home on a single that Jake Dunning ripped up the middle. Lambert followed with his second double of the game, the fourth of the inning for IU, to score Dunning for the final run of the frame. Arnett finished off his day with a pair of strikeouts in the sixth and two more in the seventh, as he recorded four straight outs via the K. His day came to an end after retiring catcher Eric Charles on a lineout to right to end the seventh. Arnett needed just 95 pitches to get through the game. IU scored its only other run with an unearned tally in the bottom of the sixth, as Schutz scored his second run of the game on a throwing error by Charles. The Boilers got on the board with a tally in the eighth, as Brandon Haveman hit a leadoff double and two batters later he came home on a John Cummins sac fly to right. Joe Vicini pitched a third of an inning in relief for the Hoosiers, while Joey O'Gara threw the final 1 2/3 of the game to seal the deal. The Hoosiers and Gophers will face off in the second of three games at Huntington Field tomorrow. Purdue and Michigan State will go head-to-head in the first elimination game of the tournament at 12:05. Illinois, which defeated the Spartans 16-5 in the first game on Wednesday, will take on No. 1 seed Ohio State in the nightcap in Columbus at 7:05. Live audio and GameTracker will be available for the Indiana game at IUHoosiers.com.

Illini blast Spartans, 16-5, to advance in Big Ten Tourney

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:06:00 +0000

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Right fielder Pete Cappetta (Lisle, Ill.) tied the Big Ten Tournament record with three doubles and Illinois scored its most runs in a conference tournament game as the Illini smashed fifth-seeded Michigan State, 16-5, Wednesday at Huntington Park to win their third-straight opening game in the Big Ten Tournament. Cappetta finished 4-for-5 with three doubles, three RBIs and four runs, and second baseman Josh Parr (Chillicothe, Ill.) tied his career high with four hits and set a new career best with four RBIs. The Illini will face Big Ten champion and top-seeded Ohio State Thursday at 6:05 p.m. (CDT) in the tournament's second round. "That's a good way to start off a tournament," Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. "We got a very well-pitched game by Phil (Haig). We started off a little rougher and had some missed opportunities, but if you look at our box scores, we've come from behind several times this season, so our guys are used to coming from behind." After needing only seven pitches in the second inning, Illinois starter Phil Haig (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) gave up a two-out grand slam home run to Spartan catcher Eric Roof after surrendering consecutive base hits and a hit batter to load the bases as MSU took a 4-0 lead. The Illini had a pair of base runners in the third after two-out walks by left fielder Casey McMurray (Willow Springs, Ill.) and shortstop Brandon Wikoff (Peoria, Ill.), but Moody recorded his fifth strikeout of the game to dodge the threat. But after Haig worked a 1-2-3 fourth, Illinois broke out the bats in the bottom half. Johnson started the inning with an infield hit and Argo smoked a double to the wall in left-center. One out later, right fielder Pete Cappetta (Lisle, Ill.) stayed hot with a double to the gap in right-center to drive home both runners. Second baseman Josh Parr (Chillicothe, Ill.) legged out a single to shortstop and beat the double-play turn on his grounder to third, leaving men at the corners with two out. McMurray lined a first-pitch single to right-center, driving home Cappetta and moving Bonadonna to third, and Wikoff laced a single to right to score Bonadonna and move McMurray to third. Altobelli came through with a single through the right side to drive home McMurray and finish the five-run inning, posting the Illini to a 5-4 lead. Haig allowed a leadoff walk in the fifth but erased it with a double-play before striking out MSU third baseman A.J. Shindler looking. In the bottom half, Argo drew a leadoff walk and first baseman Matt Dittman (Libertyville, Ill.) hit a blooper to shallow right-center, which was nearly caught by second baseman Chris Roberts. The ball fell out of his glove as he tumbled over right fielder Eli Boike, but Roberts was able to throw to second and get Argo on the force play as he was forced to hold up on the pop-up. But it was no matter as Cappetta singled up the middle and Parr doubled to the left-field corner to bring in Dittman. Center fielder Joe Bonadonna (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) lifted a sacrifice fly to drive in Cappetta for a 7-4 lead. Haig worked around a one-out walk and a bunt single by getting consecutive groundouts, allowing his offense to go back to work in the bottom of the sixth. That's when the Illini broke the game open with a seven-run frame on five hits and two errors. Wikoff reached on an error to start the inning and, one out later, Johnson reached on another error. Argo singled to left to bring in Wikoff and Dittman smacked a double to the wall in right-center to plate Johnson and Argo. Cappetta followed with his second double of the day, scoring Dittman, and Parr singled to right to drive in Cappetta. Bonadonna walked and McMurray singled up the middle to plate Parr. Wikoff brought home Bonadonna with a groundout to finish the scoring as Illinois jumped out to a 14-4 advantage. The Illini left-hander went back out for the seventh inning and needed only five pitches to set down the Spartans, inducing a come-backer to the mound, a grounder to Parr and a lazy pop-up to Altobelli. Illinois added two more runs in the bottom half, with Johnson leading off with a single before being put out on Argo's grounder. One out later, Cappetta tied the Big Ten Tournament record with his third double and Parr drove in two more runs with his single to right, making the Illini lead 16-4. Illini reliever Aaron Martin (Georgetown, Ill.) entered in the eighth and gave up a run after three singles to start the inning. But the run scored on a double play and Martin got out of the inning with another groundout. Martin struck out the first two hitters he faced in the ninth before allowing a walk. But he coaxed a grounder to Parr to end the game as Illinois won, 16-5. Cappetta had a career day, going 4-for-5 with three doubles, three RBIs and four runs. Parr tied his career high with four hits and his four RBIs were a new career best, as he went 4-for-5 with a double, four RBIs and a run. Argo was 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and three runs, reaching base in all five plate appearances. McMurray was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run, and Wikoff was on base four times while driving in two runs. Johnson also was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Haig finished his day with seven solid innings, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts to improve to 7-3 on the year. The Fighting Illini will square off with Big Ten Champion Ohio State Thursday at 6:05 p.m. CT, with Illinois' Will Strack facing Ohio State's Co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Alex Wimmers.

Gophers claim Big Ten men's crown

Sun, 17 May 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Final Standings 1. Minnesota 130 2. Ohio State 103 3. Michigan 100 4. Purdue 81 5. Penn State 80 6. Wisconsin 76 7. Iowa 69 8. Michigan State 62 9. Illinois 60 10. Indiana 58 Minnesota used a 21-point performance, including a title run by Hassan Mead, in the 5,000-meter run to secure the team crown at the 2009 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Sunday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers, who also won the Big Ten indoor team title, compiled 130 points, 27 better than runner-up and host Ohio State. Mead added his fifth Big Ten individual title to his spectacular sophomore season. The Minneapolis native won the individual cross country crown last fall, the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races at the indoor Big Ten track championships and then the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events this weekend. Mead was the headliner in the 5,000 meters, crossing the finish line in 14 minutes, 20.75 seconds, but the Gophers once again displayed the team depth that made the difference in so many events. Junior Chris Rombough finished third in a time of 14:25.98, while Ben Blankenship placed fourth in 14:26.15. "I can't say enough good things about Hassan," said Golden Gopher Steve Plasencia. "But he certainly wasn't the only guy to step it up this weekend. We got points from the people who we expected we would and more from a lot of other events across the board." A Gopher who was expected to contribute big points and who delivered was junior Aaron Studt in the shot put. Studt landed the winning throw – 61-6 1/4 - on his fifth attempt after firing a long throw just outside the sector on her first throw of finals. Senior Ibrahim Kabia sprinted to runner-up honors in the 100-meter dash clocking a time of 10.44 seconds. Kabia added a sixth-place showing in the 200 meters in 21.44 seconds. The Gophers scored two runners in the 1,500-meter run. Blankenship finished fourth in a time of 3:58.48, while Andy Richardson placed seventh in 4:00.68. Joe McFarland chipped in a sixth-place effort in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.44. Minnesota scored in both hurdles events. Mike Linnemann finished sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.61 seconds and Sean Duling placed eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.62 seconds. The Gophers scored in two of the three other field events contested on Sunday. Joe Plencner finished fourth in the pole vault clearing 16-10 3/4, while Raymond Blackledge placed seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 48-9 1/2. The next competition for Golden Gophers is the NCAA Midwest Region Championships on May 29-30 in Norman, Okla.