Nebraska Baseball 2014 Big Ten Tournament Opening Round Primer
The Big Ten baseball tournament field is set and TD AmeriTrade Park will be hosting its home state Huskers as the No. 2 seed. Speaking of Nebraska being the second seed in this tournament, let’s have a look at how that was made official before getting to the nitty gritty:
Here’s the full breakdown of Wednesday’s first round match ups and a printable bracket for your convenience.
Bracket One:
[table id=9 /]
Illinois vs. Michigan State (9 a.m. CST)
Tale of the Tape:
The Fighting Illini and Spartans met very recently. Only a series with Iowa separated Illinois’ hosting of Michigan State and its trip to Lincoln. Much like the series with Nebraska, the Spartan-Illini clashes were expected to be a slugfests and they delivered.
Illinois swept the series, but by the skin of its teeth with all games being won by a single run. A 5-4 game one victory was followed by a win in 10 innings by the same margin thanks to a walk off walk. That the Illini won at all on Sunday is amazing. See for yourself.
So why not do it all over again?!
Players to watch for:
Illinois: IF Adam Walton, C Jason Goldstein, OF Will Krug, P John Kravetz
Michigan State: OF Chase Toth, OF C/1B Connor Mohr, Blaise Salter, P Mick VanVossen
Nebraska vs. Ohio State (1 p.m. CST)
Tape of the Tape:
Nebraska notched its first conference sweep of the year against the Buckeyes back in early April, all wins coming by a one run margin.
The Huskers went on to beat Creighton, then struggle and eventually lose to Kansas State. The crew that swept Ohio State about a month ago and the one wearing scarlet and cream today are two totally different clubs.
Much like the series with Northwestern, there’s absolutely no reason Nebraska should lose to Ohio State. The Huskers’ bats are on fire and pitching has been fantastic overall.
Players to watch for:
Nebraska: OF Ryan Boldt, OF Austin Darby, C Tanner Lubach, P Josh Roeder
Ohio State: OF Ronnie Dawson, UTIL Nick Sergakis, IF Troy Kuhn, OF/P Tanner Tully
Bracket Two:
[table id=10 /]
Indiana vs. Iowa (5 p.m. CST on BTN)
Tale of the Tape:
Poor Iowa. I know you’ll be shocked to learn that they were swept by the Hoosiers on their own turf and it wasn’t pretty. A 14-3 Hawkeye battering was sandwiched by losses of 6-3 and 5-3.
The outright Big Ten Champions haven’t gone easy on anyone, especially in the Big Ten. Expect the Hawkeyes to get pounded into the dirt once more.
Players to watch for:
Indiana: IF Sam Travis, C/OF Kyle Schwarber, OF Scott Donley, OF/P Joey DeNato
Iowa: IF Jake Mangler, IF Jake Yacinich, OF Dan Potempa, P Calvin Mathews
Minnesota vs. Michigan (9 p.m. CST on BTN)
Tale of the Tape:
Like Illinois-Michigan State is a great start to the day, this game should be just as fun to end it. The regular season series was ultimately won by Minnesota 2-1, but the battles were as even as even gets.
Michigan dropped the opener 9-6 in 11 innings before bouncing back and taking game two by a convincing 8-1 margin. Goldy would finally skid out of the Wilpon Complex parking lot with a 3-1 victory in the rear view mirror.
Players to watch for:
Michigan: OF Jackson Glines, IF/P Jacob Cronenworth, P/UTIL Kyle Jusick, P Brett Adcock
Minnesota: IF Tony Skjefte, SS Michael Handel, C/UTIL Mark Tatera, P Dalton Sawyer
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