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Aaron

IU Baseball: Big Ten Tourney

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Definitely want Minny tomorrow. First off don't want a road game with a ton of Nebraska fans. Second apparently the Gophers are without both their Friday ace Max Meyer who shut us down in Bloomington and Sam Thoresen their Saturday guy (who has not been great except against us before we beat their bullpen) who are out with injuries.

Gophers are going with last year's ace Patrick Fredrickson tonight who has struggled and been injured most of year so they may be in trouble against Matt Waldron Nebraska's ace. That would leave us facing their Sunday guy Josh Culliver (who we destroyed in Btown) tomorrow against Tanner Gordon which is in our favor. Nebraska on other hand has their no. 2 Nate Fisher ready to go tomorrow who is at least as good as Gordon. 

If we eliminate either Nebraska or Minnesota tomorrow, we would have a great chance throwing Saalfrank Friday against either Bauman or Judkins for Iowa who we beat up on both, Nebraska against their no. 3 Reece Eddins or Minnesota against their weekday guy.

In all seriousness I think if we get Minny, we probably get to Saturday with Gordon beating Culliver tomorrow and then Saalfrank beating either Eddins or one of the two Iowa guys we did well against. If its Nebraska, against Fisher our road probably ends tomorrow.

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Also another note: If we play Minny we are home tomorrow. If we play Nebraska we are road team. Since Minny is home tonight, we win the second tiebreaker as higher seed. If Nebraska wins, they win first tiebreaker having been road tonight. Remember its now postseason so home and road alternate each game.

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I was concerned the size of that ball park may be an issue for a free swinging HR hitting team. IU goes into bouts of Ks but their power has saved them. In a huge park where HR are going to be more challenging, team has to manufacture runs with multiple hits / walks. Hopefully, they can get it together tomorrow


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Nebraska shellacked Fredrickson for 8 runs and lead 8-1 in 4th. This is really good for us as Minny is going to to have to go deep into their pen tonight as Fredrickson has already been chased and given the above mentioned injuries and home field with Gordon should have good chance assuming Huskers hold on.

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13 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

Wow all 4 top 4 seeds will lose today

It means if everything sets up right IU can still win this thing given their pitching depth.

Like I said will probably be Culliver (their Sunday guy we beat up) vs. Gordon tomorrow which is advantage IU. Hopefully Friday its IU Iowa again it would be Saalafrank against either Baumann or Judkins who we creamed in Bloomington. Then flipping to Saturday due to all the upsets we would get Ohio St or Maryland and neither of those teams have any good pitching besides their aces they used tonight. We could still use Bierman and Sommer who are better than the no.3 guy either one throws out there Saturday. Would have to beat them twice but having Bierman then Sommer against their 3 and 4 is advantage us.  

In other words its a long shot and its baseball but the pitching matchups are definetely very much in our favor moving forward if we avoid Nebraska on Friday.

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Iowa reporter wrote on twitter they are using Judkins the Sunday guy today who is the guy with the ERA in the 2's. While we did well against both, a Saalfrank vs Baumann match up tomorrow if Iowa loses would be an absolute beauty for us with the best no. 3 in Big Ten  vs. arguably the worst no. 2 guy. This is really lining up if we can take advantage.

As for Minny today they have tons of talent but all their hitters have struggled and they don't have anyone over .300. The only concern is Minnesota's style of playing getting them on, get them over and in is much better suited for this park then our power ball style. However, we certainly went for the solid contact yesterday and if we can put the ball in play against Culliver who is a much weaker pitcher than McDonald we have a good chance if Gordon pitches to his capability. Should be interesting.    

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Michigan just hit a walkoff two run double to save their NCAA tournament lives and win 5-4 after trailing 4-3 with two outs in ninth against Illinois. Wolverines lock themselves into NCAA tournament after playing with fire a bit the last few weeks. Note it is usually 60-75 min between games (they say 50 but its always more) so we probably don't start until 2:15 or 2:30. 

On an unrelated note for our game, Thoresen the Saturday guy returns to Minny rotation to start today after missing a month. He has struggled against most teams but pitched well against us on Saturday in Bloomington before their bullpen imploded and we won. Also Thoresen may be rusty and not 100% after missing so long. IU going with Gordon as expected so true rematch of Saturday in Btown which  was the win of year with Lloyd walk off Home Run. Minnesota's season ends with a loss. IU with loss, sends it somewhere for NCAA tournament which we find out Monday. 

What Michigan's win helps us with, is it more likely gives IU Regional preference over Illinois as fellow two seed in Louisville or Nashville (especially if IU wins today) which is entirely committees discretion. Also good to have four Big Ten teams locked into tourney again for conference as a whole. 

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Again Richardson tries to make a spectacular diving catch in RF and can't. Not really his fault that time as tough play but nothing going right for him at plate or in field right now.

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14 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Bench Richardson. Minny gets its second run of series because he can't catch a routing fly ball in RF just like last night.

LLoyd can't play OF can he? I like Richardson's bat but he seems to be a big liability out there. 

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On the other hand Gorski a spectacular fielder all year and makes another great running catch in CF to end inning and save more runs.

Can't wait to get out of this park and to a Regional that doesn't the eat the ball up on deep swings up every time since that is how we play.

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1 minute ago, Aaron said:

On the other hand Gorski a spectacular fielder all year and makes another great running catch in CF.

Unfortunately, he is really the only guy i trust to make great defensive plays and make consistent contact with the bat. 

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9 minutes ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

LLoyd can't play OF can he? I like Richardson's bat but he seems to be a big liability out there. 

Richardson actually until this tourney, has been really good in field and made several spectacular catches this year in RF. His whole mental mind seems to have gotten lost in both field and with bat late in year after spectacular start. Still a really bright future.

To build on that which again was not his fault, he missed a 2 run RBI double by half a foot last night foul that would of made it a different game. Just not his time right now in any way.

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9 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Richardson actually until this tourney, has been really good in field and made several spectacular catches this year in RF. His whole mental mind seems to have gotten lost in both field and with bat late in year after spectacular start. Still a really bright future.

To build on that which again was not his fault, he missed a 2 run RBI double by half a foot last night foul that would of made it a different game. Just not his time right now in any way.

Tough time for that to happen. After this game, there is no room for mistakes like that. Wasn't impressed with guys behind him so hope he can get things right!

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