Aaron

Michigan gets HR over their 'green monster'. Not sure how we make that up but hope we do. Don't think we get killed, but it is the type of game where we might well lose 4-3 and lament not having a legit ace for Friday and Barr's stupidity in 1st. 1-0 Michigan to third.

Hajaar works around a 2 out single and is dealing now. Only chance is to keep this scoreless and score off their bullpen late in game. 0-0 to bottom 2.

Sommer works around a two out double off their version of the "Green Monster (Their LF wall is really high which I knew coming in as been to this park). 0-0 to 2nd. I have a feeling we are going to regret not scoring 1 in first with runs at a premium today.

We did everything right until Cole Barr. Forced a ton of pitches which is good going forward. It started with an Ashley walk, a flyout by Toetz, and a single by Richardson moving Ashley to 3rd. Then Barr did a very dumb thing, swinging at a 3-1 pitch against a struggling pitcher and bounced it to SS for easy double play and we do not score. Thats the kind of stuff that can turn a pitcher's start around (especially an elite one). Huge missed opportunity and our best hitter really screwed us over.

No sorry. Just heard he is close but no timeframe has been given to me unfortunately.

Not disagreeing, but this seems to be mostly a Big Ten thing, since they started the policy of no fans and when they left it up to schools halfway through the season, all but three of them left the family/friends restrictions in place to this day. I blame the Big Ten for not letting schools set the policies from the beginning like other conferences. If they had done this, more schools might have changed. To say halfway through the spring season it is OK to let fans in, makes it a little harder to change on fly and many schools did not.

Right now every Big Ten team outside of Iowa, Nebraska and Purdue are family and friends only just like IU (theoretically Rutgers "opened it up" to 500 people this weekend but only family and friends showed up). Every other Big Ten school is doing exactly what IU is doing including Michigan and Maryland where we finish season. A family friend drove past MSU this weekend and their baseball game would not let him in as a fan. It really sucks and they probably should let some fans in now, but just realize the vast majority of Big Ten schools are doing exactly what IU is doing still.

Doubt it. ESPNU has exclusive rights. Best bet is to do a free trial of one of the streaming services and cancel as soon as College Cup is over. You could also upgrade your cable package for a month than cancel or go to a bar.

College Cup is in a real stadium and like 1/3 so will be a real atmosphere.

Looking at UCF and Washington (I don't care what Monmouth did, they play at a lower level so their numbers don't matter), there D's also give up close to a goal a game and are elite offensively similar to Pitt, albeit not as good. That is a much worse matchup for Pitt. A team like us that has a strong D is a much better matchup to beat them and will give Pitt a lot more trouble. Anything can happen in soccer and Pitt is really good, but we have a far better chance of stopping them than anyone they have played so far in tourney.

No but from looking at stats highlights I would think so. What we used tonight of selling the farm on D and refusing to concede to an elite offense and betting on their relatively weaker D conceding a counter a time or two is what you have to do. Does not always work but its best strategy when you face a top flight offense and a slightly weak defense and it worked now in 2017 College Cup against UNC and now tonight. Do it again for sure.

Not sure about that. Sucking an elite offensive in team into our physical slug fest works beautifully. Put everything you have on backline like tonight and bet your elite defense holds them out of net and there weaker D concedes a goal or two to us. The rain changed things a bit, but what happened tonight was perfect brilliant strategy and should be used again against a similar type (albeit better) team. We have gotten better as tourney goes on and tonight's strategy was completely intentional and should be used again.

Pitt is Seton Hall on steroids. An even better offense and a slightly leakier defense than Pirates even. They are red hot, but key is to try to score again on their D and then hold them out of net. Worked beautifully tonight and need to do it again against even tougher competition.

VAR coming for College Cup for plays like that.

2-0

Looks like playground soccer with all the water. Makes for a faster field and easier to score.

Second half underway. Made it quick like everyone wanted:).

Its pouring now but rain should stop for good soon in a few min if nothing else pops up.

They already cut it from 20 to 10 min so clearly they recognize what you said.

OK now need to hold this for 45 min. I knew Seton Hall would concede a goal just like UNC did in 2017. Key is now to keep it at this slow pace and hold it till end and off to College Cup.

1-0 IU at half!

Apparently Linke had audio issue and fixed it. Unfortunate goal came without his call. He is the best.

Ryan Wittenbrink, Bezerra's backup.

No Dean Linke? Wittenbrink just scored but no one to call it. Picture still crystal clear.

It won't matter pitching wise which is big thing. Illinois has no good pitchers. The issue is our bullpen and how we play it and we need to throw decent guys against their offense. Hopefully like three innings each of Mudungo, Bothwell and Tucker will be sufficient and will make everyone available each weekend in between as planned. We have terrific pitching depth. Just unfortunate to have to use it against Illinois and their offense. Biggest thing is we may need it to not lose Big Ten by 1/2 game to Nebraska after their win today. Better to play it before 4 game weekend then after and those were the choices. Not a great situation but this is probably best we can do and just hope we win high scoring game (I have zero doubt we won't put up 5-10 runs on their bullpen given they don't even pitch well on weekends, but key is not giving up more than we score).