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Friday, May 8, 2009

Miscues in the 9th doom Buckeyes

Stephens with a 2-run HR.

Stephens 11th HR, 3rd in 2 games.

Burkhart with a 2-run HR, his 9th.

Wimmers line 7.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs both earned, 2 BB, 7 K's.

Two errors in the 9th led the 3 unearned runs. Hale picks up his first decision a tough loss.

5,124 was the announced attendence. Wow good job Illini fans, impressive.

Game 2 is tomorrow at 4:05 eastern.

Bucks are now 2 games behind the Big Ten leader Illinois, and have now reached a sason high 4th straight loss.

First time the Bucks have lost when leading after 7 and 8 respectively all season. Were 30-0 going into tonights game when up after 8.

21 comments:

BaseballBucks33 said...

Great 1st inning for the Bucks. Minny is up 2-1 over Michigan in the 3rd. NW @ IU was rained out today.

4 of the last 6 said...

2nd and 3rd one out ... no runs
then next inning lead off man on ... nothing. No hitting (or even effective sacrificing) in the clutch?!! All year a problem. Makes you miss teams the 2002 through 2005 teams!!! Those guys always (or at least more often than not) found a way to get the key hit / bunt down. I guess that's why they won 3 tourney championships and this team .... well ... we'll see. But as bad as the 2nd tier pitching is they must get a bye in the first round AND not fall into the loser's bracket if they are not going to hit in key situations. OK they've only lost 5 games in conference so they must be doing something right; but 2 other teams are apparently doing it better and if we finish 3rd its going to be VERY tough

4 of the last 6 said...

We fail (again) to get the key 2 out hit Wimmers and / or Hale will have to do it apparently
Minn 8 Mich 1 beating Fetter so I would not be surprised to see Minn at least take 2 of 3

BaseballBucks33 said...

Todd needs to put Hurley on the bench and put Griffin in LF on Saturday. He is killing us at the plate lately.

BaseballBucks33 said...

Wimmers is in trouble now with Illini runners on 1st and 3rd with Argo up.

Chris said...

Stephens and Burkhart continue their HR derby.

Speaking of Stephens will he have more HR or HBP.

BaseballBucks33 said...

Way to go Dan! Get Hale warmed up for the 9th. Go Bucks!!

4 of the last 6 said...

nice inning ... but Haig has a 6.40 ERA in the Big 10. He may be the Fri. night guy; but their next 2 guys are (statistically) much better than Haig and ours ... well Wolo and then hold you breath. And that's not a shot at Best. As Chris recently stated; he's pitched sick and, more importantly, is not pitching in his best role. Bucks were counting on AA and / or Ross and Eric is doing an admirable job but the Bucks best have their hitting shoes on sun

4 of the last 6 said...

Swinging 3 and 0 ... WOW!!! thanks for the help!!

BaseballBucks33 said...

Come on Jake....nail this game down. Michigan down 8-5,top of the 9th

4 of the last 6 said...

I've followed Bucks baseball for a long time and Gus is in my top 5 all time favorites, so don't misunderstand ... but he's really been a burden to the team on the field (I'm sure he's great in the locker room). Weak hitting, poor baserunning and virtually nothing timely. Now a huge error (followed by Kovanda's)

4 of the last 6 said...

Bucks now HAVE to win the next 2 games and then would HAVE to sweep Iowa AND hope PSU sweeps Ill to pass Ill in the tournament seedings ... not likely. And with Mich not likely to help us vs. Min and Min playing Purdue next week (and given that we swept Purdue its likely that Min will at least win 1 or 2) we would not pass Min. either. Finish 3rd and you'll have to rely on Best, AA and Ross to all win (assuming Wimmers and Wolo win) to get to / win the tourney final. Noone to blame but self. Lack of clutch hitting, critical errors.

Chris said...

Tough game.

I personally could care less about the Big Ten tourney, would have been nice to get a league championship, though not impossible, does require help.

Though he wasn't on his A game, the guys in the field didn't have Hale's back.

Oh well you forget it and move on.

4 of the last 6 said...

Let me change the subject. How about thoughts on who leaves early ... Hurley? Dew? Wimmers? Burkhart? I seem to recall , when Deeds left as a sophmore, that there is some agreement betwen MLB and the NCAA about signing sophmores that had not reached a certain age. Deds qualified by just a few days so he could sign. I think that a ruling such as that are all that would keep Wimmers and Burkhart here

4 of the last 6 said...

could care less about the tourney !? Well I guess my posting about who is back next year is well timed for you Chris!! Lets talk about next year as there is virtually no chance we'll finish first and 'we (apparently) don't need no stinkin tourney'

Chris said...

None of the Sophomores are draft eligible. (Well Wolosiansky is but he is a r-soph) You must be 21 before the draft. This was the case with Luebke and Hale but they elected to return.

Wimmers and Burkhart are undraftable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stephens left now the way his season is going. Had thought Hurley would be a certain gone, probably still will be but he's in a slump right now.

A lot comes from summer leagues and the attention garnered there. Thats why Wimmers playing in the Cape is huge this summer.

Dew there is a small chance but unlikely.

BaseballBucks33 said...

We just blew the league cause we decided we did not want to play defense in the 9th inning. So much for winning the league. This sucks,we just gave this game away. No way we win the series now.

Chris said...

Well to be honest we really don't need to win the Big Ten tourney to see a Regional.

If you've followed anything that others around the nation have stated and spoke of in regards to regionals, the Bucks are fine.

I'd personally would love to see a situation unfold like Michigan in 2007, knocked out of the BTT early, rest and get after it in Regionals.

We're not helping ourselves in regards to hosting, but as long as we don't go 0-6 the rest of the way and two and done in the BTT we're fine.

4 of the last 6 said...

Chris ... with all due respect to you and 'others around the nation'; do you honestly believe this team ... probably a 3rd place in the Big 10 (one of the weakest conferences in the nation) and a 2-2 record in the (weak field) Big 10 tournament can get an at large over middle of the pack teams in the ACC / PAC 10 and SEC??!!! Yes the 'we'll never forget' Miami win ... but what else? The Louisville trip and the other weekday games certainly will not help. Yes we used mid week pitchers; but I believe that other teams use the same level of pitchers throughout ther season and have considerably more success. As with many of my closings this year I'll close by saying "hope I'm wrong"

Chris said...

Yes. There are a number of reasons.

Midweek games, especially post USD are receiving less and less weigh. People know the effects it has on pitching and depth and it's not an indication of a teams ability.

I wasn't too high on the Miami win, and I haven't been too low on the midweek torture. A one game match up of a teams 4th/5th pitchers who will not see the mound during a Regional isn't much to judge a team by, and everyone knows it. Even Sorenson in the interview discounted the L'Ville beatdowns.

You'd be surprised at some of the upsets, that occur throughout the nation during midweek games. Heck Minnesota lost to a DII school last week.

Second, though the Big Ten isn't a power, this season it hasn't been a slouch and horrible. In 2007 two at-large teams were selected in Michigan and Minnesota. There RPIs that year, 38, and 55 respectively

The Bucks will finish with an RPI in the 40s. Northern schools with RPI's that high receive bids.

Third, our "bad losses" are fairly limited to 4. Marshall, Maine, Ball State, Northwestern. Two of those again midweek.

Conference records do hold weight, even if you want to discount the Big Ten. As does winning games on the road.

Lastly, this thing called the RPI is still huge, whether it is a true indicator or not, it weighs a lot. OSU winning percentage, and the fact they've beat some OK teams, not too many bad loses, and the majority of the losses coming against good teams, has their RPI in the mid 30s.

We're fine.

Chris said...

If OSU was Kent State who has an equal record, but only 1 quality win, a handful of terrible losses, and an overall horible SOS, not to mention an RPI in the 70s, then you worry a no bid.

History shows the Bucks are ok right now. Now lose 2/3 to Iowa without snaggin two in Illinois, then the RPI takes a hit from the bad losses, but right now, no need to panic. Especially when everyone to this point has projected a 2-seed. If we were a 3 then it'd be different, but thats 16 teams who have been thought to have a weaker resume.