Live Blog May 23rd

2:16-Another absolutely perfect day outside for the first game today, featuring the #2 seed Minnesota and the #1 seed Ohio State. The victor gets a rematch against Indiana at 7:05 (the Hoosiers crushed both of these teams in the first meeting). The loser goes home.

Minnesota will be having Fern pitch tonight. Their lineup will be Nohelty, Pettersen, McCallum, Kvasnicka, Knudson, O'Shea, Decker, Gominsky and Geason.

Ohio State will be throwing Eric Best. Their lineup will be Hurby, Kovanda, Stephens, Burkhart, Drew, Miller, Arp, Engle and Streng

Another note to consider in the "should we continue to host the Big Ten tournament at Huntington Park" discussion. Through three days, 9,429 fans have come through the turnstiles. According to the Big Ten, that three-day total is the highest *total* attendance number in more than a decade. 6,728 came when the event was at Ohio State's Bill Davis stadium in 1999. Over 5,000 attended at Michigan's Ray Fisher last year, which was the 3rd highest total since 1999. This is also the first neutral site for the tournament in 15 years.

Not sure how many people we'll be getting here tonight, but I think it is already safe to say that as far as putting fans in the seats, Huntington Park has been a great success. Feel free to comment your thoughts. Should they host it here again? What about at other minor league parks (like Dayton, Ft.Wayne, etc).

2:47- Here are some more random thoughts before game time:
Minnesota has won at least one game now in their last 16 tournament appearances, and at least twice in their last 8. They have also faced Ohio State at least once in their last 8 appearances. For what its worth though, Ohio State has a 16-13 record against the Gophers in tournament play.

-Matt Nohelty's 4 stolen bases tie three other players for the most in a single Big Ten tournament.

-McCallum's homer against Purdue gave him 16 on the season, which is the 5th most in school history, and most by a Golden Gopher since 1999.

-Ohio State is only hitting .281 so far in the tournament, with a measly two extra base hits. OSU opponents are hitting .307

-The Bucks have yet to go yard here in Huntington Park. They are 29-3 when they hit a home run. Watch for that today.

2:58, They opened the gates a few min ago, and the crowd is sort of trickling in. I don't expect to get a showing anything like we saw for the last two Buckeye games, although they should still have the crowd advantage. The Gopher fans, while small in number, have certainly made themselves heard so far...but it looks like there are fewer and fewer of them each game.

Also, I just went and stood at the Hamburger Balcony. It was everything I hoped it would be.

3:13- The Big Ten Network boys are giving their pregame broadcast right above me. I feel a little sorry for them, since they have to wear those suits and have those bright spotlights next to them. They must be burning up.

3:18-I'm checking over some of the team stats right now. Ohio State is near the bottom of just about every offensive category. Only 10 runs scored, 21 total bases (Minny has 57), a .328 slugging percentage, 9 RBIs (Minny has 24), etc etc.

Granted, the Buckeyes have only played 2 games so far, and Minny has three, but the bats will have to do a better job if Ohio State hopes to be playing again today (or tomorrow).

3:25- Dippin' Dots sound really good right now. I wonder where is the closest place I could buy some.

They've been saying Dippin Dots are going to be the Ice Cream of the Future for about as long as I've been alive...whats the deal? Can you buy them in grocery stores, or can you only get them for 4 bucks at baseball games, amusement parks or state fairs? I gotta tell you...so far, the future has been a disappointment. No flying cars, and dippin dots have yet to make the big time. (Chris)

3:37 Matt Nohelty leading off the gamne. He leads off the game with a single.
Terrible pickoff throw by Best advances nohelty to 2nd.
Petterson flies out to shower center.
McCallum rips a double to center, scoring Nohelty. 1-0 Golden Gophers. The small Gopher faithful are on their feet. I think there are maybe 1,000 people here, but most obviously are for the Buckeyes.
Kvasnicka grounds to a fielders choice. McCallum is gunned down trying to get to third. One on, 2 outs
Knudson rips a single right up the middle. Runners on 1st and 2nd for Nick O'Shea
Nick O'Shea doubles everybody in. 3-0 Gophers. Rough start so far for Best. buncha hits and that ugly error.
Eric Decker gets a bloop single to drop, scoring O'Shea. 4-0.
Gominsky hits a sharp grounder to short, but Engle couldn't get a throw off. 2nd and 1st, two outs for Geason.
Greason strikes out. 4 runs, 6 hits and one buckeye error later, the top half of the first is over. Best is not looking so great. I think he topped out at 85 MPH, and wasn't showing a lot of confidence out there.

3:55 Zach Hurley leading off, and stars things off right with a first pitch single to center
Kovanda singles in a perfect Hit n Run. Runners on the corners for Stephens.
Three straight singles for the Buckeyes. 1st and 2nd, and the Bucks get on the board. 4-1 Gophers.
Burkhart continues the hit parade with a deep single to left. 4-2, with runners on the corners. Those 1,000 people just made themselves very loud. Dew up. We're calling the Hamburger Balcony right here.

3:58, no balcony, but the 5th straight single for the Buckeyes...and the Gophers are having a mound conference for Fern. 4-3, runners on 1st and 2nd for Miller.

Miller Sac fly advances a runner. 1st and 3rd, one out for Arp. Wild pitch advances the runner to second. Pitching conference again. Arp swing and a miss for strike three. Engle batting....and Engle sitting, for another strike out. Big opportunity lost there. Great hitting, but you just can't leave runners in scoring position, 'specially if your pitching is going to give up 6 hits an inning.

4:07 Nohelty back up, and flies out to deep left field. One away.
Petterson walks on four straight pitches.
McCallum singles, Petterson to second.
Kvasnicka up. Man, if I covered the Gophers every single day, I still wouldn't be able to spell Kvansnicka. Kvansnicka is robbed of extra bases by a great catch in left field. Runners hold, two away for Knudson.
Engle with a great diving stop gets the force at 2nd, ending the inning. Great glovework by the Buckeyes to keep any more runs from scoring. Best looked a little better, but I think the Bucks better plan on scoring a lot today.

Had to retreat to the pressbox for a few, since my laptop needs charging. I don't really like reporting from here, since my view of the game is terrible and I have to practically watch it on TV. However, it does have AC, and I am that much closer to the bowl of pretzels. Zach Hurley is batting for the Buckeyes, one away.

Quick flyout, Kovanda up. Kovanda rips a sharp single right back up the middle. Stephens up now. Stolen base for Kovanda.

The crowd has started to fill out a little more. I am pretty bad at estimating this sort of thing, but there is comfortably more than 1,000 people...maybe 1,300? Not too shabby for a daytime game.

Stephens rips an RBI single, and now we're tied, 4-4. Burkhart flies to center to end the inning. One run, two hits, no errors and one left on. After 2, we have a tie game, 4-4.

4:27, top 3, and Nick O'Shea is batting. He's had quite a tournament so far...but Best strikes him out anyways.

Eric Decker just took Best yard (soooooo close to the Hamburger Balcony. 5-4 Gophers.

Gominsky smacks one deep, but is caught just before it bounces off the Hamburger Balcony. No, Wendys isn't paying for me for product placement...that just happens to be where the Gopphers keep hitting the ball. Two away. Geason flies out to end the inning. One hit, one run, no errors, nobody left on. 5-4 Minny

4:34 Arp batting, one on, one out. Wild pitch advances the runner, and the Minny crowd wants interference on Arp. The ball did kind of bounce off his foot...

Arp flies out, runner stays at second. Engle hitting. Engle can't beat out the throw after a grounder, and the inning is over. The 3rd inning is in the books, and the Golden Gophers lead the Buckeyes 5-4.

Matt Nohelty leading off for the 4th, and he knocks a single into left center. Best is still throwing for the Bucks. Petterson up now.

Petterson grounds up the middle...it should have been a double play ball, but the SS bobbles it, and everybody is safe. 2 on for the very dangerous Derek McCallum.

McCallum is called out at first after a short grounder, and he is not happy about it at all. The TV replay looks like he was out by about a foot. The runners advance though, so it was still a pretty productive at bat. 2 on for Kvansnicka.

Kvansicka flies out, and Stephens' throw keeps anybody from scoring.

Best is being replaced with #12 Drew Rucinski on the mound. Knudson up, and Knudson promptly back down after grounding out to Rucinski.

Bottom of the 4th coming up.

In other news, I am so freaking sick of the Clipper Credit Card song they play after every 4th inning here. It gets stuck in my head and I find myself singing it on the way home, much to the chagrin of everybody in my car.

4:53 Matt Streng up to back for the Buckeyes, and draws the walk...something we haven't seen too often from the Buckeyes this weekend.

Zach Hurley up now, runner on first. Hurley grounds into a double play. Two away for Kovanda, who flies out.

Pitchers are starting to settle down. Its about five o'clock heading into the 5th inning, with the Gophers clinging to a 5-4 lead.

O'Shea flies out to right to start the inning. Eric Decker up, who hommered his last time up. He's batting .375 against Ohio State this season. Decker draws a walk.

Gominsky up. Decker *just* steals second. Gominsky smacks a double to right, scoring Decker. 6-4 Minny now, with Geason up. Minny has a dangerous lineup. Geason grounds out, Nohelty up, and down, after a flyout. Time for the Buckeyes to string some hits together again. 6-4 Minny after 5 and a half.

In unrelated news, I think I've had three cups of pretzels, and i'm ready for something else. All the luxury boxes are unoccupied, but they still have fresh fruit and granola bars. I wonder how much trouble I would get in if I walked down there and stole a banana? (Clippers Officials, I said *wondered*, not *I will go right now*)

Stephens up for the Buckeyes. Fern is still pitching for the Golden Gophers. Stephens gets the party started with a sharp single up the middle. Burkart up next.

Crowd starting to really get into it now, spontaneously standing and cheering. Burkhart grounds to second, but Stephens is safe at second. One out, one on for Ryan Dew. Minny will take this opportunity to replace Fern with Luke Rasmussen. After a rough first inning, Fern settled down and gave the Gophers some solid innings.

Nice grab to rob Dew of a bloop single. Stephens stays at second, Miller up.
Miller takes it deep, but misses a home run by maybe 4 feet. The ball is caught, and the inning is over. At the end of five (at 5:20), Minny still is up 6-4

Petterson grounds out to first to lead off the top of the 6th inning. McCallum up. A GREAT catch in right field robs him of a hit. The buckeye defense has made a few errors today, but I think they have also made some pretty tough plays as well....overall, I think the balance is about equal.

Kvasnicka singles to right.

Knudson walks. None of those 5 pitches looked very good.

5:28 tough break for the buckeyes, after a few infield hits, Decker knocks in two more with an RBI single. 8-4 Gophers. The buckeyes have to stop the bleeding now before the game totally gets away from them.
Gominsky grounds into a fielders choice and the inning is over. 8 13 0 for Minn. 4 8 2 for OSU, heading into the bottom of the 6th. Ohio State needs a run in this inning badly, to start to establish somne 'mo with the bats. Since that first inning, they've been awfully quiet with the sticks.

Arp leading off for the Buckeyes, and he quickly strikes out. Arp has flat out not looked good at all. Engle eeks out a single.

Streng grounds into a fielders choice, Engle to second. Hurley needs to get a real, legit single right now. Hurley flies out to right. One hit, no runs, no errors, one left on. Heading into the 7th, Minny leads 8-4.

Geason grounds out to start the 7th inning. Matt Nohelty steals his 5th base of the tournament, setting a big ten record. AJ Petterson lays out a perfect bunt, and slides headfirst into first. Everybody is safe. 1st and 3rd, one out. With the way they're hitting, the Buckeyes CANNOT afford to give up any more runs.

McCallum hits a sac fly, scoring Nohelly. 9-4 Gophers, one on, 2 out. After a balk, the runner advances. I dunno if people are getting sleepy, of if it is the quality of play or what, but there is almost no energy in the park right now. Ohio State needs to do something and they need to do it fast. End of the inning. 9-4 Minny.

5:55 Maybe the 7th inning stretch will wake everybody up. From the looks of it though, everybody is just getting up to get more food.

Kovanda up. According to The College Baseball Blog, OSU is predicted to be in the Atlanta regional with Georgia Tech, Jacksonville and Georgia Southern. Interesting. Kovanda grounded out, and Stephens strikes out. Burkhart up now.

There is some controversy now. It looks like Burkhart hit a home run, but some of the umps are calling it a ground rule double. It looked to obviously be a home run to me, we'll see what the umps say after they confer. It hit the top of the yellow line. WHy hold him up at second? If that isn't a home run, isnt it a live ball?

After the conference, he gets the homer. 9-5 Minny. Hopefully thats the shot in the arm the Buckeyes needed.

Dew hits a solid single to left now. The crowd seems to have awoken a little. Lots of LETS GO BUCKS now. Miller grounds out though to end the rally.

Two innings left now for the Scarlet and Gray.
Minny 9 15 0
OSU 5 11 2

To the eighth we go!

Jake Hale taking the mound for Ohio State. That should keep Minny from scoring any more runs at least. Knudson leading off with a single.

O'Shea grounds into a double play. Eric Decker up, and he bunts himself on with an infield single, then advances on an error.

Gominsky strikes out to end the top half of the 8th. two hits, one error, one left on for the Golden Gophers.

6:13-Arp leading off. This dude needed a hit in the worst way, and he gets one with a single to right field.

Another single for Engle. 1st and 2nd, nobody out for Matt Streng. Minny pitcher and catcher are talking it over. Real big at bat here.

Scott Matyas comes into the game to pitch for Minny. Full count on Streng...then he strikes out swinging.

Hurley strikes out looking. Kovada needs an RBI here.

And he delivers! Clutch single there for Kovada. 1st and 2nd again, 2 outs for Stephens. 9-6. LETS GO BUCKS is being yelled everywhere.

Aaand Stephens quickly goes down swinging. Matyas was awfully strong that inning. 9-6 Minny heading into the ninth.

6:28 Geason goes down looking. Matt Nohelty up now, who grounds to short.

Pettersen is plunked in the back. McCallum now, who grounds to second.

Do or die time folks, because its the bottom of the ninth. THhe Golden Gophers still have a 9-6 lead.

6:35 Dan Burkhart leading off. If anybody can deliver a big hit today, its prob this guy.

Burkart flies out to shortstop. Ryan Dew up to the plate. Dew hits a nice shot, but its grabbed by the center fielder for out number two. Ohio State's chances for playing again tonight in front of their home crowd now rest on Justin Miller.

Miller smacks a shot to left field for a stand up double. Arp now up at the plate.

Arp is just kinda flailing at the ball right now. 0-2.

Arps pops up, and thats all she wrote folks. The Gophers get a rematch with Indiana in an hour for the Big Ten title. Ohio State is eliminated, and will wait to see where in the country they will be shipped for regional action.

It is hard to pin the blame on any one thing here. Outside of a few isloated innings, Ohio State never really hit particularly well. Of special concern was their inability to get extra base hits. Part of that could be chalked up to impatience at the plate. OSU didn't draw many walks, and swung at a *lot* of first pitches.

However, this loss isn't the end of the world. OSU wouldn't have had much pitching left for the Big Ten Final, and winning today was unlikely to change their seeding all that much. OSU now has a few extra days to hit the cages, rest up, and get ready for next week. So far, I think its been obvious that Indiana has the most to play for. OSU and Minny have spots basically locked up. Illinois might be on the wrong side of the bubble (bet they're rooting for the Gophers tonight!), but Indiana absolutely has to win tonight to extend their season.

Should be interesting to see what the crowd will be like for the title game, since Ohio State won't be around. I doubt we see any more than the two dozen or so (loud) Minnesota supporters show up, and Indiana didn't have a huge delegation either. What will the "curious baseball fan" market be?