Buckeye Nine: Big Ten Tournament, the exclamation point on a great season

As rock band Carolina Liar in their top 100 hit Show Me What I'm Looking For in the chorus belts "Oh lord I’ve been waiting for you.... show me what I'm looking for," no truer words can reflect the 2009 Big Ten baseball season.


Hardball fans around the Midwest have waited far too long for a spring such as one the one this Big Ten baseball season provided. The last four days at Huntington Park was the crowning event, a summation if you will, of two months in which the Big Ten saw the red-headed step child of the "big three" sports finally find a home at the family dinner table with welcomed arms. Even if baseball is still a foot shorter and 40 pounds lighter than its big brother's basketball and football, baseball hit a growth spurt and hopefully that gap narrows and narrows in the upcoming years.

The season started with Michigan and Indiana receiving the accolades, praise, and attention, with expectations of the Big Ten to produce another ho-hum season, one which would not receive any national merit. I mean we're talking Big Ten, northern baseball, a joke compared to the south and west and the power conferences of the ACC, PAC-10, SEC right? Oh boy where those expectations wrong.

It was not Indiana, nor Michigan who week after week could be found in the baseball polls and various rankings. After the first weekend Ohio State went the entire year being ranked by at least one publication. The Buckeyes were not alone either. Illinois and Minnesota spent considerable teams in the top 30s of numerous publications. In fact the preseason favorite Wolverines would wind up being overwhelmed, limping to a 9-15 conference record, finishing 7th after back-to-back-to-back Big Ten conference championships.

Indiana after a slow start in non-conference play went through the Big Ten at a blistering pace. The Hoosiers finished Big Ten play with an 16-7 record, that's winning 70% of your games folks. The mindblower, that winning percentage only allowed the Hoosiers to finish THIRD in the conference as Minnesota went 17-6, and conference champion Ohio State 18-6. Oh and for good measure, Illinois made it four teams that finished within 2 games of first with a 16-8 record. The Illini won 2 of every 3 games and finished fourth. Remarkable.

Not only did the conference see its championship come down to the last day of the regular season, it had individual performances that rival and its probable top any performances the Big Ten has seen in decades. The run of brilliance started Michigan State's Nolan Moody as he would no-hit Northwestern on April 2nd. Moody's no-hitter was the first Big Ten game played in McLane stadium in East Lansing. What's better than a no-hitter? Two no hitters. The second conference no-hitter came courtesy Alex Wimmer's as the Buckeye would no-hit Michigan on May 4th in a 6-0 victory over the arch-rival Wolverines.

Not to take anything away from Moody as his performance, no not at all that is an incredible feat and needs not undermined. However the Wimmer's no-hitter had a special meaning to it.

-Unlike the Moody no-no, the Wimmer's performance was captured live on the Big Ten Network. And replayed again, and again, and again over the next few days. This was HUGE. Obviously Ohio State-Michigan regardless of sport has a certain ring no other rivalries have sorry IU-Purdue, Northwestern-Illinois, etc. People around the nation caught a glimpse at the talent the Big Ten has.

-The attention Wimmers received from national media members like Aaron Fitt, Kendal Rogers, and Eric Sorenson further put Ohio State and the Big Ten into the limelight and brought attention to the conference.

-It solidified Ohio State as a team that can truly beat any in the nation. The Bucks had a high ranking but not many had seen them or really paid attention to them.

-Lastly it would kickstart a heated competition and race for the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year with Indiana's Eric Arnett who at the time had a sub-2.00 ERA and seemingly was throwing complete games in every start making opposing schools look like high school JV teams. The two shared Big Ten pitcher of the week honors for the weekend of April 9th as they before threw complete games, striking out 11 in the process. This wouldn't be the only award they would share.

Also in the string of incredible individual performances Minnesota's Derek McCallum belt 6 home runs and 20 RBI in a single week. That is some players entire year. Over the last two weekends Ohio State's Justin Miller carried the Buckeyes to the conference championship hitting .576 going 15-for-26 being the only conference player to receive back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week honors. Amazing performance were seemingly produced weekly by Illinois' Brandon Wikoff and Willie Argo, or Indiana's Alex Dickerson, Josh Phegley, Michigan's Chris Fetter or Ryan LaMarre, Purdue with Brandon Haveman and Dan Black. Week after week a different star in the Big Ten would step up and put on a show.

The Big Ten will litter All American lists over the next few weeks. With co-Big Ten Pitchers of the Year Arnett and Wimmers leading the way, Phegley, Burkhart, McCallum, Fetter, Wikoff, Dickerson, and Ohio State's Jake Hale surely to be included. Not even mentioned have been the amazing season's by Michigan State's Eric Roof, Ohio State's Ryan Dew, Illinois' Dominic Altobelli, Indiana's Kipp Schultz and Matt Bashore.

I haven't witnessed a Big Ten season with as many stars and gaudy performances on a consistent basis. The talent in the Big Ten is starting to build and people are starting to recognize that. Though stars like Arnett, Bashore, Phegley, Hale, and McCallum are expected to be drafted and move on, Dickerson, Burkhart, and Wimmers are underclassmen just scratching the surface and will return.

Amazing performances, great teams, and a heated battle for the conference crown would be more than enough to make the season special. Not so fast my friends. For the first time since 1994 the Big Ten went to a pre-determined site for the conference tournament, and it'll probably be another 15 seasons before they make a change to that format.

Taking place at brand new Huntington Park in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Big Ten hosted a conference tournament that surpasses anything the conference has seen to date. To be quite honest, the actual games let a lot to be desired, only one game, Ohio State-Illinois had any sense of drama and that ended with a Ohio State 3-run victory. Indiana scorched the field tallying 47 runs in 4 games, allowed just 10.

The Hoosiers secured a berth in the NCAA tournament, a field that will see three Big Ten schools competing. That ties the most teams the Big Ten will see in a NCAA Regional, the last time occurring in 2007, that courtesy 6th seed Ohio State winning the Big Ten Tournament and gaining the auto-bid otherwise it would not have occurred.

The 2009 NCAA tournament will see three 3 Big Ten schools with better than solid chances of making noise and further putting the Big Ten on the college baseball map. By all means a 4th Big Ten team, Illinois should be in the field, but the numbers will unfortunately leave the Illini out of the mix. That is a team that did travel down to top-5 LSU and take 2/3 against the Tigers in the Bayou and deserves a bid, but that's an argument for a different day. Ohio State's Bob Todd echoed my thoughts saying “I really believe that, as you take a look at the Big Ten Conference, that we have four teams that are very deserving (of an NCAA Tournament berth), and Illinois is one of those teams.”

After a 2008 season with 1 regional team, 3 is more than a step in the right direction.

Back to the tournament.

The 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament drew a total of 12,219 fans over a four-day period, marking the conference’s highest overall attendance number in at least the past decade. The previous high in that span was 6,728, set in 1999 when Ohio State hosted the tournament at Bill Davis Stadium. The single-day high for the 2009 event was 4,575, set on Thursday, marking the largest total in at least the past decade. The single-day mark exceeds the previous high of 3,012, also set in 1999. To better look into the record books will probably show very few tournaments put more butts in seats than this one.

Outside of just the attendance, the operation was ran at a first class rate. Big Ten official, Huntington Park, and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission official did not miss one aspect in putting on the event. Media was treat exceptionally. Fans witnessed baseball in a beautiful, amazing ball park. In large part due to the hometown Buckeyes, the atmosphere and excitement in the air was alive and well during the primetime Thursday and Friday games. The collective joy and anticipation from Hoosier nation made Saturday's lack of attendance fairly moot.

Day after day coaches and players would rave about their experience and what the tournament felt like.

In a brief statement after being eliminated in a tough loss, Purdue's Brandon Haveman would say about the tournament “The facilities are really nice. The playing field was really nice. I had a great time." His sentiments were not alone.

Ohio State's Cory Kovanda also after elimination would say “It was exciting. It was a new atmosphere for us, a different atmosphere than Bill Davis. Of course it was great to see all the Ohio State fans out there, but that was real fun.”

Indiana's Kipp Schultz would say the following at the conclusion of the tournament “From the facilities and everything else to how we were treated by staff, I certainly can’t imagine a conference tournament that was run better than this one.”

Each head coach after their last game made it an issue to thank the Big Ten, Huntington Park, and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission for the show they put on. Be it Purdue's Doug Schreiber, Indiana's Tracy Smith, Minnesota's John Anderson, Michigan State's Jake Boss Jr., Illinois Dan Hartleb, and Ohio State's Bob Todd, there was a genuine and honest appreciation and wow effect of the tournament.

Every game was played lived on the Big Ten Network and replayed throughout the day. Though the shining moments from an audience perspective would have been the two evening games with Ohio State playing drawing 4,000+, each game showed the Big Ten's step in the right direction. The Big Ten will probably not see 3 of it's schools in the Omaha field of 8 at the College World Series, but its not ridiculous for a team to dream of such a trip and to achieve it. A spectacular season, a spectacular tournament and spectacular goals are alive and well in the Big Ten. That folks is what I've been looking for, and oh lord I've been waiting for it.



The Buckeye Nine would like to thank everyone for their support of Ohio State an Big Ten Baseball and hopes the Big Ten can truly grow from this season.

Big Ten Network: Championship Game video and reactions

Highlights



Reaction



Indiana coach Tracy Smith

On winning the team’s first Big Ten Tournament championship since 1996:
“I am very pleased, obviously, for our guys. I just said to our seniors to think about where we were four years ago. And we talked about what a neat experience it will be to play in a regional and I am very glad these guys will get to experience that because they have worked very hard for it.”

On qualifying for the NCAA Tournament:
“It is awesome to go to a (regional), but I told the kids to don’t think for a second that we can’t get to the ultimate thing (the College World Series). The kids we throw out 1-2 (Arnett and Bashore) are as good as anybody in the country, and the way we are playing as a team right now and the way we are swinging the bats, anything is certainly possible.”

On the performance of Blake Monar and Matt Igel:
“We waited for a long time for two guys to step up and we got that out of them this weekend. And the neat thing about it is, they are both freshman. We wouldn’t be where we are right now if those guys didn’t do a good job shutting down good baseball teams.”

Senior outfielder Chris Hervey

On winning the Big Ten Tournament:
“I have been here for four years and I have seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst. It is a testament to our players that we can get here and play so well. We kept our eye on the goal and we worked hard to get there.”

On the tournament experience:
“From the facilities and everything else to how we were treated by staff, I certainly can’t imagine a conference tournament that was run better than this one.”

On fan support:
“We are sports fans in Indiana and we wanted a team to cheer and we are that team.”


Minnesota coach John Anderson

Opening comments:

“First of all, I would like to congratulate Indiana University on winning the tournament championship. They deserved to win the championship because they played excellent baseball for four days on all facets of the game. They should be commended for that.”

On his team's experience in the tournament:
“I'm extremely proud of our guys that after a difficult loss against an outstanding pitcher Thursday that we were able to bounce back and find the energy and the competitiveness and the determination to try to fight our way back in this thing. To me, that was impressive. I have no regrets. I couldn't be prouder of them.”

On fighting through the loser’s bracket to reach the championship game
“If you look at our team, we played consistently well all year long. I don't think you can play consistently well all year long, unless you can weather some of the storms that come up in the course of the individual games, weekends and series as the year goes along and I think they have a tremendous ability to stay focused and not get to far ahead of themselves and the ability to bounce back and get ready for the next opportunity and not get stuck on what happen. This group has been unbelievable to forgive themselves and move on.”

Day 3 in video

The day kicked off with Minnesota and Purdue squaring off in an elimination game. The Gophers would take command after Purdue took an early 3-1 lead. The Gophers had 3 home runs on the day. Purdue's John Cummins had a 2-run home run but it wasn't enough as they fell 12-3.

Highlights



Purdue Coach Doug Schreiber's post game press conference



With the Minnesota victory they advanced to play Illinois in elimination game 2 of the day. The Gophers' bats did not cool down. More home runs flew out of Huntington Park, Minnesota's Nick O'Shea with a pair. Minnesota won 13-4.



Minnesota's head coach John Anderson addresses the media after the game...



Illinois' head coach Dan Hartleb and his post game comments...



The offensive shows and lopsided victories did not stop in the night cap. Indiana pounded out 13 runs against Ohio State to win 13-3 and move into today's championship game.

Big Ten Network Indiana-Purdue video

Indiana-Purdue highlights



Eric Arnett's post game comments



Indiana's Chris Hervey's post game comments

Big Ten Network Illinois-Michigan State video

Illinois-Michigan State highlights





Michigan State's Head Coach Jake Boss and Captain Eric Roof reflect on the loss vs. Illinois




Illinois head coach Dan Bartleb and players Willie Argo and Pete Cappetta post game interview

The Big Ten Network Previews the Big Ten Tournament

Don't forget each and every game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.