Around the Big Ten (Baseball): March 30
The start of conference play brought some fun action for the Big Ten conference this past week.
Among the slate of games, both Indiana and Michigan ended the weekend with a 3-0 record in the Big Ten to stand out in the early point of the season.
Indiana shined on the offensive side of the plate in a series sweep against Ohio State.
The Hoosiers scored over seven runs in all three games which included a 14-run day in the opening game.
That 14-6 win came after the Hoosiers found themselves down 6-0 following the top of the first, but they came out on top after a three-hit, four-RBI day from first baseman Brock Tibbitts.
After the sweep, Indiana improved its record at home to an impressive 15-0 to open up the season, being one of five Big Ten teams with a perfect home record although the Hoosiers have played more home games than any of them.
The Michigan Wolverines were the other Big Ten team to record a sweep last weekend in three games against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
In two of those games, the Wolverines blew out the Nittany Lions by a combined score of 25-7.
On Sunday, Penn State kept it close but a four-hit day on offense wasn’t enough to keep up with a Michigan team that struggled on that side as well, but still picked up the 3-1 win.
Despite these two results, the only Big Ten team in the top-25 is the Iowa Hawkeyes who sit at No. 25.
Iowa has not started conference play yet as that gets underway this weekend against Maryland, but the Hawkeyes had a nine-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday at the hands of Illinois State.
The Redbirds got the best of the Hawkeyes by a final score of 5-3. This was largely due to a three-run bottom of the eighth inning that Illinois State had stemming from small-ball.
Elsewhere around the Big Ten, the Michigan State Spartans have a 2-1 record in the conference and are riding a three-game winning streak.
Two of those wins came from a doubleheader against Purdue with the opening game being decided by one run.
A three-run bottom of the eighth inning played a big factor in that 5-4 Spartans win, as shortstop Mitch Jebb added a three-hit day.
Maryland is also on a three-game winning streak with all of those wins coming out of conference.
The Terrapins added the first two of those wins in the back half of their series against UCF.
In the final game of the series, the Terrapins fought off a late comeback in the 8-6 win with two home runs from shortstop Matt Shaw.
Following that weekend series, the Terrapins picked up a 10-7 win against Georgetown on Tuesday. Third baseman Nick Lorusso homered in the win and added three RBIs in the non-conference win.
Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
