All Things 2016 Gophers Baseball Season Thread

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They should cancel the last game at Michigan, it's just too cold to be playing this weekend. Players could easily get hurt. Monday is suppose to be a lot warmer but it's too late by then. Great series!
 

Golden04 said:
They should cancel the last game at Michigan, it's just too cold to be playing this weekend. Players could easily get hurt. Monday is suppose to be a lot warmer but it's too late by then. Great series!
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I don't think it would be a surprise at all if it was canceled. Along with the cold weather it looks like there is a pretty good chance of rain/snow. Both teams also used their Sunday starters for a couple innings in yesterdays 2nd game so I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches were pretty skeptical of being able to play Sunday too.
 

I was thinking whether John would have gone back to Tobey on Sunday since he already pitched on Friday. I kind of doubt it, since coach is pretty conservative the way he handles the pitching staff. I think in this cold weather he'd been more concerned about injuries. I bet he would have used the mid-week pitching staff not wanting to risk injuries to the weekend pitchers. I would have started McDevitt myself. He looked good last mid-week game and I'd put my trust more in a Senior to pitch at Michigan. If the weather does make the 28 degrees wind chill so they can play, I'd try to have an agreement with the Michigan coach to play 5 innings and call it a day. Just make the game official and get out of there.

I hear our Tuesday's game will be around 50 degrees and then by next weekend it will feel like Summer. So hopefully all this cold weather is behind us.
 


Playing a double header on Friday and cancelling the rest of the series was the smart thing to do. It looks from here on out the cold weather is behind us.
 


SelectionSunday said:
No game Sunday.
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So what happens if the game is decisive in the standings? Could be a good possibility. Can they play it at the end of the season?

Shortened series or not, a sweep of the Wolverines is big for RPI and B1G standings.
 

Holy Man said:
So what happens if the game is decisive in the standings? Could be a good possibility. Can they play it at the end of the season?

Shortened series or not, a sweep of the Wolverines is big for RPI and B1G standings.
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These games aren't made up. One year we didn't win the Big Ten Title because someone had played 2 more games than us and won one of them. So we had a better win percentage but they had more wins. I guess that's just the way it goes.
 

Holy Man said:
So what happens if the game is decisive in the standings? Could be a good possibility. Can they play it at the end of the season?

Shortened series or not, a sweep of the Wolverines is big for RPI and B1G standings.
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Won't be made up believe the conference standings go by win percentage now so it shouldn't be a big deal.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Won't be made up believe the conference standings go by win percentage now so it shouldn't be a big deal.
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Maybe the year I remember we were the team with more wins but lost on percentage. I remember thinking it was pretty shady the way they did it. But I don't think there is a better answer for crappy northern weather in April.
 



B1G RPI Top 5 (through weekend of April 10)/Current B1G Tournament Seedings

A couple of really important series this weekend, Maryland @ the Gophers, and Nebraska @ Michigan. In addition, Michigan will play @ Michigan State on Tuesday in a significant (RPI-wise) non-conference game.

B1G RPI Top 5
#20 GOPHERS (16-10, 4-1)
#34 Michigan State (21-6, 5-1)
#43 Maryland (18-15, 4-2)
#45 Michigan (21-8, 3-2)
#60 Rutgers (14-16, 2-4)

Movin' On In: Rutgers
Movin' On Out: Nebraska

This Weekend
Michigan State (5-1) @ Purdue (0-9)
Maryland (4-2) @ GOPHERS (4-1)
Nebraska (7-2) @ Michigan (3-2)
Iowa (5-4) @ Indiana (4-2)
Penn State (5-4) @ Northwestern (2-7)
Rutgers (2-4) @ Ohio State (2-4)
Saint Louis @ Illinois (non-conference)

Current B1G Tournament Seedings
1. Michigan State (5-1)
2. GOPHERS (4-1)
3. Nebraska (7-2)
4. Maryland (4-2)
5. Indiana (4-2)
6. Michigan (3-2)
7. Penn State (5-4)
8. Iowa (5-4)
 

I'm not an RPI expert, but it seems like since we are ahead of everybody in the Big Ten in RPI, we have to be perfect on the mid-week and weekends to gain any ground in the RPI. I could be wrong but where we are at in the RPI, going up is going to be a slow process and going down can happen rather quickly. I'm not an expert just my opinion.
 


Golden04 said:
. ... I could be wrong but where we are at in the RPI, going up is going to be a slow process and going down can happen rather quickly. I'm not an expert just my opinion.
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That's a pretty accurate assessment. Losing mid-week games to poor teams (especially at home) will drop the RPI significantly. That's why I think it was smart for Michigan & MSU to add this non-conference game about a week ago. It's a quality-win opportunity for both, but if you lose it (especially Michigan because it's a road game) it's not going to kill you in the RPI.
 





NCAA Field of 64 Based Solely on RPI

The NCAA Tournament is not based solely on RPI, obviously, but if it were here's a rough guide of what the Field of 64 would look like.

RPI Field of 64 (through April 13)
#1 Florida (at-large 1)
#2 Miami (ACC)
#3 South Carolina (SEC)
#4 Louisville (at-large 2)
#5 Ole Miss (at-large 3)
#6 Florida State (at-large 4)
#7 Clemson (at-large 5)
#8 Texas Tech (Big XII)
#9 UCSB (at-large 6)
#10 Texas A&M (at-large 7)
#11 South Alabama (Sun Belt)
#12 NC State (at-large 8)
#13 Southern Miss (Conference USA)
#14 Vanderbilt (at-large 9)
#15 College of Charleston (Colonial)
#16 North Carolina (at-large 10)
#17 Mississippi State (at-large 11)
#18 Coastal Carolina (Big South)
#19 Minnesota (at-large 12)
#20 Georgia Tech (at-large 13)
#21 Louisiana (at-large 14)
#22 Rice (at-large 15)
#23 Pitt (at-large 16)
#24 LSU (at-large 17)
#25 East Carolina (at-large 18)
#26 Creighton (Big East)
#27 TCU (at-large 19)
#28 Old Dominion (at-large 20)
#29 Kentucky (at-large 21)
#30 Michigan State (B1G)
#31 Gonzaga (West Coast)
#32 Cal (Pac 12)
#33 BYU (at-large 22)
#34 Oregon State (at-large 23)
#35 FAU (at-large 24)
#36 Northwestern State (at-large 25)
#37 Bryant (Northeast)
Last 8 In
#38 NC-Wilmington (at-large 26)
#39 Maryland (at-large 27)
#40 Oklahoma State (at-large 28)
#41 Lamar (at-large 29)
#42 Southeast Missouri State (at-large 30)
#43 Cal State-Fullerton (at-large 31)
#44 Virginia (at-large 32)
#45 Michigan (at-large 33)
Resume
#53 Wright State (Horizon)
#54 New Mexico (Mountain West)
#61 Southeastern Louisiana (Southland)
#64 Dallas Baptist (Missouri Valley)
#71 Princeton (Ivy)
#76 Western Carolina (Southern)
#81 Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley)
#89 Oral Roberts (Summit)
#109 Seattle (WAC)
#121 Ball State (MAC)
#143 Monmouth (MAAC)
#146 Navy (Patriot)
#148 Florida A&M (MEAC)
#149 Cincinnati (American)
#157 Alabama State (SWAC)
#187 Hawaii (Big West)
#193 Binghamton (America East)
#210 Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun)
#255 Saint Louis (Atlantic 10)

First 8 Out
#46 Hartford
#47 Georgia
#48 NC-Greensboro
#49 Washington
#50 Tulane
#51 Saint Mary’s
#52 Houston
#55 Tennessee
_________________________
Gophers by the Numbers
Record: 17-10, 4-1 B1G
RPI: 19
NCAA Projection: B1G at-large
From the Bubble Cutline: +26
Projected Seed: #2
Projected Opponent: #53 Wright State
Overall SOS: 50
Non-Conference SOS: 59
Road/Neutral Record: 13-9
Record vs. RPI Top 50: 2-1
Record vs. RPI Top 100: 6-3
Record vs. Projected Field: 3-4

Michigan State by the Numbers
Record: 23-6, 5-1 B1G
RPI: 30
NCAA Projection: B1G automatic
From the Bubble Cutline: +15
Projected Seed: #2
Projected Opponent: #35 FAU
Overall SOS: 142
Non-Conference SOS: 185
Road/Neutral Record: 17-4
Record vs. RPI Top 50: 1-1
Record vs. RPI Top 100: 7-2
Record vs. Projected Field: 1-1
 

I was listening to that podcast on D1 baseball. I like those guys but man it seemed like they didn't want to have more than three teams from the Big 10 go to the NCAA tourney. It was like you've got to have Michigan, Michigan state, and Maryland in the tourney. Well, I guess we'll throw in a fourth team Minnesota. From my opinion it just seemed like they were hesitant to give the nod to Minnesota. I was thinking 19th in the RPI, come on man. I know RPI is not everything, but when your RPI is 19th out of 300 teams, Minnesota going should be a no brainer.

Three disclaimers.

1. Maybe I got the wrong impression from the podcast.
2. I like Kendall, I think he's had higher opinions of Northern teams than most other publications. Lots of other college baseball publications seem to be southern school dominated.
3. If we get swept by Maryland this weekend, then by all means take us out of the NCAA tourney discussion, our RPI would go down drastically.
 

Gophers scored 7 runs on 7 hits in the 8th inning. Terps made things interesting in the 9th scoring 2 and having the bases loaded with the tying run at the plate but Jordan Jess came on and got 2 strikeouts for the win.
 


Gophers fall 4-2 as Maryland evens up the series. Maryland got 3 in the 2nd although it looked like they wouldn't get any. With 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd Sawyer threw a 3-2 pitch belt high down the middle and the Maryland hitter took it for what should have been strike 3 everyone on the Gophers had started in and the crowd was already cheering and I don't know if the ump missed it or what but he called ball 4. The next hitter doubled to score 2 and another would score on a wild pitch. Andy Fulton was the home plate ump and I don't know if he has a history with the Gopher program, Coach Anderson, Sawyer, or what but his strike zone definitely varied from when Maryland was hitting to when the Gophers were. Sawyer was definitely frustrated and rightfully so being squeezed by the ump all game but battled through it to give the Gophers a solid 7 innings with just the 3 runs. Maryland would score their 4th run with 1 out in the 8th and runners on 1st and 3rd a pitch deflected off Athmann's glove and rolled just a couple feet away from him and as he picked it up he had his mask in the same hand and kinda scooped it up and I guess that is illegal and called a balk to score the run. The next pitch was grounded to short and the Gophers would have been able to turn a double play to get out of the inning unscathed but because of that weird play/rule the run scored. Offensively the Gophers had trouble putting things together for most of the game. One of their best opportunities was in the 4th when they had the bases loaded and 2 outs and Coffey drilled a line drive but it was right at the Maryland LF for the 3rd out. Gophers got something going in the 8th 4 straight 2 out hits from Fiedler, Athmann, Toby Hanson, and Coffey to score 2 runs. They had a chance for more with Jordan Smith up but Maryland got some more help from the ump. With a 1-2 count Maryland went with an outside pitch and it was outside and called a ball correctly but Marylands coach wanted the call and yelled a little from the dugout. The next pitch 2-2 was even farther outside like just outside the line of the right handed hitters batting box but the ump went ahead and rang Smith up for the 3rd out. Gophers didn't go quietly in the 9th either as Boxwell took a 4 pitch walk that would force Maryland to go to the bullpen and take their starter Shaffer out. The 2nd batter Pettersen who started his 3rd game in a row as Vavra is out with an injury was a little eager and swung at the 1st pitch from a reliever and hit a lazy fly ball to LF for the 1st out. Estrada pinch hit for Motl and drew a 4 pitch walk to put the tying run on base. With 1st and 2nd and 1 out Schaefbauer drilled a line drive to the warning track in LF but the Maryland LF made a nice catch for out number 2. That brought Fiedler up and he drilled a line drive on the 1st pitch but the Maryland 1st baseman made a great diving catch to his right to end the game. Gophers will look to start another streak and take win another B1G series tomorrow at 1pm.
 

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Another gritty come from behind win. Maryland got started early with 3 straight 2 out hits in the 1st inning they tried to get on the board first but Jordan Smith gunned down the runner at the plate for the 3rd out. Maryland would breakthrough with 2 in the 2nd and 2 more in the 3rd courtesy of a 2 run homerun from Kevin Biondic. Toby Anderson settled in after that 3rd inning and looked a lot sharper getting through the next 3 innings without giving up a hit. The Gophers offense really couldn't get anything going against Mike Shawaryn until the 7th when Toby Hanson and Micah Coffey started the inning off with singles and Jordan Smith walked to load the bases with nobody out. Alex Boxwell was the next hitter and would strike out but a wild pitch on strike 3 allowed both Hanson and Coffey to score. After Luke Pettersen grounded out to the pitcher Dan Motl would come through with a clutch ground ruled double to make it 4-3. Austin Athmann was hit by a pitch with 1 out in the 8th and Toby Hanson followed it with a single. The Gophers got a huge break as the next batter Micah Coffey hit a ground ball to the shortstop and it looked like a perfect double play ball but the shortstop mishandled it and everybody was safe. Jordan Smith then came through with a single that bounced off the plate and right up the middle over 2nd base to score 2 and give the Gophers the lead. Lucas Gilbreath pitched a solid 7th and 8th and Jordan Jess closed out the 9th to nail down the win. Gophers will host NDSU Tuesday night and then head to Northwestern for a weekend series important to keep taking care of business.
 

B1G RPI Top 5 (through April 17)/Current B1G Tournament Seedings

B1G RPI Top 5
#21 GOPHERS (19-11, 6-2)
#28 Michigan (25-9, 6-2)
#37 Maryland (19-17, 5-4)
#46 Michigan State (25-7, 7-2)
#61 Rutgers (16-19, 3-6)

Movin' On In: ---
Movin' On Out: ---

This Weekend
Indiana (6-3) @ Michigan State (7-2)
GOPHERS (6-2) @ Northwestern (2-10)
Michigan (6-2) @ Iowa (6-6)
Penn State (8-4) @ Rutgers (3-6)
Purdue (1-11) @ Maryland (5-4)
Ohio State (4-5) @ Illinois (4-5)
Nicholls State @ Nebraska (non-conference)

Current B1G Tournament Seedings
1. Michigan State (7-2)
2. GOPHERS (6-2)
3. Michigan (6-2)
4. Penn State (8-4)
5. Indiana (6-3)
6. Nebraska (7-5)
7. Maryland (5-4)
8. Iowa (6-6)
 


Kendall Rogers was giving Maryland big props before this series started. He really felt that Maryland was a team coming on strong. Taking two out of three at home against Maryland is a very good series win.
 


I think this is one of the deeper Gopher teams I can remember, especially when it comes to position players. We've had to deal with quite a few injuries besides Vavra this year. I don't mind us at Gopherhole writing amongst ourselves about the frustration with injuries this year. I just dislike it when someone from another team comes on here and talks about all the injuries their team is facing, and we are lucky they are not at full strength. I feel like saying cry me a river.
 

Has it really been since 2009 that we were ranked. Seems like yesterday it was 2010.
 


Of the five top 25 College Baseball Polls we are ranked in two of them. 11-2 after the first game loss to Missouri state. That's a pretty good streak considering the competition we played against.
 

Good development for Gophers. Michigan State falls 1-0 at home to Notre Dame. Sparty leading the B1G, but RPI (#56) now has officially dropped into the at-large danger zone.
 

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