OT: Baseball

I'm sure that everyone here already knows that Michigan baseball choked again. Well maybe they didn't choke, it is more than likely that they simply aren't that good. They finished the year 2-4 over their last 6 B1G games. And guess what? They finished the year .5 game behind Indiana. They had a 2.5 game lead with 6 games to go and they blew it. I.JUST.CAN'T.

I'm starting to feel like 'artist?

Well, we get ohio state tomorrow at 2:00. We lost 2 of 3 to suckeye earlier this year at their place. I didn't see it but I'm not looking to optimistic at this game. suckeye didn't really have a very good year but with the way Michigan hs been playing it's a good thing that this is a double-elimination tournament.

bee kind of a tough 2 weeks for Michigan. Belien leaves the lady lose to JM and the baseball team blows the Big 10 Champs . looking for a little good news on the Michigan front

As predicted Baseball lost to ohio state yesterday. 2-1. Baseball had one damn hit. ONE! They play Illinois at 10 Eastern.

However in good news that doesn't mean a thing Brewer was named player of the year in the B1G TEN.

https://mgoblue.com/news/2019/5/21/baseball-brewer-named-player-of-the-year-nine-wolverines-earn-all-big-ten-honors.aspx

Michigan actually beat Illinois yesterday and Illinois isn't bad.  Michigan still didn't play well but for as poor as they are playing they're already outlasted #1 seed Indiana, and #3 seed Illinois.  

Michigan will play the loser of the suspended game between ohio state and Maryland which resumes this morning.  Play was halted with ohio state leading 3-2 in the bottom of eighth and Maryland batting with 1 out and a runner on second.

Michigan once again had to come back against Illinois.  The Michigan bats have remained absolutely dormant.

To summarize they're still alive and the top teams, other than Michigan, are already out of the tournament.  They still could win it but with as silent as the bats have been these last 3 weeks I wouldn't count on it.  Michigan dies have tremendous pitching depth going for them, I'm not sure about the other teams but at least we have that going for us.

Well Michigan has returned to their good hitting ways, with the obvious exception of Jordan Brewer (0-9 with seven strikeouts). Brewer has turf-toe and he sat of this mornings game against Nebraska. Michigan won 18-8. They jumped all over the Cornholes with 7 runs in the top of the first andt never looked back. They'll play Nebraska again tonight for a berth in the championship game tomorrow against wither ohio state or Minnesota. Tonight's game is on BTN and we'll see. Our pitching is getting thin (as everyone's is). Game time tonight is scheduled for 7ET but there no way they'll make that. It'll start 1 hour after the conclusion of the ohio state-Maryland game.

It's not over yet but I'm frustrated....

Well they played well yesterday beating Creighton 6-0. Great pitching and consistent hitting led to the victory. I didn't see any of it but everything that I read sounds good.

https://mgoblue.com/news/2019/5/31/baseball-michigans-power-kauffmanns-gem-lead-to-shutout-win-over-no-22-creighton.aspx

In other good news the #1 seed in the region Oregon State actually lost yesterday to the 4-seed Cincinnati.

Michigan plays next against Cincinnati Saturday at 10 pm Eastern and is televised on ESPNU (as if anyone gets that station). If we win that we go to the championship of the region with no losses. We have to beat Cincinnati Saturday first though. Things are looking up though.

You don't get ESPNU? That's not even a premium channel.

Ugggg,

I turned to ESPNU this morning to catch the game.

Guess I shouldda read his post better,

wshoes wrote:

You don't get ESPNU? That's not even a premium channel.

Yeah, and you can stream it free on the ESPN App. Heck, even ESPN3 is free to stream.

wshoes wrote:

You don't get ESPNU? That's not even a premium channel.

I cancelled my sports tier after hockey season. I normally don't need it again until fall, saves my $40 (4 months at $10/month-big deal I know but why not?). Well I just resubscribed today so that means that Michigan will lose. Oregon State lost to Creighton today so the defending National Champions are pout of the tournament. Very surprising.

So where is it?

It's on the app. Because other games ran long (and UM/Cincinnati isn't a big game) it's been relegated to ESPN3.

Oh yea, ugh....

OK, now we're doin' OK.

There was a very brief time of panic.  It didn't last too long thankfully.

https://mgoblue.com/boxscore.aspx?id=15498&path=baseball

Championship game tomorrow (9PM Eastern) against the winner of the Creighton/Cincinnati game.  TV hasn't been announced yet but I'm thinking ESPN3.

***Just checked ncaa.com, yep ESPN3.

Michigan is up 3-2 after 3. Still a long way to go. Win today it's onto the Super Regional, lose and we'll play Creighton again tomorrow.

6-2 Michigan after 7.  There are some great stories on Michigan's team.  B1G TEN player of the year Jordan Brewer has been out with turf toe since the B1G TEN tournament.  His replacement, Christian Bullock is doing very well in his place.  Brewer actually pinch-hit in the 7th inning and got a single, then he stole 2nd base, then scored on a double by Riley Bertram.  Bertram is another story, and actually a better story.  Bertram had 12 at bats all season.  He had 3 hits in  those 12 ABs.  The starting SS for Michigan is Jack Blomgren and he hurt his back.  He is a very solid fielder and a middle of the lineup batter.  Bertram is being forced to play with very minimal experience. The kid is 6 for 9 in the regional thus far with some huge hits.

Things are getting interesting....

It's getting scary. Runners on 1st and 2nd, top of the 9th, nobody out, Michigan up 7-4. In comes Jack Wisenburger. The next 3 hitters for Creighton have double-digit homers.

Our bullpen SUCKS!

OMFG our Bullpen SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now know what 'artist feels like.

7:00 on the Deuce.

looks like Michigan is going to bow out of the tourney tonight. Opportunity knocked in the 3rd and the door was not answered Creighton 2 in the 4th and that is that.

Thank you artist!!!

yep , start bad mouthing them they get 4 in the 4th 5 in the 6th and are up 17- 5 in the 8th   !

I knew that I'd get him here ('artist).

OK, they pulled their ass out of the fire and I'm thrilled that they won.  However I'm not sure what they won.  A date with UCLA in the Supers?  Well it was a good year but I don't see them winning 2 against UCLA.  Their starting pitching has been lights out in the regionals (the first 3 games anyway) and it's only a 3-game series with UCLA but I can't see that continuing.  I hope that I'm wrong but hey, we already beat them once this season (7-5 back in March at their place. Henry started that game).

Talked to my buddy who lives in SoCal tonight as I was hoping on going out there to see him and Michigan baseball next weekend but no, that guy goes and plans a trip to Hawaii.  Oh well, saves me about a grand.

Hawaii in the summer why ? Michigan has 2 good pitchers obviously, if the hitting keeps going they should be a valid contender, but if you get to that bull pen oh my. Hitting is the key.

They have 3 quality starters but none of them is capable of shutting down a top ten team. Both Kauffman and Henry can deal, but a good team will light them up. Criswell is outstanding also but he's still youngish. Yes hitting is of a concern but not as large as defense. Good thing for us that Michigan is statistically good at both hitting and defense. Now we just need to keep playing that way. Going up against the #1 seed at their place has a tendency to make underdogs make careless mistakes.

He works for Mercedes so I'm guessing that this trip is work related. The Bullpen has always been suspect this year but up until the 2nd Creighton game I was content with it. Now however I'm worried. When your closer is a true freshman you've got issues. For crying out loud I could see on TV that Weiss was trying to throw the ball through a concrete wall. For some odd reason though I like both Paige and Smith but they are both really young too. I guess that's it's because they always pitched whenever I went to a mid-week game. They always mowed down the MAC teams, UCLA won't be pretty though. Of course if we lose the first two games we won't have to endure that.

I'm honestly scared about this weekend but I'm also expecting us to lose.

I umpire high school baseball. Most of the starter I deal with have good enough command to throw the ball over the plate. watching the college game I was surprised how bad their command is. I thought well maybe the ump was squeezing them some but that was not the case.