2018 Big Ten Baseball

[ELA]

Purdue just might make the tournament this year...

I think Minnesota, Michigan, Purdue and Illinois are in.

[JerseyTerrapin]

corngrats to the spartans

Same here.  Good job, Sparty.  Michigan State earned it and deserves to be in the B1G tournament.  I thought Maryland had that last spot nailed down going into the rain delay Thursday night.  But Indiana is a much better team than Maryland, and so is Michigan State.  The right teams advanced.

[FearlessF]

Nebraska’s baseball season ended Saturday with a win over Illinois that still left the Huskers several games short of qualifying for the Big Ten tournament. At 24-28, NU had its worst record since the John Sanders era, which ended in 1997.

The five-year look back on Nebraska’s performance in the Big Ten suggests the Huskers are among the better teams in the league, but not the best, or even in the top three. Here are the Big Ten winning percentages (conference games only) since 2014:


Indiana (.652), Illinois (.627), Minnesota (.612), Michigan (.602), Iowa (.585), Nebraska (.573), *Maryland (.537), Michigan State (.496), Purdue (.359), Northwestern (.345), *Rutgers (.319), Penn State (.256),

*Four years instead of five.

Make it three years, and Nebraska ties for fourth:

Minnesota (.721), Indiana (.629), Michigan (.606), Nebraska (.571), Iowa (.571), Maryland (.521), Ohio State (.518), Illinois (.500).

NU is among the top half of teams in the Big Ten. But it’s not the best over five years — that’s Indiana. And it isn’t the best over three years — that, by some margin, is Minnesota. Nebraska’s three-year and five-year Big Ten winning percentages are slightly worse than its winning percentage over the whole seven years NU has been in the Big Ten (.581).

That means the Huskers — relative to the rest of the Big Ten — are slightly worse off than they were when they entered the league, coming off three straight years of missing the tournament for the Big 12, which was a far better league than the Big Ten.

The Big Ten has improved. Nebraska probably has, too, but not quite at the rate of its conference peers.

Of the nine conference titles won since 2014 — five regular season, four tournament titles — Nebraska has one. Minnesota and Indiana have two, while Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan each have one along with Nebraska. Seven teams have won Big Ten title of some kind over the past five years.

So the Husker baseball team is right where it started when it joined the league. A little better than average — in the Big Ten.

[Brutus Buckeye]

I though Big Red was supposed to come in here, and teach us all how to play baseball? 

[JerseyTerrapin]

Interesting analysis, Fearless.  Thanks.

Funny, those numbers might lead one to believe that Maryland is perennial good team.  But the truth is that those five years are by far the best five years in Maryland baseball history (it includes two regional titles).  Before that, they were never very good.  It doesn't help that, like Nebraska, they came from a much better league.

The Terps really hit a wall this year after replacing the departing manager (to Virginia Tech) with the third base coach.  With largely the same core of players, last year's NCAA qualifiers left an astronomical number of runners on base and finished under .500.  If he's still around next year, he's got to find a way to fix it.

[ELA]

I though Big Red was supposed to come in here, and teach us all how to play baseball?

Nebraska had been as good as ever in the 2000s, but they've dropped off, and the Big Ten is MUCH better than it was a decade ago.  It's not a power league at all, but it's typically not a one bid league either.  MSU had a year in like 2010ish where they won the regular season title, and made it to the conference tourney final, before losing to Illinois, and still didn't get an at large.  That wouldn't happen today.

[FearlessF]

It would be interesting to see what Husker baseball would b doing if Dave Van Horn would have stayed on.

Erstad's recruiting hasn't been strong enough to win the Big Ten - injuries to the pitching staff caused much of the trouble this season

[Entropy]

I though Big Red was supposed to come in here, and teach us all how to play baseball?

Should have...
I don't disagree that the BIG is improving in baseball.   It has.  It is now producing multiple teams into the tourney.   That is a significant  improvement from say 15-20 years ago. 

I still will say the BIG12 was a tougher baseball conference when UNL left  compared to the BIG today.   I don't think UNL has improved.  UNL continues to slide.
jmo..  

[Entropy]

I should have said last 5 yrs UNL was in the 12 compared to being in the BIG...   not necessarily a 2 year comparison... more of a trend/theme...

[FearlessF]

2018 Golden Spikes Award Semifinalists

Joey Bart; Jr.; C; Georgia Tech; ACC

Alec Bohm; Jr.; IF; Wichita State; American Athletic

Kyle Brnovich; So.; RHP; Elon; Colonial Athletic

Brian Brown; Sr.; LHP; NC State; ACC

Kody Clemens; Jr.; IF; Texas; Big 12

Frank German; Jr.; RHP; North Florida; Atlantic Sun

Logan Gilbert; Jr.; RHP; Stetson; Atlantic Sun

Devlin Granberg; Sr.; IF/OF; Dallas Baptist; Missouri Valley

Luke Heyer; Sr.; IF/OF; Kentucky; SEC

Jonathan India; Jr.; IF; Florida; SEC

Josh Jung; So.; IF/RHP; Texas Tech; Big 12

Trevor Larnach; Jr.; OF; Oregon State; Pac-12

Nick Madrigal; Jr.; IF; Oregon State; Pac-12

Casey Mize; Jr.; RHP; Auburn; SEC

Joey Murray; Jr.; RHP; Kent State; Mid-American

John Rooney; Jr.; LHP; Hofstra; Colonial Athletic

Nick Sandlin; Jr.; RHP; Southern Miss; Conference USA

Zack Shannon; Sr.; RHP/IF; Delta State; Gulf South

Scott Schreiber; Sr.; OF; Nebraska; Big Ten

Brady Singer; Jr.; RHP; Florida; SEC

Bren Spillane; Jr.; IF/OF; Illinois; Big Ten

Kevin Strohschein; Jr.; OF; Tennessee Tech; Ohio Valley

Spencer Torkelson; Fr.; IF; Arizona State; Pac-12

Andrew Vaughn; So.; IF; California; Pac-12

Steele Walker; Jr.; OF; Oklahoma; Big 12

[MarqHusker]

I'm fairly certain, on this (old) board even, I predicted Nebraska baseball would regress by joining the B1G.   I'll admit I don't follow college baseball like I used to, especially when I was in school, but there's no way in hell they were/are going to recruit better by being the B1G.      Yes, the XII then and now is a much better league, so the drop of late is not good.  I admit not sure how much is recruiting, vs manager/coaches, as well as an improved B1G.

Losing Van Horn (while hardly a shocker, as he went for a top tier baseball job, and had his own state ties) no doubt didn't help.   I was just thrilled they finally moved on from John Saunders as he was milquetoast to say the least at the end of his 20 yr run.   Anderson didn't really leave Nebraska's program on a high note upon leaving the XII.  They were in the cellar at least twice.

[utee94]

DVH was an excellent baseball coach, losing him was definitely a major blow to Nebraska.  I haven't followed Nebraska baseball since the move, but did enjoy playing y'all in the B12.

I could guess that the move hasn't helped recruiting and has likely harmed it, but that's based on no evidence at all.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[Brutus Buckeye]