Latest news with #BigTenBaseball
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Horn, Nunez lead Nebraska past UCLA for back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ty Horn threw eight shutout innings, Devin Nunez hit a two-run home run and eighth-seeded Nebraska defeated regular season co-champion UCLA 5-0 on Sunday to win the Big Ten Baseball Tournament. The Cornhuskers (32-27) have won back-to-back conference tournaments for their only championships since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Advertisement Dylan Carey's RBI-double in the second inning opened the scoring. Still in the second, Case Sanderson scored on a passed ball and Carey scored on a single by Rhett Stokes. Nunez's two-run home in the third made it 5-0 and Horn (3-4) continued to shut down the second-seeded Bruins. His toughest inning was the sixth, when a double by Mulivai Levu gave UCLA runners on second and third with one out. Horn responded by striking out the next two batters to end the threat. Horn went eight innings, allowing three hits with six strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter. Casey Daiss pitched the ninth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two. UCLA starter Landon Stump (6-1) took the loss. He was charged with three runs in 1 1/3 innings. Advertisement UCLA (42-16) tied for first place with Oregon in the teams' first season in the Big Ten. Fellow newcomers USC and Washington finished fourth and fifth, respectively, but it was Nebraska that came from the eighth seed to win the tournament. The Cornhuskers defeated Purdue and Michigan State in pool play, then defeated top-seeded Oregon and Penn State on Saturday to reach the championship game. ___ AP college sports:
Associated Press
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Horn, Nunez lead Nebraska past UCLA for back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ty Horn threw eight shutout innings, Devin Nunez hit a two-run home run and eighth-seeded Nebraska defeated regular season co-champion UCLA 5-0 on Sunday to win the Big Ten Baseball Tournament. The Cornhuskers (32-27) have won back-to-back conference tournaments for their only championships since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Dylan Carey's RBI-double in the second inning opened the scoring. Still in the second, Case Sanderson scored on a passed ball and Carey scored on a single by Rhett Stokes. Nunez's two-run home in the third made it 5-0 and Horn (3-4) continued to shut down the second-seeded Bruins. His toughest inning was the sixth, when a double by Mulivai Levu gave UCLA runners on second and third with one out. Horn responded by striking out the next two batters to end the threat. Horn went eight innings, allowing three hits with six strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter. Casey Daiss pitched the ninth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two. UCLA starter Landon Stump (6-1) took the loss. He was charged with three runs in 1 1/3 innings. UCLA (42-16) tied for first place with Oregon in the teams' first season in the Big Ten. Fellow newcomers USC and Washington finished fourth and fifth, respectively, but it was Nebraska that came from the eighth seed to win the tournament. The Cornhuskers defeated Purdue and Michigan State in pool play, then defeated top-seeded Oregon and Penn State on Saturday to reach the championship game. ___ AP college sports:
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Big Ten baseball on the rise, but will teams commit resources to take next step?
OMAHA, Neb. — Mark Wasikowski, the sixth-year baseball coach at Oregon, harbored concerns last year that entry into the Big Ten would negatively impact the Ducks. The travel was daunting. The potential RPI hit, in comparison to their years in the Pac-12, would pose challenges for the four new Big Ten programs from the West. And the acclimation to a different style of play in unfamiliar ballparks with unpredictable spring weather conditions weighed on Wasikowski's mind. Advertisement 'I think all those (worries) snuck in from time to time,' he said. Ultimately, Wasikowski chose to stop worrying. 'We won our games,' he said. 'And that's what I told the guys: 'If you just take all the math and everything else out of it, it's real simple. Win your games. Then nobody is going to be able to do or say anything.'' As it enters the final weekend of play before the 64-team NCAA Tournament is unveiled on Memorial Day, Oregon is in contention to earn the first top-eight seed for the league — and home-field advantage in both postseason rounds ahead of the College World Series — since Illinois in 2015. No Big Ten program has qualified for the CWS since Michigan lost in the championship series against Vanderbilt in 2019. As schools in this wealthy conference consider their futures in the revenue-sharing era, the league's competitiveness in baseball appears on the rise. The addition of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington this season has pushed the profile of Big Ten baseball firmly into the fourth spot nationally behind the SEC, ACC and Big 12. 'I think the question now is,' ESPN commentator Kyle Peterson said, 'are they going to spend money, or are they not going to spend money?' Nate Voss DELIVERS 💣 His go-ahead homer puts @PennStateBASE in front 2-1 in the 9th 💪#B1GBaseball on @BigTenNetwork 📺 — Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 22, 2025 As Oregon illustrated this season in winning 41 of 54 games in the regular season, a blueprint exists to achieve national success in the Big Ten. UCLA, too, has positioned itself to host a Regional next week. 'It's pretty hard to ignore,' Nebraska coach Will Bolt said of the impact delivered by new teams in the league. 'And their commitment to baseball is something that the traditional Big Ten schools continue to strive for.' Advertisement Oregon second baseman Ryan Cooney, a sophomore who played in the Pac-12 a year ago, said the Big Ten play compares favorably to what he's experienced on the diamond outside of the conference. 'There was this initial narrative that the Big Ten wasn't as strong,' Cooney said, 'but I would say that's not the reality.' Oregon brought national home run leader Mason Neville, an Arkansas transfer, to Big Ten stadiums this year. UCLA sophomore Roch Cholowsky was named the Big Ten player of the year. But the rosters of traditional Big Ten schools contain many of the top players, including the league's pitcher of the year, Joseph Dzierwa of Michigan State. Schools such as Penn State, which has qualified for the NCAA postseason once in the past 47 years, are investing in the sport. Though the Nittany Lions have yet to get over the hump under second-year coach Mike Gambino, they finished the regular season with a winning record for the second consecutive year. And Penn State beat USC on Thursday to earn a spot in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, remaining alive to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAAs. Administrative leaders obsessed with success in football and basketball are buying into baseball, according to league coaches. 'I think it's been trending up for a few years,' Michigan coach Tracy Smith said, 'maybe as far back as Michigan and Indiana (in 2013) making it to the College World Series.' Smith coached that Indiana squad 12 years ago, the first Big Ten team in 39 years to appear in the CWS, then he left to coach Arizona State in 2015. He returned to the Big Ten in 2023. So Smith has experienced both sides of the power struggle. Before this season, he fielded questions often about the West Coast invasion. 'Do you like it?' fans and interested parties in the sport asked him. Advertisement 'I absolutely like it,' Smith said. 'That does nothing but elevate the league. I think the Big Ten is in a great spot. I'm not so sure we're getting the national attention that we deserve, but maybe people will wake up at some point and start realizing that this is a pretty darn good baseball league.' Still, the conference falls short in comparison to the top three leagues. Since 2013, the SEC has placed an average of 9.1 teams per year into the NCAA Tournament, followed by the ACC at 7.8 and the Big 12 at 4.7. The Big Ten has averaged 3.3 over that time. It was outnumbered in the 64-team field by the Sun Belt in each of the last three seasons. This year, the conference RPI of the Big Ten sits at No. 4 nationally, ahead of Conference USA. But only Oregon, UCLA and USC appear in solid shape to make the bracket on Monday, and USC's spot is a bit tenuous after Thursday's loss to Penn State — the Trojans' sixth defeat in their last eight games. 'We have more teams this year,' Nebraska's Bolt said. 'We should certainly have more bids and get the benefit of the doubt.' We'll see on Monday. The others left alive this week at the conference tournament in Omaha — Iowa, Nebraska and Penn State — likely must win the crown to receive an invite. Oregon's Wasikowski coached Purdue from 2017 to 2019. He and Michigan's Smith advocate for a restructured college season that starts and ends a month later than its current February-to-June regimen. An opening weekend in March and a CWS built around the MLB All-Star break in July would undoubtedly drive interest in regions less exposed to college baseball. 'I think baseball has the biggest growth opportunity in any sport in college athletics,' Wasikowski said. 'But the (college) presidents and ADs are going to have to come to grips with that and decide to go with it.' Advertisement When Smith coached in the Pac-12, he listened to coaches from the North make their case to shift the calendar. Then he watched coaches in spots similar to his shake their heads and dismiss the proposal. 'My blunt opinion on it,' Smith said, 'is that it's disgusting we don't do it. This sport is growing. If you put a gun to my head and said, 'What is the reason we don't do it?' I think it's self-serving. Certain leagues and certain institutions know that they have an advantage. So why change it? 'No one could ever convince me that we couldn't do this if we sat down and made it a priority. But the world is politics, man, and you've got some people controlling it at the top. I was part of that. It's sad but true.' Part of the commitment to baseball in the Big Ten involves reasonable travel and a functional system to award the automatic postseason bid. The Big Ten switched this year to a pool-play system for its conference tournament, modeling it after a defunct ACC method. The result? Three games out of four on Thursday in Omaha were meaningless for both teams involved. Oregon and Nebraska are scheduled to play Friday night for the last open spot in the semifinal round. In March, Nebraska served as a guinea pig for a travel arrangement that sent the Huskers to Los Angeles for consecutive Big Ten weekend series at UCLA and USC. The Huskers spent 12 days on the road — and 11 consecutive nights in a Venice Beach hotel. 'Not a fan,' Bolt said. 'You don't even see big-league clubs do that.' Yes, hurdles remain for the Big Ten to clear before it's recognized in every realm on the level of the top three leagues. It comes down to the investment made by each program. With revenue sharing expected to be introduced once the House settlement passes, how much of that money will Big Ten schools allocate to baseball? On many campuses in the league, hockey and/or wrestling might be higher up the food chain among the fan base. Advertisement 'I don't know that there's an absolute answer to that,' said Peterson, an Omahan who pitched at Stanford and has long helped lead ESPN's television coverage of the CWS. 'I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that … our game is so much better if the power athletic departments, the athletic departments that are football powerhouses and potentially the basketball powerhouses are the ones that are committing money to (baseball).' The ball, so to speak, is in the Big Ten's court. (Photo of Mason Neville: Abigail Dollins / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
New York Times
18-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Michigan baseball player apologizes for mimicking cocaine snorting after sliding into third base
University of Michigan baseball player Mitch Voit apologized Monday for a celebration in which he appeared to mimic snorting a line of cocaine after hitting a triple in Sunday's win over USC. The junior infielder called the act 'an immature decision' in a statement posted to social media. 'I would like to apologize for my actions on third base yesterday,' Voit said. 'I made an immature decision in the heat of the moment. The gesture I made does not reflect my character, the household I was raised in, or the block M that I represent in any kind of way. I take full responsibility for what I did, and I am truly sorry to all those who I have negatively impacted by doing this.' Advertisement The incident occurred in the second inning after Voit's bases-clearing triple. Voit slid head-first into the bag, lowered his face to the third-base line and imitated snorting the chalk like a line of cocaine. Clips of the celebration promptly garnered viral attention on social media. The gesture was not included in a clip of Voit's highlights from the game posted by the Big Ten Baseball account on X, though the hit was. Mitch Voit did it with his bat (3-3, 4 RBI) and glove today. Watch the star 2B's highlights in @umichbaseball's run-rule win over USC 👇#B1GBaseball — Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) March 16, 2025 The 20-year-old from Wisconsin finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs and four RBIs in Michigan's eventual 11-0 win. On Monday, he was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring six runs and notching 12 RBIs over the five-game stretch. It was the first time Voit earned the honor in his collegiate career. Neither the Big Ten nor Michigan immediately responded to questions regarding whether or not the team would disciple Voit for his actions. Entering Tuesday, Voit has a team-best batting average of .451, a slugging percentage of .845 and leads the Wolverines with 32 hits, 28 RBIs and five home runs. Michigan (11-8) closes out a four-game homestand hosting Western Michigan (1-16) on Tuesday.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Patrick Reusse responds to Twitter backlash that prompted account deletion
Veteran Twin Cities sports columnist and broadcaster Patrick Reusse cleared the air following the deletion of his Twitter/X account after one of his posts was misconstrued as racist. Reusse appeared on the Star Tribune's Daily Delivery with Michael Rand on Monday morning to recap the weekend's events, including what happened on Elon Musk's social media platform that prompted Reusse to delete his account entirely. Reusse, who is a columnist for the Star Tribune and a regular guest on Twin Cities sports talk station SKOR North, posted the following during the Minnesota Golden Gophers' Big Ten Baseball opener on Friday: "I'm at Zygidome to watch Gophers opener in Big Ten baseball. The guy or gal blasting that ******* monkey rap song could've made a quick $20 not to play if they had checked with me first. (Note: Yes, operators of The Zygi hate baseball, but the playing field looks OK.)"The reference to "monkey rap song" sparked immediate allegations of racism from some followers, though it quickly emerged that Reusse was referencing "Brass Monkey," the 1986 song by (white) rap group The Beastie Boys. Reusse said on the podcast Monday he decided to delete his Twitter account because "he was sick of it." "I'm sick of Twitter, I'm sick of people who read the one Twitter summary line and start commenting on a column even though the second [paragraph] says what they commented on," Reusse said, adding: "I'm not a big Elon Musk fan or Donald Trump fan." Reusse previously issued a statement via Minnesota Vikings reporter Matthew Coller, who said Reusse's tweet was "taken totally wrongly by some folks online, so he got annoyed and deleted his account." "I was at Gophers baseball game Friday. All alone in main press box at the Zygidome more than hour before game, with a rappy style song blaring that had many mentions of monkeys," Reusse said. "I couldn't stand this gawd-awful noise. I switched into my super senior wise-ass mode & send out a Tweet that had very clumsy wording for a guy who will have been a sports writer for 60 yrs. "I didn't realize this until couple hrs later when noting a number of 'J—- Ch——, Reusse' responses. Even then, it took a while for me to figure out why the 'Racist!' accusations were flying." He also described himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool lefty," highlighting the "mobs" who support Trump on the platform, and the "back-to-back Nazi salutes" by Twitter/X owner Elon Musk. Reusse reiterated much of the same Monday morning, adding his he is now on BlueSky "where we can all get along now." "You don't have to be mad at me on Twitter anymore because I won't be there," he told Rand. The Star Tribune issued a statement following Reusse's post, clarifying that it wasn't "racial in intent." You can listen to Reusse's appearance on Rand's podcast below.
