Big Ten tournament notebook: Winds change to flip the script on Day 3

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - As white clouds painted a blue sky in central Indiana, the sun shone through for most of the first beautiful day of the Big Ten baseball tournament. But with the weather change also came a wind change, and two more teams came away empty handed from Bart Kaufman Field.

Nebraska and Indiana were sent packing after elimination losses Friday, with Indiana collapsing against Minnesota and Nebraska failing to complete a comeback against Maryland. A wind change toward left field saw several fewer doubles on Day 3, and while home run numbers were similar, far more balls flew out towards left and center.

“That’s baseball,” knowledgable experts and fans of the sport will tell you. Arguably the top three favorites in the tournament field - Nebraska, Michigan, and Indiana - are gone before the weekend. And while all three await their NCAA tournament designation, four remaining teams will vie for the final spot.

Maryland’s win against Nebraska was big. The Terrapins needed to be motivated coming into this tournament, and Friday night may have given them the victory they needed to offset a late-season collapse and secure a spot in a regional.

Four teams remain: Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, and Northwestern. With no room for error over the next four games, we should be in for a fun weekend of baseball to close out the 2017 Big Ten season.

It’s natural for teams to struggle with unfamiliarity. But what became a disturbing trend for Nebraska this season was the major struggles against left-handed starting pitchers. That trend was never more evident than Friday.

In the first game, Nebraska went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Iowa left-hander Ryan Erickson. The second game provided no solace - the Huskers struck out 10 times against Maryland lefty Tyler Blohm, a career high for the freshman.

It makes sense that the Huskers struggled - NU faced just one left-hander in the past month in Michigan State’s Alex Troop, a home loss. But with so many left-handed batters in the lineup, freshmen like Mojo Hagge (0-for-4 in Game 1) and

Luke Roskam (three strikeouts in Game 2) will need more experience seeing pitches from their side of the plate.

Different can be good - but make no mistake, Nebraska won the Big Ten regular season title by beating right-handers. Today, a flipped view knocked the Huskers out of the conference tournament.

The surprise of the tournament pulled off another stunner today, but this time without the element of surprise.

7th-seeded Northwestern, the only team in the field with a losing record (26-28), suddenly finds itself in position to jockey for an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are just two wins away from their first ever conference title after taking down Minnesota 11-7.

“We’ve been playing Big Ten tournament baseball the last couple weeks of our season, so we’re used to it,” Northwestern outfielder Joe Hoscheit said. “We’re used to that moment, and I think that’s really been big for us coming down the stretch and that showed today.”

Northwestern is now a Big Ten-best 9-3 during the month of May and have already taken down two of the giants, Michigan and Minnesota, in the tournament. If they can continue to push runs across and get just enough from all-staff pitching efforts in the next few games, they could be the unlikely team to raise the trophy come Sunday.

After an underwhelming all-session crowd of 1,163 spectators on Wednesday, Bart Kaufman Field was near capacity for Indiana’s elimination game against Minnesota. The crowd was raucous and dialed in, and made for the type of baseball atmosphere that makes having a host school fun.

Indiana provided plenty of drama for the fans to get into it, between a home run off the wall, a questionable home plate call (explained below), and multiple RBIs to extend the Hoosiers’ lead. The host school was knocked out at day’s end, but the fans’ presence made a big difference in the overall outlook of the tournament.

Many fans will be quick to point to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha as a better facility to provide a higher-quality tournament, but there’s a certain magic about a small ballpark with raucous fans. It’s part of the allure of college baseball, and that magic was on full display Friday evening.

*** For as rocky as the weather was the first two days, Friday was just gorgeous. The sunshine highlighted the campus and Bloomington itself, as well as giving the tournament just a generally more positive vibe.

*** It’s been a rough tournament for all-conference honorees. Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Brian Shaffer was lit up Thursday afternoon, while Big Ten Player of the Year Jake Adams has just one hit in two games. To top it off, Big Ten Coach of the Year Darin Erstad’s Nebraska team is out before the weekend.

*** This play at the plate helped Minnesota cut into Indiana’s lead, and while it may not have seemed like a big deal once Indiana scored to make it 8-4, it made the final difference in the Hoosiers’ 9-8 elimination loss. I say he was out. You be the judge.