After struggling for much of the season, guess which Big Ten baseball team earned a sweep at Michigan and sits alone in 2nd place in the conference standings? Clearly I'm referring to Minnesota. It really has been a frustrating season where the Gophers lost their home, spent weeks playing games in other states and have then been fairly inconsistent losing to South Dakota State, North Dakota State and St. Thomas. Hardly losses that are becoming of a potential Big Ten Champ.
But the weeks of playing on the road have paid off as the Gophers have won 6 straight Big Ten road games after sweeping Michigan this weekend.
Friday - starter T.J. Oakes held Michigan to just 1 run and 4 hits over 6.2 innings. The Gophers knocked in 4 runs behind Nick O'Shea's 2 RBI's and 3rd HR of the year in the 4-1 win.
Saturday - This one was an 11-10 win. O'Shea hit another HR hitting 4/5 on the day and scoring 3 runs. Phil Isakkson was the starter and got the win despite the Gopher bullpen giving up 6 runs in the bottom of the ninth turning an 11-4 game to a nail-biter but still a Gopher win.
Sunday - starter Austin Lubinsky didn't give up an earned run and the Gophers cruised to a 6-2 victory. O'Shea hit his third homer in as many days (and was hit by a pitch!), if he isn't the Big Ten Player of the Week then I will raise a big stink.
Great sweep. Great series for Nick O'Shea who hit 7/11, 3 HR, 6 RBIs in three games. We have Penn State up next on the road and then a home series with Ohio State to end the Big Ten regular season.
- The Dalai Lama gave a speech urging compassion at Mariucci Arena yesterday.
- The Dagger asked an NBA scout to give his thoughts on a few of the intriguing names in the upcoming NBA Draft. Here are his thoughts on Ralph Sampson III...
"He has some upside for sure. He was so clumsy and uncoordinated in high school that I thought he'd be a guy who rides the bench at Minnesota, but he's actually good. He has NBA three-point range. He's more of a four now because he can step out. He's not bad. He can post you up, take you outside, take you inside. He might not be as talented as Jeff Green, but he's got some Jeff Green in him."
Seriously? I'm not nearly as down on Ralph as others but he does not have NBA range and while he has scored inside and he has scored outside, I'd hardly classify him as someone who can "take you" in either place. Has this scout ever actually watched him? - GopherIllustrated.com had their war room this weekend. This is just a list of potential Gopher football recruits and what they had to say about their interest in the Gophers. It is subscription but it is a good read. Interesting that we are pursuing LB-James Burgess who is a nephew to Willie Middlebrooks. Burgess has offers from Florida, LSU, Miami and other BCS schools.
- Gopher All-American distance runner, Hassan Mead is healthy again and ready to run for some more conference hardware.
UPDATES
- Gopher women's golf finished 3rd at their NCAA Regionals and will advance to the NCAA Championships.
- .Kent Youngblood has an interesting article on the Gopher sport's move away from WCCO as their radio partner.