You could say this is the day the Big Ten Tournament finally grew up. It was an exciting, electrifying, elation-filled evening at Huntington Park in Columbus tonight.

It also made for a great capper to a really long day. I got five hours of sleep last night, waking up at 8:15am Eastern time in order to drive 30 minutes down to Chillicothe to see the MAC tournament kick off day two. I made my way to Dayton for the Rhode Island-Xavier game in the afternoon. Then I ended the evening in Columbus watching the thrilling Ohio State-Illinois game in front of a huge crowd.

Big Ten baseball reached a new level tonight in front of an energetic crowd at Huntington Park.

Before I get to my shenanigans and those write-ups, let’s look quickly at some national stuff. And please excuse any typos, I don’t sleep much you know…

Here’s a quick, quick look at some goods and bads. And sorry if I missed one somewhere along the way.

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THREE UP.

1- Day Two Of The Big Ten Tournament.
Have to pimp my hosts and pump my fists first and foremost. Today’s attendance of 4,575 for the three games betters the conference average for the overall tournament over the last five years.

Prior to this year, the last time the Big 10 tournament was on a neutral site was 1994, and after what I saw tonight, I hope it never goes back to a campus site. Huntington Park opened it’s doors last month for the Cleveland Indians’ AAA affiliate and this is the first non-Columbus Clippers event to take place at the park. And what an atmosphere it was.

OSU leadoff man Zach Hurley said this about the crowd. “We walked out on the field to get loose before the game and I just heard the crowd erupt and I looked behind me and just said, ‘Wow!’. Our fans have been there for us all year, but they really came out in full-force tonight.”

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2- Brandon Koenigstein, Creighton.
Threw a complete-game, no-hitter in an 11-0 win at Wichita State in the second round of the Missouri Valley Tournament.

According to the Creighton release he needed just 73 pitches to toss CU’s first-ever complete game, no-hitter in school history. He struck out seven and faced the minimum 21 batters in the seven-inning run-rule win. His only faux pas was plunking Tyler Grimes to open the 4th inning, but he was retired with a double play a few pitches later.

The win for the Bluejays also improved them to 30-24 on the year, their sixth straight 30-win season under coach Ed Servais.

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3- San Diego State.
Scored eight runs in the 8th inning to beat Utah 9-8 in the winner’s bracket game of the MWC.

SDSU entered the bottom of the 8th inning facing an 8-1 deficit. But bases-loaded RBI singles from Erik Castro, Mitch Blackburn, Matt Parker and Ryan O’Sullivan, a bases-loaded walk from Chris Wilson and finally an RBI double from Pat Colwell made for the winning margin in a wild one at Lupton Stadium in Ft. Worth tonight.

The Aztecs head to the title round needing just one more win to secure the automatic bid to the Big Dance, giving bubble teams across the country a sigh of relief. TCU and Utah will play an elimination game to see who will be their opponent.

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HONORABLE MENTION:
- Ryan Berry, Rice.
He may just be rounding into early season form after all. Tonight he threw a complete game two-hitter with seven strike outs in an 8-1 win over UAB in the Conference USA tournament. Berry is now 7-0 on the year and Rice is 9-0 in games that he has started.

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THREE DOWN.

1- The Conference USA Tournament.
With bad weather impending for Saturday, the brainiacs at the C-USA tournament have decided to try to crunch as many games in before the heavens open up. So because of that, Houston will now be playing its third straight 9am game on Friday. The game against UAB was originally supposed to be a 3pm start time for Friday.

Ya’ gotta love rain during the conference tournament week. Rag arms!

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2- Georgia Tech.
Lost 7-3 to Boston College in the ACC tournament.
This was Tech’s second straight loss in Durham and also their sixth loss in the last eight games. With that, the Ramblin’ Wreck may be seeing their last chance at a National seed go by the wayside. Hell, with red-hot Florida State on the docket tomorrow, they have to hope their home hosting hopes are still hoppin’.

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3- Mississippi
Lost by a run-ruled 12-2 to Florida today.
The Rebels may be losing their grip on a possible regional hosting spot with their second straight loss in the SEC tournament. Especially losing in an ugly manner like this.

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DISHONORABLE MENTION.
- The SEC, for allowing the Vanderbilt-South Carolina game go on like this.
Tonight’s VU-SC game ended at 1:09am, Hoover time. To make matters worse, VU used four different pitchers in the bottom of the 9th inning to stave off Carolina. The Cocks had the bases loaded with one out before Nick Ebert flew out to second and Justin Dalles struck out swinging… mercifully.

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NOW ON TO WHAT I SAW TODAY IN OHIO.
I actually started the day down at the MAC tournament in Chillicothe as the continuation of the Central Michigan-Bowling Green game from the previous night’s blackout got underway at 9am. But I’m going to start my write-ups at the best game of the day for me.

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IN COLUMBUS.
Stop No. 3 for me today was the best of all. I made it back from Dayton just in time for the scintillating nightcap of the day’s action as Illinois and hometown Ohio State battled in a classic at Huntington Park.

Illinois – 020 002 000 – 4 7 0
O.S.U. – 010 002 22x – 7 12 2

WP- Drew Rucinski (10-2)
LP- Will Strack (6-1)
Sv- Jake Hale (16)

Top Hitters.
Illinois:
Aaron Johnson, 3-for-4, 3 RBI
Pete Cappetta, 2-for-3, RBI

Ohio State:
Zach Hurley, 2-for-4, triple, RBI
Ryan Dew, 2-for-4, RBI
Matt Streng, 2-for-4, RBI

Loud crowd. Two high-quality teams. Electric atmosphere. But it was kind of a bad news/good news thing for Ohio State tonight.

The bad news was that All American Alex Wimmers wasn’t his usual self tonight.

The good news? His bullpen was.

Alex Wimmers seemed all bent out of shape tonight.

Drew Rucinski and Jake Hale combined for 2.2 innings of one-hit work to shut down the Illini attack after Wimmers’ exited the game in the 7th. Rucinski picked up his 10th win after the Buckeyes plated two runs in the bottom of the 7th. The go-ahead run came on a bases-loaded, 85-foot dribbler to first base by Ryan Dew that was just slow enough to prevent a throw to the plate and instead garnered an unassisted put-out at first.

OSU got a pair of insurance runs in the 8th on an RBI single by Matt Streng and on an attempted inside-the-park home run by Zach Hurley after he rocketed a shot off the base of the outfield wall. He may have gotten the last out at the dish, but his “triple” also scored Streng to put the Illini deficit at three runs.

Justin Miller (28) gives Zach Hurley (16) props for driving in another run.

Then the lanky Hale entered the game and closed out the 9th without any drama, giving the Bucks a real boost going into day three of the Big 10 tournament.

Wimmers, the Buckeye All American ace was more of a speed bump than a stopper tonight, letting the Illini get out to a 4-3 lead before he was replaced. Wimmers was able to strike out nine Illinois batters, but also gave up the four runs on six hits.

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QUOTES:
- OSU Coach Bob Todd opened his post-game comments with this about Alex Wimmers:
“I think people that watched us play all year realized that Alex did not have his best stuff. He was really inconsistent with his off-speed pitches early in the game. Then later on he really struggled with leaving his fast ball up. But you also have to tip your cap to all the Illinois hitters. They were taking ball after ball after ball, and that discipline made the difference in the ball game.

- Drew Rucinski on how he felt tonight in his 1.2 inning stint:
“I definitely had the adrenaline going tonight and all my pitches were working for me. Especially my fastball.”

- Jake Hale on his performance that earned his 16th save:
“I had my best stuff, I mean, my fastball was moving and I had everything working.”

- Coach Todd on his bullpen:
“There’s no question that on Friday nights with Alex on the mound our team plays very confident behind him. But the one thing that has made this team competitive game-in, game-out is our bullpen. Alex didn’t have his best stuff but our bullpen rose to the occasion.”

- Coach Todd on Illinois’ chances at getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament:
“I really believe if you look at the Big 10 this year there are four very good teams. And I’m talking about teams that are capable of playing at the NCAA level. Obviously, Illinois is one of those teams. You take a look at the success that they’ve had, especially on the road and early in the year beating the now-No. 2 team in the country – LSU – in Baton Rouge and beat them two out of three. They’ve really had some quality wins. It also comes down to the automatic qualifiers and how the regular season champions do in their tournaments. But I really believe each of these teams are capable of winning a regional in the post-season.”

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THE OTHER GAMES FROM THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT TODAY:

- GAME THREE:
Purdue – 12
Michigan State – 9
The Boilers scored in eight of nine innings and get three runs in the 9th to stave off the Spartans. MSU ends the season 23-31, which is much better than what was expected as Jake Boss took over a barren cupboard before the year started.

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- GAME FOUR:
Indiana – 12
Minnesota – 3
The second of the awesome “one-two punch” that the Hoosiers have is Matt Bashore, who shut down the Gophers with 9Ks, and giving up just two hits in 7.0 innings of work. IU goes to the

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IN CHILLICOTHE.
The higher seeds were the victims in the two games I took in today down on the VA grounds outside of the town of Chillicothe.

- GAME FOUR:
Central Michigan – 021 100 220 – 6 8 1
Bowling Green U.- 001 100 000 – 2 9 1

WP- Steve Teno (4-8)
LP- Brennan Smith (8-4)
Sv- None

Top Hitters.
CMU:
Robbie Harman, 3-for-4, 4RBI, HR

BGU:
Jon Berti, 2-for-4, RBI, HR
T.J. Blanton, 3-for-3, RBI, HR, Double

After last night’s power outage in the town of Chillicothe stopped the game in the bottom of the 4th, CMU’s Robbie Harman just wiped the sleep out of the corners of his eyes today and kept on hitting the hell out of the ball. Yesterday he hit a two-run single and then a solo home run, this morning he added another RBI single as CMU cruised past the No. 1-seeded Falcons.

Is there nothing Robbie Harmon can't do? Here he steals 3rd base in today's continuation of game four with Bowling Green.

Both starting pitchers from last night’s game sat out today’s completion, which is too bad because CMU’s Dan Taylor had a good one going, including five Ks and three hits in 3.0 innings of work. Smith had notched six strikeouts, but gave up four runs in his 4.0 inning appearance.

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- GAME FIVE:
Ohio Univ.- 200 012 325 – 15 13 3
Ball State – 002 101 110 – 6 16 4

WP- Bryce Butt (6-6)
LP- Kolbrin Vitek (4-3)
Sv- Adam Goodpasture (3)

Top Hitters.
OU:
Hayden Johnston, 5-for-5, 4RBI, HR, 3 doubles
Gauntlett Eldemire, 2-for-5, 2RBI, HR
Jeremie Rehak, 2-for-3, 2RBI, HR

BSU:
Kolbrin Vitek, 2-for-5, 3RBI, double
Tim Issler, 3-for-4

In keeping with the theme of the week so far for the MAC, the lower seeded Bobcats won over the higher-seeded Cardinals, ending BSU’s season in the process.

The Big Red kept shooting themselves in the foot, committing four errors and giving up five unearned runs through the first five games. In fact, at one point, BSU was out-hitting OU 11-3, but trailed 5-4 on the scoreboard. Eventually, there was just too much Hayden Johnston, who slapped his 23rd, 24th and 25th doubles of the season. And I might also add that he has an accurate cannon-arm from right field as well. Mercy me.

This dropped pop-up epitomized Ball State's day as the 2nd-seeded Cards were eliminated.

The rest of the Bobcats eventually heated up as they scored 10 runs in the last three innings of the game. It was a close game after six innings, with OU up 5-4. But the ‘Cats exploded from there. Leadoff man Gauntlett Eldemire (who has the coolest name in college baseball) started things with a bunt single, which was followed by another Johnston double. Marc Krauss got an RBI single, Brandon Besl added a groundout RBI and Chris Klimko put another stake in the Cardinals hearts with an RBI single.

That 8-4 lead soon ballooned to 10-5 after eight innings and 15-6 after nine. Just wasn’t Ball State’s day. The Cards season ends at 26-25 and there will be no mention of them on Letterman tonight either.

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- GAME SIX:
Bowling Green – 4
Miami – 17
It appears as if BG had just run out of gas after the marathon two-day game against CMU. The No. 1 seeded Falcons finish the season 28-22 overall.

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- GAME SEVEN:
Kent State – 17
Central Michigan – 2
What you read above for Bowling Green in its game with Miami goes double for CMU in its game with the Flashes.

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- GAME EIGHT:
Eastern Michigan – 6
Toledo – 7
This game ended the 15 hour, 49 minute day at the MAC tournament at the brisk hour of 12:49am Friday. Go to sleep MAC fans.

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IN DAYTON.
As expected, the top two teams advance to the battle of the unbeatens on Friday as Dayton and Rhode Island both pulled off wins in their first games of the A-10 tournament.

- GAME FOUR:
Dayton – 100 200 011 – 5 7 3
UMass – 310 102 02x – 9 15 1

WP: Cameron Hobson (7-1)
LP: Nick Serino (5-4)
Sv: Sean Finn (7)

I actually only caught the last two innings of this one, but I do know that Marshall MacDonald and Aaron Dunsmore combined to wear out the Minutemen arms, going a combined 7-for-10 with five RBI and both hit a pair of doubles on the day.

I also saw enough to know that Sean Finn has one impressive cookie duster that reminded me of Al Hrabosky, the old Polish madman of the Atlanta Braves/St. Louis Cardinals.

If the 90+mph fast ball doesn't getcha, the menacing handlebar mustache will.

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- GAME FIVE:
Xavier University- 100 000 212 – 6 11 1
Rhode Island U. – 100 050 01x – 7 10 1

WP- Tim Boyce (6-2)
LP- Danny Rosenbaum (5-5)
Sv- Dan Rossignol (2)

Top Hitters.
XU:
John McCambridge, 3-for-5, 2RBI
Drew Schmidt, 2-for-4, 2 RBI, double
Neil Lindgren, 2-for-4, RBI
URI:
Oliver Palmer, 1-for-4, Grand Slam, 4RBI
Zoey Angulo, 2-for-4, 1 RBI
Dan Rhault, 1-for-4, HR, RBI

Well… talk about a fan base that was sheet white. Xavier almost came back and won this dang thang, plating two runs in the 9th and getting the tying run 90 feet away. Old Mo’ was wearing Xavier navy (Is that anything like former Cal Bear Xavier Nady?… aw shut up Eric).

But on the strength of Oliver Palmer’s controversial 5th inning grand slam and a well-placed Mike LeBel RBI bunt in the 8th, Rhody was able to hang on for dear life and pull out the W in their first game of the week. URI now improves to 36-8-1, setting a new school mark in wins in a season. The X drops to 34-19 and into the oh-so-tough loser’s bracket.

Oliver’s home run was an interesting point in the game, as the bases were juiced and he lasered a shot to left-center. The ball appeared to tip off the top of the fence and back into the field of play. The relay to home made for a collision at the plate that appeared to be an out on runner Kenny Burns. This wasn’t welcomed very much by XU catcher Billy O’Connor. So a little pushing and shoving ensued.

Kenny Burns knocks over Xavier's Billy O'Connor at the plate on a grand slam.

But all this time, 3rd base umpireJoe Caraco had done the whole twirl-the-finger-in-the-air thing, signifying a home run. After the umpires got together to confirm the call, that’s when Xavier coach Scott Googins followed with much protesting, crabbing and even a little in-your-face action.

Coach Googins isn't liking what he's hearing from the umpires.

Oliver Palmer comes screaming into home after getting awarded the grand slam.

Rhody’s All American shortstop Dan Rhault showed me what he was all about in his first at-bat of the day, blasting a shot to left, answering the Muskies opening run of the game. Gotta give it up to the guy too, because after the bruhaha over the collision at home plate on the grand slam, it was Rhault that went up and gave O’Connor a “hey man, no hard feelings” pat on the back before the next at-bat.

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- GAME SIX:
UMass – 6
Charlotte – 5
The 49ers are eliminated from the A-10 tournament, finishing the season at 33-22. The Minutemen will now take on Xavier in an elimination game on Friday afternoon.

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GREAT GOOGILY-MOOLY!
It’s now 2:30am local time. Nobody call my hotel room in the morning, I’m going to sleep in as much as possible. So that means, yes, MAC people, I won’t be at your first game at 9am on Friday morning.

G’night.