Quick question… do you remember in the pre-season when Baseball America had Indiana picked to win the Big 10 and in their Top 25 and all? Well guess what, THAT Indiana team may just be finally coming around now people.

The Hoosiers and Rhode Island took firm control of their respective tournaments today, going into Sunday with locomotive-like momentum having bashed their helpless opposition into submission like something out of a Kimbo Slice highlight reel.

The Hoosiers look relaxed and confident, playing the best baseball of anybody in the Big 10 right now.

Tonight, the Big Red boys from James Dean-land made minced-meat of hometown Ohio State to the tune of 13-3 to go into Saturday with a pristine 3-0 mark here in Columbus. Meanwhile in the Atlantic 10, the Rams bullied top-seeded Dayton 9-2 to move into Saturday with an unbeaten mark as well, needing just one win over Xavier to put on their dancing shoes.

We’ll get to all that in a minute, first some bubble news.

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BUBBLE TEAMS THAT ARE PLAYING LIKE THEY WANT IN.
I’ve never been the type to suggest that a team can earn its way into the NCAA tournament (or play its way out) on the last weekend of the season, just because they made a good run in their conference tournament. But if the selection committee is THAT shallow, then here are the teams that are doing themslves some favor.

- BOSTON COLLEGE
Record: 33-24
RPI: 33
Today: Beat Miami, 10-1.
After blowing out Georgia Tech and Miami in back-to-back days, it looks like BC is making some hay to get in the field. Look for that RPI to get a slight boost after today anyway, so take them off my “teams that should not get a bid” list.

- VANDERBILT
Record: 33-24
RPI: 36
Today: Sat and rested, awaiting Arkansas on Saturday
The Commodores already own wins over LSU and South Carolina, so another over the Razorback could look real good for their resume, seeing as how that will also mean they’ll advance to the SEC title game.

- OREGON STATE
Record: 34-16
RPI: 44
Today: Won at Stanford 5-0
Ya’ know, Oregon State ALWAYS gets the shaft from the RPI, so I am embarrassed to have even included them in any kind of bubble consideration. Hell, if those two national championships are indication enough, we can expect to see OSU out-play its seeding by leaps and bounds. So look for the orange and black in Omaha again.

- ORAL ROBERTS
Record: 30-12
RPI: 41
Today: Beat Southern Utah 9-6 to advance to the title round of the Summit. More on this below.

- RHODE ISLAND
Record: 37-18-1
RPI: 51
Today: Beat Dayton like a red-headed stepchild 9-2. More on this below.

- WASHINGTON STATE
Record: 29-23
RPI: 53
Today: Beat Washington 6-5 to assure their second place finish in the Pac 10. More on this below.

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WHO IS MAKING THE BUBBLE TEAMS NERVOUS.

- GEORGE MASON
Lost to Georgia State 9-3 and to UNC-Wilmington 5-3, assuring that one bubble team has probably just lost its spot in the Big Dance. Thanks alot Patriots.

- SAN DIEGO STATE
Lost to Utah 4-1 and will now play a re-match against the Utes for the NCAA bid on Saturday. It was looking like the Aztecs were in the field prior to today, so we can only assume that a Utah win will add a third team from the Mountain West and another dropped team from the bubble.

- COASTAL CAROLINA
Won twice today over High Point, 8-4, and Liberty, 7-0. But after yesterday’s slip-up against Radford, the Chants are one loss from disaster for bubble teams. They will await the winner of Saturday’s first game between these Flames and Winthrop.

- TEXAS STATE
Oh sure, the Bobcats blasted Lamar 13-2, but bubble teams across the country remember that the Southland is notorious for No. 1 seeds to take it on the chin. So beward Bobcats, you’ve got two-time defending SLC tournament champion Sam Houston State staring you straight between the cross-hairs on Saturday.

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Now let’s take a quick look at what I saw on the diamonds around Ohio today…
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IN COLUMBUS.
Indiana moves into the driver’s seat of the Big 10 tournament with tonight’s win. OSU and Minnesota will fight it out to see who will face the red-hot Hoosiers in Saturday’s title game.

Ohio St.- 110 000 100 – 3 6 3
Indiana – 000 370 03x – 13 16 1

WP- Blake Monar (5-3)
LP- Dean Wolosiansky (11-2)
Sv.- None

Top Hitters.
OSU:
Cory Kovanda, 2-for-5

IU:
Tyler Rogers, 3-for-5, 4RBI, triple
Jake Dunning, 2-for-4, 2RBI
Alex Dickerson, 3-for-5, 2RBI, double
Josh Phegley, 2-for-4, 3 runs scored

Tyler Rogers (1) hit a bases-loaded triple as part of a 4-RBI night.

I don’t know what happened to Indiana back in February and March, but one thing’s for sure, the Hoosiers aren’t the same Hoosiers now. Fully healthy, pitching strong and according to coach Tracy Smith, playing better defense, IU used hot bats, good decision-making and a solid start from a freshman arm to rout the Buckeyes tonight in front of 4,019 red-clad fans at Huntington Park.

With Friday and Saturday guys Eric Arnett and Matt Bashore getting all the love from the MLB scouts and all, Monar proved tonight he’s not such a bad third starter in the rotation. The big lefty threw 6.2 innings and surrendered only five hits and three runs to a team that hit .330 coming into tonight’s game. In their three Big 10 tournament games, IU pitchers are now holding the opposition to a .188 average and just seven runs.

Monar was relieved admirably by another southpaw, Matt Igel and righty Joey O’Gara, who combined for 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, effectively keeping the pillow firmly over the Buckeye faces in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

IU has now scored 34 runs in the three tournament games, hitting .392 as a team. It should also be noted that IU batters have hit 15 doubles in the tournament, breaking the tourney mark.

Even after the big win Coach Tracy Smith looks all business for the Big Ten Network interview.

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QUOTES.

- Indiana 2B Tyler Rogers:
“I was adding it up during the game tonight that we’re outscoring our opponents 31-7 so far in this tournament and we’ve won 10 of our last 11, so we’re swinging some hot bats. Whoever we play tomorrow night better watch out.”

- Indiana Coach Tracy Smith:
On needing to win just one game:
“We’re taking nothing for granted. I’ve been in situations where gone down to the championship round with only one game to win for double elimination and it hasn’t worked out. So I think our guys will be focused and ready to go tomorrow. This game can change in a hurry, that’s why we love it so much and that’s why we hate it so much.”

On his team’s hot hitting this week:
“The good thing about our lineup is you have to work from top to bottom as an opposing pitcher, one through nine. If the middle guys are getting after ya’ like they have been lately, we’re gonna score some runs.”

On his pitcher Blake Monar stepping up in this big stage:
I don’t think he had his best performance, even he’ll tell you that. But if you can get a freshman out there in that environment, battling with every pitch, you give yourself a chance to win. I love what I saw out of him in terms of competing every pitch. He was cramping up a little bit in the middle innings, but he overcame that and was a warrior out there tonight.”

On his team’s difference from earlier this year:
“We were not playing good defense early on. And I hate to say this, but as the warmer weather hits I think we’ve been able to improve our game because of getting more reps outside and more consistency in our play. The guys are settling in and we’re trusting our defense more.

- Ohio State coach Bobb Todd:
On his team’s overall lackluster play:
“I was not happy with the way we swung the bats, not happy with the way we played defense and not happy with the way we pitched. Not to take anything away from Indiana, they’re playing very aggressive baseball right now.”

On his teams’ mindset now:
“Ya’ know, this team, all year long has kind of over-achieved. We clinched the Big 10 championship on the last day of the season when two weeks ago people had left us for dead, didn’t think we had a chance. And they battled and competed and maybe over-achieved a little bit the last couple of weeks. Maybe we’re a little run-down right now and need to re-charge the batteries a bit.”

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GAME SIX:
Minnesota – 12
Purdue – 3
Derek McCallum led a 17 hit assault with a 3-for-5, 4RBI performance as the Gophers overcame an early 3-1 deficit to plate three runs in the 4th and two runs in the 5th to start the onslaught. McCallum ended up a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Football wide receiver Eric Decker went 4-for-5 with a double and Nick O’Shea added a 3-for-6 effort.

Aw forget all these stats I’m rattling off, just know that the Gophers went offensively crazy on the five Boilermaker pitchers tonight. Oh, and Tom Buske went the distance for The U, spraying seven hits around.

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GAME SEVEN:
Illinois – 4
Minnesota – 13
Uhhhh, pretty easy to see here that the Minnesota Gophers were pretty much acting like the Vikings here – that would be the ancient Norse Vikings pummeling their opposition with ruthless anger. Nick O’Shea and Mike Kvasnicka were the main offenders, combining for nine RBI on 2-for-4 and 3-for-4 performances.

Nick O'Shea is O'smiling after hitting his second home run vs. Illinois.

The Gophers got another good mound performance, this time by Seth Rosin who went 8.0 innings, spreading out six hits and giving up the four runs.

Let’s just say this about the Vikes… er, Gophers. They are on a roll now, especially offensively. Not sure about how their pitching will hold up, as they aren’t the deepest of staffs. So if they want to win this thing, they’re going to have to outscore people.

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IN DAYTON.
The Rams take down the homestanding Flyers and advance to Saturday’s title round at Fifth Third Field.

Dan Rhault (10) acts as landing crew as Kenny Burns (1) slides into home for another score for URI.

GAME SEVEN:
Rhode Island – 310 014 000 – 9 18 1
Univ. Dayton – 000 010 010 – 2 10 2

WP- Nick Greenwood (7-3)
LP- Quinn Haselhorst (8-5)
Sv- None

Top Hitters.
URI:
Zeoy Angulo, 3-for-6
Oliver Palmer, 2-for-4, 2RBI
Dan Rhault, 3-for-5, 2RBI
Tom Coulombe 3-for-5, RBI
Jeff Cammans, 2-for-5, 3RBI

UD:
Zach Jacob, 3-for-4, RBI

You know how your big brother always picked on you bit by bit until one day you finally had a tantrum? Well, that’s what the Rams did today, picking bit-by-bit, hit-by-hit until UD eventually had to wave a white flag. Of the 18 hits on the day by the Rams, only two went for extra bases and both of those were doubles.

Dan Rhault, the RBI king for URI, reflects his hardscrabble style of play.

It didn’t help that Greenwood was throwing a steady, if not spectacular game at the same time, spreading around the 10 hits and issuing nary a walk in his 8.0 innings on the day.

The top five in the Rhody order did the major damage, getting 13 of the hits, with three apiece from leadoff man Angulo, All American Rhault and cleanup man Coulombe. Rhault also knocked in RBIs 59 and 60 to set a school record for ribbies in a season for the Rams.

URI jumped on the Flyers from the word go, getting a double from Angulo in the first at-bat and an RBI single from Rhalt. Cammons then followed with an RBI single and Mike LeBel added an RBI sac fly to make this one a yawner from the 1st inning onward. Defensively, the Rams were stellar was well, turning four double plays in all and committing only one harmless error. If you’re looking for a downside to the URI win, I suppose stranding 10 men on the basepaths would be of some concern.

Still, who’s gonna knock the 18 hits they got? (Enter crickets sound here).

With the win, Rhode Island is in an enviable position, sitting and waiting until noon on Saturday for the other teams to beat each other up before making it to the title round. The Rams entered the day with an RPI of No. 51, according to our Lord Boyd Nation and his usually dead-nuts-on pseudo RPI. To me that would be a good enough ranking to garner an at-large berth, especially if you look at some of their quality wins on the year. But you know how those Northeast teams get pulled down by their mid-week games.

The Rams always have a look like they're ready to play NOW!

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GAME EIGHT:
Xavier – 6
UMass – 3
The X-men eliminate the Minutemen with a three-run first inning and never look back. Bobby Freking went 3-for-4 with two ribs, including a double to lead XU.

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GAME NINE:
Dayton – 3
Xavier – 11
The top-seeded Flyers see their season end with a solid 38-19 mark and XU advances to the title round with a school record 36 wins in its pocket. Billy O’Conner went 4-for-4 in the game with three RBI.

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Now for some more national stuff before we wrap this bad boy up for the night.
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THREE UP.

1- Juan Martinez, Oral Roberts.
With two out and facing a full count in the 9th inning of a one-run deficit to Southern Utah, the Eagles No. 2 hole hitter crushed a grand slam to cap a six-run inning. ORU completed the comeback to beat the Thunderbirds 9-6. With the win, ORU keeps its all-time conference tournament mark at 38-1.

2- South Dakota State.
Won two games, over Centenary (7-3 in 10 innings) and Southern Utah (9-4) to advance to the Summit championship round.
The Jackrabbits got a pair of complete game performances on the mound today. Against the Gents, Caleb Thielbar struck out 12 in 10 innings to get the win and improve to 5-8. Freshman Layne Somsen got the win over the Thunderbirds, giving up 11 hits, but not issuing a single walk and getting his fourth straight complete game.

The Jackrabbits will play Oral Roberts for the Summit League title… oh what the hell, Go JACKS!!

3- Washington State.
Won 6-5 over rival Washington to secure second place in the Pac 10.
Michael Weber drew a bases loaded walk with two out in the 10th inning to give the Coogs the win over their cross-state rival. Senior hurler Matt “No” Way carried a no-hitter into the sixth and struck out a career high 13 batters. The crafty lefty has gone into the 6th inning for 14 straight starts.

Even though they are only 29-23 overall, a 17-8 record in the Pac 10 is good for a second place finish. Surely the NCAA committee can’t overlook the No. 2 team in the Pac 10 who owns wins over Oklahoma (2), Gonzaga, Long Beach State, BYU (2), Arizona State and Oregon State (2), can they?

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HONORABLE MENTION.
- LSU’s Matty Ott.
In tonight’s 4-1 win over South Carolina, the scrappy freshman reliever inherited a bases-loaded, no out situation. He then induced a strikeout, pop-up to second and a strikeout to secure the win for the Tigers, while also picking up his 14th save. Talk about ice in your veigns. Damn!
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THREE DOWN.

1- Eastern Illinois.
Lost to Murray State 5-4, eliminating the Panthers from the OVC tourney.
SEE?!… See why I freakin’ HATE conference tournaments for these smaller conferences that don’t make any money with them anyway? Dammit! Just like Canisius last year, EIU was a hot, hot small conference team, going 36-12 in the regular season, including wins over Oklahoma, South Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Illinois, Indiana and Indiana State. But because they went 0-2 in the OVC tournament (really?), they will sit home for the post-season.

Small conferences… PLEASE consider dropping your post-season tournaments. All it does is allow for some team that gets hot for four days to play in the Big Dance while your conference champion that gives you the best chance for success against the big boys, sits at home.

2- Stanford.
Lost 5-0 at home to Oregon State.
The Trees definitely need a series win over the No. 30 ranked Beavers to harbor any hope for an at-large bid. But with tonight’s shutout loss, the lights in Jerusalem are just about shut down for the Cardinal. OSU freshman Sam Gaviglio, in his push for national freshman of the year, tossed a complete-game 3-hitter with seven Ks and not a single walk to lead the orange and black. Gaviglio is now 9-1 on the year as he out-dueled a fellow frosh, SU’s Jordan Pries, who tossed 7.0 innings of 7-hit work. But Pries walked five and dropped to 4-4 on the year.

3- UMass.
Lost to Xavier 6-3.
This apparently was the last game of the Minutemen program as they were eliminated from the A-10 tournament with the loss. The positive side is that UMass finished the season with a record of 27-26, it’s highest win total since 2003. For shame this program will go the way of the buffalo.

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DISHONORABLE MENTION.

- The Durham Bulls Stadium Scoreboard.
For not having double digit numbers when Virginia lays another 10-spot on somebody, like they did in the 3rd inning vs. North Carolina tonight. Although the scoreboard has to show it as a “0″…

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Okay, 2:30am is a fine time to go ahead and put the wraps to this extended synopsis of college baseball. More tomorrow when I hope to be able to witness three separate dogpiles. (But the odds aren’t good since the MAC title game and the A-10 title game play at nearly the same time… but if the A-10 goes to a second game, I’ll get my wish. Go Xavier!)

G’night.