The Illini baseball team looked a little tenative at the start of their Big Ten Baseball Tournament opener vs Michigan State. They took several called third strikes from Spartan starter Nolan Moody and then watched as MSU catcher Eric Roof hit a grand slam off of lefty starter Phil Haig early in the game.

But the Illini responded quickly and with an avalanche of doubles and runs and got 4-hit days from the 8th and 9th hitters in the order (Pete Capetta and Josh Parr) to beat the Spartans into submission with a 16-5 win. That moves the Illini into a matchup with the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday night in Columbus at 6 pm (CT)

Indiana also moved into the winner's bracket with an equally convincing win over the Purdue Boilermakers. Too many Purdue errors were costly...and the Boilers were up against one of the best college pitchers in the country in Indiana's Eric Arnett. The 6'6" right-hander routinely popped the radar gun in the 94-96 mph range and threw a wicked breaking ball to shut down the Purdue offense. He looks to me to easily be a first-round major league pick.

So the three games Thursday in Columubus are.... Michigan State-Purdue at 11am (CT).....Indiana-Minnesota (2:30pm-CT)...and Illinois-Ohio State at 6pm (CT)....

Enjoy the games!