The 2013 Big Ten Baseball Tournament got underway Wednesday at Target Field. No. 4 Minnesota carded a 3-2 walk-off victory over No. 5 Illinois, and No. 3 Nebraska routed No. 6 Michigan, 11-2.

This time of year, it’s always fun to look at the rosters and try to pick out the conference’s breakout stars. A year ago, if you had your eye on, say, Venric Mark, Allen Robinson, Jake Ryan or Ryan Shazier, you hit it out of the park. It’s time to go out on a limb and offer my top five candidates for who will go from an under-the-radar player to a household name in 2013.

The Big Ten announced Tuesday its 2013 All-Big Ten teams and individual award winners. Big Ten champion Indiana was well represented, as it took home Pitcher of the Year (Aaron Slegers) and Coach of the Year (Tracy Smith). Illinois’ Justin Parr was named Player of the Year and Kevin Duchene earned Freshman of the Year honors. See the teams in this post.

The Michigan and Nebraska softball teams both advanced to next weekend’s Super Regionals with impressive wins over Pac-12 foes Sunday. The Wolverines topped Cal, 3-1, while the Huskers took down Stanford, 10-5. Both teams dominated this weekend’s competition, sweeping their respective regional, held at their home fields.

Fresh off its first outright Big Ten title since 1932, Indiana will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten baseball tournament Wednesday-Saturday (Sunday, if necessary) at Target Field. The Hoosiers, along with Ohio State, earned a first-round bye in the six-team, double-elimination tourney that opens at 1:05 p.m. ET Wednesday. All 10 games will air live on BTN/BTN2Go.