BTN.com staff, May 18, 2012
The Big Ten Conference announced on Friday the sites for its 2013 and 2014 baseball tournaments. The 2013 Big Ten Baseball Tournament will be held at Target Field in Minneapolis, the home of Major League Baseball?s Minnesota Twins, marking the first time that the event will be held at a Major League Baseball facility. The 2014 tournament will be held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., the site of the NCAA Division I Men?s College World Series.
The Big Ten Baseball Tournament has been played as a neutral-site event in Columbus, Ohio, since 2009. The event was held at Huntington Park, the home of the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, in 2009 and 2011 and will be played at that ballpark May 23-26, 2012. The tournament was held at Ohio State?s Bill Davis Stadium in 2010. Prior to 2009, the Big Ten Baseball Tournament was played at the site of the regular-season champion or the champion from a pre-selected division, with the exception of 1993 and 1994, when it was held in Battle Creek, Mich.
Five different teams have won the Big Ten Tournament in the event?s 31 years. Minnesota leads all Big Ten teams with nine tournament titles, Michigan and Ohio State each have eight, Illinois has four, and Indiana has two.
The 2013 tournament will be the seventh played in Minneapolis, as Minnesota hosted the event in 1984, 1986, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The 2014 tournament will be the Big Ten?s first in Omaha and the state of Nebraska.
Tickets for the 2012 Big Ten Baseball Tournament at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio, are on sale now. Visit www.bigten.org for more information.
On a related note, here's a look at some highlights from Minnesota's recent game against Purdue at Target Field this season.