Category: 2007 Big Ten Tournament

Iowa gets ‘Roarked’ by the Orange and Blue

Here we go, Illini, Here we go!

Here we go, Illini, here we go!

It sure is nice to be in the winners’ bracket.

No incredible comeback today at the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Nope, the Illinois had things pretty much under control from the very start against the Iowa Hawkeyes as they took them 12-3.

https://www.thebaseballzealot.com/gallery2/d/861-9/5-23-07_086.jpg” width=”300″ />

Lars Davis and Tanner Roark

Starter Tanner Roark pitched great. He had a shutout going through seven innings. He gave up a three-spot in the eighth but settled down and pitched a zero for the last frame.

He had some help from the rest of the team, too. Illinois had five double plays, a conference tournament record. Not only that, they were in five consecutive innings.

By the way, the Hawkeyes weren’t taking too many chances with Lars Davis. They intentionally walked him twice him in the game.

Kyle Hudson was 3 for 5 with a triple and and three other Illini had 2 hits. In addition, Mike Rohde translated his single into 2 rbis plus an rbi on a groundout.

I talked to Mike after the game and asked about his shoulder. I asked only because they brought in Mike Giller to play first in the 9th. He says it still feels ok.

Tomorrow: The boys take on Minnesota at 2:35 (central).

Took lots of photos. Take a look.

Took a few at the Ohio State-Penn State game, too. The Buckeyes had State for lunch, 10-3.

Looking ahead to the Big Ten Tournament

I’m finally coming down a bit from Sunday’s incredible comeback by the Illini over Michigan State. It’s not often you see a team come back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7 in a must-win game. But I’m sure the Illini baseball team isn’t looking back… they’re looking forward. Forward to Wednesday at 11:05 (Central) … Continue reading “Looking ahead to the Big Ten Tournament”

I’m finally coming down a bit from Sunday’s incredible comeback by the Illini over Michigan State. It’s not often you see a team come back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7 in a must-win game.

But I’m sure the Illini baseball team isn’t looking back… they’re looking forward. Forward to Wednesday at 11:05 (Central) when they take on Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

For the record, Iowa is 17-13 (31-21 overall) good for fourth place in the Big Ten. Head to head, Iowa had the advantage winning three of four at Iowa City.

Word has it that the players left Champaign-Urbana Monday at noon. Hopefully they will get some rest before tomorrow’s practice day. They deserve it.

Here is the Big Ten Tournament web site.

Closing out the regular season

A couple of things are worthy of note before going on to the Big Ten Tournament:

First, congrats to closer Jake Toohey who won Big Ten pitcher of the week. He recorded a save and a win in Illinois’ series against Michigan State. The win, of course, was Toohey’s 4 1/3 inning appearance on Sunday where he allowed no runs and allowed the Illini to come back and win the game.

Somewhat lost in the shuffle this weekend was the fact that Shawn Roof has broken Andy Small’s career HBP record for Illini. Roof had two over the weekend giving him 45.

Finally, catcher Lars Davis finished out the regular season hitting .415, second in the Big Ten. The thing is, his batting average only tells part of the story. Without him, the team wouldn’t have made the Tournament. Nicely done, Crash.

Tomorrow is a travel day for me. I’ll be getting into Ann Arbor around 11:30pm.

Go Illini!!