Category: University of Illinois Baseball

Another Big Ten series this weekend and if you want to see the Illini baseball team in action, this is your final chance.  The Michigan series is the last home series for Illinois. 

Friday is Hawaiian night… wear your brightest duds to get in free.  Saturday is Dog Day… bring your dog for free admission. 

For the year, the Wolverines are 14-6 and tied for first with the mighty Wildcats of Northwestern.  Meanwhile, the Illini are kissing their sister at 10-10. 

Good Luck Team!

 

So far after two games, it looks as if Illinois was ready for Iowa. 

The burning question on all fans minds:  Was ace reliever Matt Whitmore up to the task after making the switch to starter last night?  It sure looks like it. 

Whitmore  6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

Ok, from the looks of the linescore, his control was a bit off and it’s for certain that his 1.33 ERA will go up.  But he allowed only 3 hits and more importantly, got the job done.  He had plenty of room too, with the Illini offense scoring 12 runs.  Final score 12-3

Shortstop Shawn Roof up to bat

I went to the first game today.  I got there at the bottom half of the first and the Illini had already spotted Iowa a one-run lead.  The Illini picked away at the lead scoring a run in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th innings.  Shawn Roof went 2 for 2 with an rbi and Joe Bonadonna went 1 for 3 with a run and rbi each.  By this time, things were falling apart for Iowa.  So much so, the Iowa coach got thrown out of the game in the 6th for arguing with the men in blue over relatively unimportant call at first base. 

Jake Toohey warming up in the pen

It wasn’t quite over yet though.  Iowa managed to load the bases in the 7th.  The new pitcher Toohey walked in a run and another scored on a sac fly bringing the score to 4-3.  Toohey settled down and got the last two outs for another win for the Illini.  Final score:  4-3

Update:  Looks like the Illini have taken the second game of today’s double-header 10-2.   One more game against Iowa tomorrow at 1pm.

Sunday update:  Well, it looks like Iowa took its 0-3 frustrations out on Illinois on Sunday afternoon.  The final score was 17-3.  Yikes, two touchdowns and a field goal.  The box score isn’t pretty to look at.  Jake Stewart and Brian Blomquist got rocked pretty hard. 

 

Anyone in Champaign-Urbana this weekend has a good chance to catch some good Big 10 baseball as Iowa comes to town to face the Illini.  Here’s the schedule and rundown on the teams.

I did a double take when I saw this:

 April 21 • 6:05 pm
Matt Whitmore (RHP) vs. Luke O’Loughlin (RHP)

 

Matt Whitmore

Whitmore?  Starting pitcher?  Yes, it’s true. Matt Whitmore, previous Big 10 pitcher of the Week for his bullpen work is making his first college career start tonight.  I’m following the game via GameTracker and so far he’s doing fine.  He’s allowed 2 hits and no runs through frames.

Speaking of Whitmore, he has been added to the watch list for the Stopper of the Year Award.  The award is presented by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.  Currently, Matt has 6 saves with a 1.33 ERA.

 

Well, the losing streak is over.  That’s a positive.

Other than that, things have been looking pretty down for the Illini.  Going back to the last game of the Ohio State series on April 9th, our guys have suffered a 5-game losing streak including an 8-7 loss to Bradley and a 3 games in a row to the Northwestern Wildcats

The Wildcats are an interesting scenario.  They now find themselves in first place (thanks in small part to the Illini) with a 9-3 conference record.  However, their overall record is 12-19.  You can do the math as well as I can.  That means they had a 3-16 non-conference record.  Hmm…

The Illini did manage to win the last game against Northwestern on Easter Sunday.  With the Illini ahead 3-1,  the game was called in the 7th inning due to rain.  Call it divine intervention.

Jake Stewart pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the third then pretty much cruised the rest of way till he was relieved by Aaron Martin in the 6th.

Illinois has a one-game stand against Illinois State Redbirds in Normal on Tuesday then come home for a four-game set this weekend against Iowa.

It’s been a while since I reported on the University of Illinois baseball team.  They’ve had better weeks. 

Tuesday and Wednesday, the Western Michigan Broncos were in town.  The offense couldn’t get going for the first game and the Broncos won 7-2.  The dam broke the next game and the Illini scored 16 runs including 4 rbis by Dave Schultz and 3 each by Aaron Ifft and Mike Rohde.  Final score: 16-5.

Illinois went to Columbus to play Ohio State for the weekend.  After a rainout Friday, the Illini lost both ends of the double header on Saturday, scoring only 2 runs all day (5-1, 4-1).  The good guys managed to split the double header on Sunday (8-6, 1-9). 

The 1-3 series against Ohio State was important as the Buckeyes are in first place.  A 4-0 weekend would have put the Illini in a good position.  As it is, Ohio State solidified their first place slot and the Illini fell to 7th with a 3-5 conference record. 

Taking a look at the stats:  Ryan Snowden leads the team with a .333 batting average.  He also leads in doubles (13) and total bases (49).  There’s no doubt who’s leading in rbis.  That would be Dave Schultz with 25 (6 ahead of anyone else).  Shawn Roof leads in stolen bases with 10 (in 11 attempts).  Those who attend Illini games wouldn’t be surprised by this.  Roof hustles! 

On the pitching side of things, Brian Blomquist’s ERA has risen to 4.40.  Reliever Mark Whitmore shines with a 0.63 ERA with 6 saves. 

Illini reliever Matt Whitmore earned the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award Monday.  Whitmore did it by garnering 3 saves last week in 3 innings.  He didn’t allow any hits or runs in those 3 innings. 

Whitmore is now six of six in save chances and leads the conference in saves.

 

In front of a record crowd Friday night, the Illini eked out a win against rival Purdue, 9-7.  I was there and the wind, blowing to right-center, was so strong, I had a hard time holding on to my hat.

That same wind played havoc with fly balls, taking two Purdue hits deep for homers. 

This was supposed to be a pitchers’ duel.  Illinois’ ace starter Brian Blomquist going.  As for Purdue, they had Jay Buente going.  Buente had the 3rd best ERA (1.70) in the Big 10 before last night.

Well throw all that out the window.  The Illini tagged Buente for 9 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings before he was taken out.  His reliever, Andrew Groves, pitched a near perfect 5 2/3 innings allowing only two hits.

As for Blomquist, he lasted for 5 frames but he allowed 6 runs.  Fortunately for him, he was pitching in the “comfort zone” of a 2-4 run lead. 

Dave Schultz

The big guns for the Illini were Dave Shultz who went 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 3 rbis and Trevor Huisinga who had 2 hits and 2 rbis. 

On a personal level, it was good to see Illini baseball again at Illinois Field especially in front of a record setting field.    An added treat was running into my nephew who is a second semester freshmen at the ol’ U.  My son and I picked up all the freebie giveaways on our way out (a poster, magnet, Illini baseball cards).  I shelled out some bucks for the Illini baseball media guide which is always useful for tibits of info on the players.

Yesterday’s win makes it eight in row for the good guys.  They take on Purdue today in a doubleheader and one more game Sunday.

Update:  The Illini ended up splitting the 4-game series with Purdue.  Jake Toohey was tough in the first game, winning 3-2 on Saturday but the Boilermakers made hay off the Illini bullpen in the second game winning 10-4.

On Sunday, Mike Rohde got 3 hits but the Illini went back to their old ways by not taking advantage of opportunities, losing 9-4 

Good news on the Illini front.  Perhaps they’ve shaken the early season jitters as they went 6-0 on the Spring break road trip.  They finished in style defeating Cornell 19-12 Friday. 

Offense has not been a problem lately as they averaged over 10 runs a game for the six-game road trip.  The big slugger for the team?  That would be Ryan Hastings who for the weekend hit .526 with a .789 slugging percentage.

The 6-0 trip puts Illinois second place behind Ohio State in the standings.

I’ve cleared my calendar for Friday night.  That’s Illinois’ first home game. 

Monday’s game against Massachusetts must have been one exciting game to watch.  Thank you, Chase Kliment.  Kliment went 2-3 with a homerun and 2 rbis.

Down 3-1, the Illini put together a 3 run rally in the 7th.  That score stood and Illini won 4-3.

Starting pitcher Omar Kadir pitched effectively allowing only 2 runs in 6 innings and atypically for Illini pitching so far only one walk.  The relief staff allowed only 2 hits in 3 innings.  

The win puts Illini over .500 at 7-6, good for 4th place in the Big Ten. 

Looking Ahead

Those of you in C-U who are anxious to see the Illini in action have only 10 days to go.  On March 31, the Illini take on Purdue at Illini Field.  But I gotta tell ya, I hope today’s weather isn’t any indication of what it will be like.  We’re having the worst snowstorm of the winter.  Now only if we could have some of that 60 degree weather we had in January.