Category: University of Illinois Baseball

 

Next Game:

	Game #36	Tues April 22 6:05pm
Record: 21-14 Big Ten 9-7	vs Illinois State	at Illinois Field, Champaign, IL

Illinois is coming off a much needed series win against Minnesota and will be facing the Cardinals of Illinois State.  The Cardinals whose home is “just down the road a bit” in Normal, are having a so-so season at 17-18 but last week’s experience with Eastern will hopefully show that no team is to be taken lightly. 

Kyle Hudson will hopefully be ready to go after his twisting his ankle a bit in the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday. 

In other news, Joe Bonadonna was named Big Ten Co-Player of Week.  Bonadonna (right) hit .692 for the weekend against Minnesota including four runs and three stolen bases.

The dirt on ISU: 

Opponent:	Illinois State University
Nickname:	Cardinals
Conference:	Missouri Valley Conference
Head Coach:	Jim Brownlee (6th year)
Hometown:	Normal, IL
Current Record:	17-18 (3-9 MVC)
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Kevin Dubler seems to be the complete player.  He leads the Cardinals in hitting (.357), HR (5), and rbis (38).  He also managed to swipe 11 bases so far this season.
Team Fact:	Illinois State leads the MVC in steals (84) and steal attempts (110).

 

By the way, it looks like a warm day for a ballgame at Illinois Field if a bit cloudy.  So come on out!  I’ll be there!

See you at the ballpark!

Go Illini!!

Today in Minneapolis, Illinois split their doubleheader with the Golden Gophers of Minnesota giving them a 3-1 weekend win after winning both games yesterday. 

Recap:

The first game was a squeaker with Minnesota winning 4-3.  Illinois took the lead 3-2 in the fifth with two runs.  Dom Altobelli’s double down the left field line was responsible for one of those runs but Minnesota coach wasn’t ready to see it that way.  He and most of the crowd were convinced it was foul.  I was listening to the game on radio and I could clearly hear the taunts of the ump.  Even later in the game when an Illini ball was hit foul near the baseline, I could hear the taunts, “Hey Ump, Are you sure it wasn’t fair?”  Well, Coach John Anderson was ejected for his vociferous objections to the ump’s fair call.

Anyway, In the bottom of the sixth, a Gopher sac fly tied the frame.  It stayed knotted up till the bottom of the 7th when Matt Nohelty scored on a Jeff DeSmidt base hit to win it for the Gophers. 

Another matter of interest… Kyle Hudson seemed to pull up a bit while running out a ground ball in the fifth inning.  An inning later he was pulled from the game in favor of Nick Stockwell.  He didn’t return for Game two.  I’m hoping it isn’t serious.

[4/20 Update:  Team Sports Information Director Ben Taylor tells me that Hudson is ok.  According to Ben, Kyle just “tweaked his ankle” on the play and it’s really “shouldn’t be a big thing”.  Good to hear.]

Speaking of Game 2, it was an offensive game with a score of 9-7 but most of the runs came late in the game.  By the top of the fifth, it was still Illinois 1 Minnesota 0.  Minnesota poured it on in the bottom of the eighth with five runs making it 6-4. 

Illinois responded with a five run inning of their own in the top of the final frame thanks to 3 errors by Minnesota. 

Kudos to Joe Bonadonna who responded well to taking over the leadoff spot for the game.  ‘Donna was 4 for 4 with a run, 2 rbis and 2 stolen bases.

What now?

The series win put Illinois at 9-7 in the Big Ten and back up a notch or two at third place in the standings behind Michigan and Purdue.  They’re one half game up on Ohio State. 

Tuesday, the good guys take on the Cardinals of Illinois State.  The game is at home at Illinois Field at 6:05pm.  We play host this coming weekend to Penn State for some good Big Ten action.  Another important series as State is one game behind us in the standings. 

Yes, that is exactly what the doctor ordered!  After a five straight losses, we needed a couple wins to get us back on track and that’s exactly what we got against Minnesota on Saturday. 

The first game seemed to be outlet of pent-up burst of energy and frustration (not to mention offense) as the Illini crushed the Gophers 15-2.  Everything clicked on all cylinders… hitting and pitching. 

Major kudos to DH Daniel Webb who cranked two homers and went 3 for 5 with 3 rbis.  Dom Altobelli also parked one to go along with his 3 rbis.  Craig Lutes went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and an rbi.

Webb’s two homeruns was the first multi-homerun game by an Illini this year, by the way.

Kevin Manson was very efficient allowing 2 runs, 6 hits and only one walk in eight innings for the “W”.

Game 2 was no blowout it was a good solid win.  Illinois took the Gophers 7-3.  The Illini were pretty much in control of the game for the duration.  Scott Shaw pitched 4 1/3 solid innings allowing one run.  Catcher Aaron Johnson homered for the second time this season.  Brandon Wikoff contributed by going 2 for 4 with 3 runs and 2 rbis.

SB record in Hud’s sights?

Kyle Hudson stole three more bases.  Add the one from the first game and he’s got 31 for the season.  The team record is held by his buddy and former teammate Shawn Roof with 40.  No doubt at this pace, that record is in danger.  Also, at the beginning of the weekend, Hud was two behind national leader in SB.

—

You can read the official wrap up of the games at fightingillini.com.  Also, Michael Schroeder has posted Diamond Notes #6 for anyone to read. 

Up Next:  One more doubleheader today at Siebert Field starting at 11:05am.

 

Next Game:

	Game #32-35	Fri April 18 3:05pm Sat April 19 1:05pm DH Sun April 20 1:05pm
Record: 18-13 Big 10 6-6	vs University of Minnesota	at Siebert Field, Minneapolis, MN

 

It’s going to be a big series up north this weekend.  The Illini are one game ahead of the Golden Gophers in the Big Ten standings.  Illinois is working on getting out of a five-game losing streak.  The last time they won was their 17-0 walloping of Illinois College.  Minnesota is having a rough time of it too.  They lost nine of their last twelve.

An interesting note:  Phil Haig is set start Game 3.  It looks like Mike Stankiewicz is the odd man out.  Haig has looked real good in relief though he got yanked after one inning in the EIU fiasco.

If you’re interested in some good coverage of this weekend’s series from a Minnesota perspective, check out the TNABACG blog who covers the Golden Gophers baseball team among other Minnesota sports.

Illini Shorts:  SS Brandon Wikoff is now leading the team in batting average, flirting with .400 (.398)…  Kyle Hudson is second in the nation in stolen bases with 27.  Only Jimmy Miles from Old Dominion has more with 29…  Congrats to Ryan Hastings who is now a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

I’m ready for a win… how about you? 

The 411 on Minnesota: 

Opponent:	University of Minnesota
Nickname:	Golden Gophers
Conference:	Big Ten
Head Coach:	John Anderson (28th year)
Hometown:	Minneapolis, MN
Current Record:	15-18 (5-7 Big Ten)
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Leadoff man Matt Nohelty leads the team with a .420 batting average, 30 runs and 17 steals.  DH Jeff DeSmidt is right behind him hitting .402 and leads the team with 5 homers.
Team Fact:	The Golden Gophers have had their own problems with D-2 team.  They just lost to University of Northern Iowa on Wednesday 9-8.

 

Go Illini!!

Update:  The weather has postponed tonight’s game in Minneapolis.  The two teams will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday to make up for it.

Boy, I didn’t see that coming. 

Illinois were defeated (dominated, more like it) by our neighbor to the south, Eastern Illinois University by the score of 13-3. 

EIU scored 4 in the first inning and never looked back.  After their six run inning in the 3rd inning, it seemed it was already over.  Illinois managed to score three in top of that inning thanks in part to a Craig Lutes triple and a Brandon Wikoff double but that was all the offense the Illini could muster. 

After 5 very productive appearances out of the pen, Coach Hartleb felt Phil Haig was ready to start.  Not today he wasn’t.  In the first inning, Haig gave up 4 runs and Hartleb gave him the quick hook.  The rest of the bullpen obviously didn’t have any better luck. 

Haig, by the way, is on the roster of the University of Illinois football team.  He was red-shirted for the 2007 season. 

I was hoping for a nice easy win to get us back on track before we take on Minnesota this weekend.  The early games against D-2 and D-3 teams probably spoiled me.  The Minnesota series is key as they are right below us in the standings. 

On a slightly different topic, Zach Putnam was named Big Ten co-player of the week.  I suppose we had something to do with that.

 

Next Game:

	Game #31	Tues April 15 6:30pm
Record: 18-12 Big 10 6-6	vs Eastern Illinois University	at Grimes Field, Mattoon, IL

Tuesday, the Illini limp away from getting swept by the Michigan Wolverines and try to save face when they play the Eastern Illinois University Panthers from the Ohio Valley Conference. 

The most famous athlete right now, to come out of EIU is Cowboys’ QB Tony Romo.  However, the Panthers do have a couple baseball alum to make the bigs.  Most notably, Kevin Seitzer, Tim Bogar and Marty Pattin have made the most of their major league careers. 

But that was then and this is now and the Illini need a win to get them back on track. 

Eastern’s details: 

Opponent:	Eastern Illinois University
Nickname:	Panthers
Conference:	Ohio Valley Conference
Head Coach:	Jim Schmitz (14th year)
Hometown:	Mattoon, IL
Current Record:	16-15
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Brett Nommensen leads the team in hitting (.351) and slugging (.532).  Richie Derbak paces the Panthers in rbis wit 24. Reliever Tyler Brandon has been lights out.  He has a phenomenal 0.84 ERA.  The scary thing is that he’s done this in 32 IP.
Team Fact:	EIU has outhit (.283 to .243) and outpitched (4.25 to 4.92)their opponents.

One last thing:  Since Ryan Hastings and Kyle Hudson (and as reader John pointed out, Blake Fairchild) are from Mattoon, there will be a pre-game meet-and-greet for those that want to see the Mattoon alums. 

Go Illini!!

Today’s Illini loss to Michigan wasn’t as overwhelming as the two on Saturday but the 7-4 game still hurt as it meant a Wolverine sweep for the weekend.  Illinois went into the weekend in second place and came out of it in fourth. 

Michigan cruised to a 7-0 start by the fourth inning scoring all their runs against starter Aaron Martin.  Illinois did make things interesting thanks to four hits in the bottom of the fourth compounded by a walk-rbi. 

The relief corps did a good job trying to keep things close.  Wes Braun, Mike Sterk, and Ben Reeser combined for four scoreless innings. 

For what it’s worth, Illini pitching kept the big two, Recknagel and Putnam, pretty much in check.  They were a combined 2 for 9 with just one rbi. 

If you want to find the silver lining, at least we got the big gorilla out of the way early.  Now almost every else has to face them.  The two teams that have faced Michigan already?  Iowa and Penn State.

Next up:  On Tuesday at 6:30, the Illini will play Eastern Illinois at Mattoon.  Mattoon is the high school home of Kyle Hudson and Ryan Hastings.

It wasn’t even close.  The Michigan Wolverines crushed the Illini by similar scores of 14-4 and 14-6. 

I didn’t make it out to the games.  Between the cold, wet weather and watching the kids, it just wasn’t in the making.  I had Gametracker going on the computer and the Cubs on WGN-TV (ugh, a 7-1 drubbing by Cole Hamels and the Phillies).  A bad day all around… even the Sox won. 

I generally don’t cover Illini opponents’ players.  This is, in part, an Illini baseball fan blog and I prefer to focus on the highlights and yes, sometimes the lowlights of the Illini baseball team. 

One exception I’ll make is for Zach Putnam.  When a player starts a game on Friday, wins that game (though his dad admitted to me he was “struggling”) while contributing a homerun to his own cause and THEN comes back on Saturday and goes 4 for 9 for the doubleheader with two homers and 7 rbis, you pay attention.  Six of those rbis today came in Game one. 

Through the debacle that was today’s sweep, Ryan Hastings did have a good day at the plate.  He was 3 for 7 with a homer and 4 rbis.  Mike Giller who seems to be producing when Hartleb puts him in, got his 3rd pinch hit of the season today. 

Tomorrow is the last game of the Michigan-Illinois series.  Game starts at 1:05 and Aaron Martin is on the hill for the Illini. 

fightingillini.com wrapup of today’s games.

Today’s doubleheader between Illinois and Michigan was originally set for 3:05pm then changed to 1pm to take advantage of any good weather left. Now, the game has been tentatively been moved back to 2:30.

High of 41 today with rain, rain, rain in the forecast.