Illinois baseball | The Baseball Zealot

Baseball Zealot Radio chats with Shawn Roof from Detroit Tigers Spring Training Camp

Anyone who knows me that I’ve followed Shawn Roof since he and I met during his Illinois days. It seems so long ago but it was only a year ago when he entered his senior year as Illinois shortstop.

Since then, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 draft and entered their minor league system. Now he’s down in Lakeland, Florida in the Tigers camp.

Shawn took some time for an interview for Baseball Zealot Radio. He talks about life in the minors, his daily routine in spring training and even talked a bit about his alum, the University of Illinois and their chances for 2008.

Time: 16:33

Date Recorded: 3/6/08

Listen to Episode 42	Listen to the show via iTunes!
Listen to other Baseball Zealot Radio episodes	BZR Podcast Feed

Illini Loss to UIC ends disappointing weekend

I really thought the University of Illinois had a good chance against our sister campus, the University of Illinois-Chicago. UIC had only won one game going into this game and it wasn’t like we were playing some baseball powerhouse from the south. I guess this proves that we take all opponents seriously.

The Illini did draw first blood, scoring an unearned run in the second on a sac fly. But the Flames came back with a vengeance and really didn’t look back. They scored three runs in the second and four in the third. All but one of those runs were charged to starter Aaron Martin.

Reliever Kevin Manson, who picked up the last run in the third, pitched admirably for the rest of the game. Though he allowed 5 hits, the run in the second was the only one he gave up. Last weekend, Manson pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

Final score UIC 7 UIUC 4

Centerfielder Kyle Hudson and shortstop Brandon Wikoff were named to the QTI Baylor Classic All-Tournament team. Hudson went 5 for 12 with 3 rbis and 2 runs. Wikoff was 3 for 9 and 3 rbis and a double. Congratulations to both!

Next weekend, things will settle down. For the first time this season, Illinois will be playing an honest-to-goodness series against a another team. They will take on Texas Tech in Lubbock for four games. A Friday evening game, a Saturday doubleheader, and a Sunday day game… you know the drill.

I don’t know if this will help or hurt either team but the familiarity will be nice, I’m sure.

Go Illini!

Baseball Zealot Radio gets a Spring Training update from Teddy Ballgame

Tedd Mallasch (aka Teddy Ballgame) is down in Florida and enjoying some Grapefruit League action. He called up to give us an update on what’s happening down there.

If you haven’t already, read some of Teddy’s articles he written from Florida. He’s posted to the blog pretty much daily since he went down there.

As always, it was a pleasure to talk to Teddy. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time as he is headed to Arizona to see some Cactus League games later this month.

Enjoy!

Download Episode 41	Listen to the show via iTunes!
Listen to other Baseball Zealot Radio episodes	BZR Podcast Feed

Illinois misses in one-run game against SF Austin

The good guys had the lead but Stephen F Austin came back to score three runs in top of the 9th to pull a win out of the hat. Final Score SFA 8 Illinois 7.

CF Kyle Hudson had 3 hits and two runs in his traditional eighth spot in the lineup. Frosh Casey McMurray, who has shown some offense so far this season, was 1 for 2 with 2 runs and 2 rbis. Also, Brandon Wikoff was 2 for 4 with 3 rbis.

Mike Stankiewicz was the starting pitcher and didn’t put up horrible numbers though they weren’t spectacular either. He allowed 4 ER in 7 2/3 IP with 4 strikeouts. The big plus was that he didn’t allow a walk in the game. Losing pitcher Nick Chmielewski allowed 3 ER in an innings work.

Tomorrow, we come up agiainst our sister campus, University of Illinois-Chicago. It will be Illinois’ last game in the QTI Baylor Classic.

Next Game:

	Game #6	Sat Mar 2, 11 am CST
Record: 2-3	vs University of Illinois-Chicago	at Waco, Tx

Opponent:	University of Illinois-Chicago
Nickname:	Flames
Conference:	Horizon League
Head Coach:	Mike Dee (10th year)
Location:	Chicago, IL
Current Record:	1-3
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	It seems to be a very young team with many newcomers. The starting rotation are all pretty much new as is the outfield with the exception of sophomore Ty Rubig. Pitching for UIC is Mike Kool from Davenport IA and who pitched two years for Blackhawk College.
Team Fact:	The UIC Flames have won the last six regular season Horizon League championships and three of the last five tournaments.

Go Illinois!!

Baylor 20 Illinois 6 Ouch!

That was my first reaction when seeing the final score of tonight’s game. The lights-out pitching from last weekend just saw their ERA skyrocket. Scott Shaw only lasted for 2 1/3 innings giving up 12 runs. Only 5 of those runs were earned due to an error with two out. Obviously, the Baylor offense wasn’t done yet.

Scoring three more in the third and the fifth, Baylor had an run spurt in the sixth when seven more Bears crossed the plate against Illinois relievers Billy Barrett and Mike Sterk making it 20-3.

Trying to find some highlights, RF Nick Stockwell was 2 for 4 with a double and 2 runs. Kyle Hudson drove in 2 runs.

Lee Zerrusen came in to pitch an almost-perfect eight (only giving up a walk). Of course, it “didn’t matter” but it was good work for the freshman.

Hopefully, the Illini can shake this off and move on to the next game. They play Stephen F. Austin.

Next Game:

	Game #5	Sat Mar 1, 2 pm CST
Record: 2-2	vs Stephen F Austin	at Waco, Tx

Opponent:	Stephen F Austin
Nickname:	Lumberjacks
Conference:	Big 12
Head Coach:	Donnie Watson (3rd year)
Location:	Nacogdoches, TX
Current Record:	3-3
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Matt Whatley who was hitting .467 entering the tournament. Also, Zach Gardner who had four games with multiple hits until today.
Team Fact:	The University of Illinois-Chicago win against the ‘Jacks today was their first of year.

Go get ’em, Illini!

Illini Leap back to Texas for the QTI Baylor Tournament

Next Game:

	Game #4	Fri Feb 29, 6:30 pm
Record: 2-1	vs Baylor #24	at Waco, Tx

It’s back to Lone State for the Illini baseball team as they play in the Quala-T Imprints Baylor Classic tournament. First up on Leap Day is the home team, Baylor:

Opponent:	Baylor
Nickname:	Bears
Conference:	Big 12
Head Coach:	Steve Smith (14th year)
Location:	Waco, Texas
Current Record:	4-0
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Baylor probable starter Kendal Volz was the Big 12’s pitcher of the week. He held Purdue scoreless through 8 innings.
Team Fact:	Despite Baylor’s 4-0 record and #24 ranking, Illinois did win the only time the only time these two teams faced.

Right hander Scott Shaw is due to pitch for the Illini. In game one against Sam Houston last week, Shaw was really on his game pitching five shutout innings until he ran into trouble in the sixth allowing 4 runs. Illinois came back to win that game 6-4.

Gametracker is of course available but if you are interested in a live audio/video feed, you should be able to get it from the Baylor Bears web site.

FightingIllini.com notes for the Baylor Tournament

Go Illini!!

RSS feed for Illini posts

We’re now upon college baseball season and I plan to do a lot of coverage of the Illini. As I found out at the Big Ten Tournament last year, there are one or two who read those posts.

For those who wish to use RSS and are only interested in University of Illinois baseball related articles, you can use The Baseball Zealot Illini feed and plug into your favorite news aggregator like Google Reader.

There’s a handy RSS link on the right sidebar along with a link that will take you to all Illini baseball stuff (the ol’ fashioned way).

(What is RSS?)

Illini Martin, Reeser mow down Cardinals

Illinois 1 Lamar 0

CSTV’s Gametracker pitching line says it all

It was another pitcher’s duel this morning at the Al Ogletree Tournament but this time Illinois came up on top.

Aaron Martin and Ben Reeser were lights out against the Lamar University Cardinals just as were all summer as teammates in the Coastal Plain League. They combined for a six hit shutout with seven strikeouts.

That was fortunate since the offense was still a bit lean and provided them with the one run they needed to win. That run came in the bottom of the 5th (the Illini were the home team today) when Kyle Hudson singled, stole second, and scored on a Brandon Wikoff base hit.

That was Hud’s third stolen base in the first three games of the season. Wikoff had two hits to go along with his rbi in the game.

That closes out Illinois’ participation in the Al Ogletree Tournament. After winning the first against Sam Houston 6-4, they lost 2-1 against Texas State.

Wrap-up and Analysis of the Tournament:

As much as I like Gametracker, it is certainly no replacement for being at the game. You just don’t get a feel for the game and there is so much that you miss. I am so much looking forward to Illinois’ home opener.

That said, I think it’s safe to say that the pitchers were on their game this weekend. Opponents scored five earned runs in three runs in the three games. Take away the four run inning in the first game against Sam Houston, and well.. you do the math.

The offense is another matter and that will probably come with time. Some of the problem is due to rookie mistakes and the team learning to gel. We have some new guys being put in some key roles and they are learning to produce.

Freshman Casey McMurray is playing leftfield and has been leading off. Transfer John Schlichter is playing the hot corner and batting in the cleanup spot. Both made offensive contributions this weekend.

Coach Hartleb spoke to the media about the lack of offense after the 2-1 loss to Texas State:

“I was disappointed with the offense today,” Hartleb said. “We had numerous opportunities to move runners with no outs, but we didn’t do it and that was the difference in the game. If we move runners at all today, we’re 2-0.”

My guess is that he’ll be working on the offensive fundamentals this week. That said, he’s not feeling too bad about winning two out of three this weekend.

By the way, here is the typical lineup being used:

McMurray, Casey lf
Wikoff,Brandon ss
Hastings, Ryan 1b
Schlichter, John 3b
Webb, Daniel rf
Johnson, Aaron c
Giller, Mike dh
Bonadonna, Joe 2b
Hudson, Kyle cf

Illinois’ next game will be against Baylor on February 29th.

Update: Here is a link to FightingIllini.com’s summary of Illinois’ game against Lamar.

Illinois lose tough pitching duel with Texas State

Texas State 2 Illinois 1

Today’s game was a mirror image of yesterday’s. Friday Illinois scratched out runs out of nothing. Today, the hits were there but runs were scarce.

Illini starting pitcher Mike Stankiewicz pitched a six inning gem allowing six hits and one run. Unfortunately, the Illinois offense didn’t back him up and when he left the game it was 1-0 Texas State.

It goose eggs till the to of the eighth when the Illini finally drew blood and tied the game. John Schlichter doubled home Ryan Hastings who had walked.

Unfortunately, it was also Schlichter who booted the ball at third base in the bottom of the 9th allowing Spenser Davis to reach base. One wild pitch later, Bobcat Adam Witek singled him home for the wining run.

The offense obviously wasn’t there today but you gotta feel good about the pitching performances about Mike Stankiewicz and Nick Chmielewski (wild pitch notwithstanding).

Newbie catcher Aaron Johnson went 3 for 4 though his offensive effort was somewhat wasted with no runs and no rbis.

Tomorrow, it’s another early 9am game against Lamar University Cardinals.

Next Game:

	Game #3	Sat Feb 24, 9 am
Record: 1-1	vs Lamar	at Edinburgh, Tx

Opponent:	Lamar
Nickname:	Cardinals
Conference:	Southland Conference
Head Coach:	Jim Gilligan (30th year)
Location:	Beaumont, Texas
Current Record:	1-1
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Reliever Tim Erickson who was named to the NCWBA Stopper Watch list.
Team Facts:	Lamar won the Southland Conference East Division in 2007 with a 20-10 record. Pre-season polls predict the Cardinals to win their division again.

This will be the last game of the Al Ogletree Tournament. After that, the team will be off till next weekend when they play Baylor on the 29th.

Go Illini!

Update: Lamar just lost a tough one to Sam Houston State 18-7 this afternoon. Also, here is FightingIllini.com’s summary of the game.

Illini Win Season Opener!

It’s hard to believe with a heavy snowstorm upon us here in Illinois, that I would be following a baseball game today. With the help of CSTV’s Gametracker, that’s exactly what I did as I saw the University of Illinois win their season opener against Sam Houston State at the Al Ogletree Tournament in Edinburgh, Texas.

Offensively, the Illini made the most of little especially at first. With the help of an error, two walks, and a hit batsman plus a Daniel Webb single, Illinois scored two runs in the second inning. The next inning they scored another run on a another Bearcat error, scoring Brandon Wikoff who singled and stole second.

Meanwhile, Scott Shaw was lights out for five innings allowing no runs. However, Shaw ran into trouble in the 6th when he gave up four earned runs. Kevin Manson came in relief.

In the 7th, rbi hits by frosh Casey McMurray and Ryan Hastings made it 5-4. For good measure, Joey Bonadonna scored on a sac fly after the Illini loaded the bases.

Back to Kevin Manson… he closed out the game pitching 3 2/3 innings allowing no runs with 3 strikeouts and got the precious win. Final score Illinois 6 SHSU 4.

I’ll bet the players will be celebrating tonight!

But not too much. They have a early 9am game tomorrow. Here are the details:

	Game #2	Sat Feb 23, 9 am
Record: 1-0	vs Texas State	at Edinburgh, Tx

Illinois go from facing the Bearcats to facing the Bobcats of Texas State. It’s their second game of the Al Ogletree Tournament.

Opponent:	Texas State
Nickname:	Bobcats
Conference:	Southland Conference
Coach:	Ty Harrington (9th year)
Location:	San Marcos, Texas
Current Record:	1-0
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	Thomas Field, Adam Witek
Comments:	SS Field was named pre-season Southland Conference First Team and pitcher Mike Hart was named pre season second team. The Bobcats were 37-23 in 2007 and were listed in the Top 100 college teams in a preseason poll.

Again, their opponent is tough. More importantly, they have a win under their belt, defeating Stephen Austin in a 10 inning game today.

Go Illini!

Update: Here’s Fightingillini.com’s summary of the game.