A quiet news week on the Illini front since they weren’t able to find anyone to play ball with last weekend due to the weather in Dallas. That said, there are a couple tidbits worth passing along.
Assumption (Davenport, IA) High School star Willie Argo seems to be ready to play for the Illini when the time comes. The prep outfielder is currently a senior at Assumption and has connections to Illinois. His father knew U of I coach Eric Snider when playing at Iowa.
Argo certainly has some good numbers. From the Quad City Times:
In baseball, he batted .486 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs in helping Knights to the Class 2A state title as a sophomore and then batted .508 with five homers and 39 RBIs, in addition to stealing 31 bases, for last year’s state runner-up team.
Illinois firstbaseman Ryan Hastings has been named a semi-finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. This award is annually given to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in NCAA Division I in the sport of baseball.
This isn’t the first time that Hastings has been recognized for his academic achievements. Last year, he and teammate Ryan Snowden were named first team Academic All-District by ESPN magazine.
Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that Zealot friend and consummate college baseball blogger Brian Foley from The College Baseball Blog was interviewed by Oregon Public Radio’s Think Out Loud talk show. Take a listen.
I was better on that show then your podcast. LOL