That is a smile of a proud father. Russell Bonadonna (above) is holding the homerun ball hit by his son, Joe during Wednesday’s action at the Big Ten Tournament. Bonadonna’s homer proved to be the game-winner in the win against Ohio State in the first round of the tournament. Illinois won 3-2.
Tied 2-2, Bonadonna hit a solo homer to left in the seventh inning off of Buckeye reliever Dean Wolosiansky. The score stood and Illinois won.
Kevin Manson: CG, 0 ER
But I can’t write any more without talking about Kevin Manson. Why? He simply dominated the Buckeyes today. He began the game by striking out the first two Buckeyes. Then he got better. No earned runs, only 4 hits, no walks. Manson rose to the occasion.
In some ways, it was a typical Illinois game. We outhit them 11 to 4 but won 3-2.
Steal #40
Kyle Hudson walked in the first inning and you knew what was coming next. Steal #40. That steal tied Shawn Roof for the single season team record. Hud later scored on a sac fly.
Illinois also scored when Brandon Wikoff doubled in the 3rd inning and Daniel Webb singled to drive him home.
Tomorrow, Illinois face #1 seed Michigan in a night game.
I’ve created a separate album in the photo gallery for the Big Ten Tournament. You can access it here. I will have separate sub-albums for each game.
Penn State defeated Indiana 6-1 in the second game of the day. If anyone is interested, I took photos of that game, too.
Finally, this week I’ll be doing daily updates on the Tournament on Brian Foley’s The College Baseball Blog. Thanks to Brian for the opportunity.
Nice Game!!! I got a phone call this afternoon telling me the exciting news that the Illini had defeated the Buckeyes. Thanks Tom for the update, as soon as I got off the phone, I called new college baseball fan convert CLuke and relayed him the good news! GO ILLINI!!!