I attended the Illini game last night and it wasn’t pretty. They lost their fifth in a row and their magic number remains at two. With three games left against Iowa this weekend, they need to win the next two to clinch the Big Ten title.
Brian Blomquist took the loss last night and it was evident he didn’t have his stuff. Iowa exploded for a 7-run inning in the fourth which pretty much sealed up the game though Illinois did make it interesting by scoring a few in the later innings.
Final score: Iowa 12 Illinois 9
As seen here, Iowa used the hit and run pretty frequently.
Iowa starter Jeff Maitland held Illinois in check until the 6th inning when he was pulled for a reliever.
Maybe it’s me but Iowa has the ugliest road uniforms. Talk about dingy looking.
A frustrated Illini Coach Itch Jones walking off the field after not scoring any runs.
Seems to me I remember when Coach Jones came on board with the Illini years ago, his nickname was “Itchy”. For some reason, the Athletic Dept at the U of I thought that “Itchy” was unsavory or something. So they decreed to change his nickname to the much more acceptable “Itch”.
Whatever.
We moved back behind the plate towards the end of the game. This is probably the worst seat in the park and it ain’t too bad. We stood next to these guys who were riding the umps really hard. I had to admit the home plate ump was pretty inconsistent with his balls and strikes.
Tonight there is a twi-night doubleheader and tomorrow an afternoon game. It sure would be nice if they could sweep tonight and play tomorrow “just for the fun of it”.