As we head into the college baseball season, Big Ten Hardball has been busy previewing the Big Ten teams. Today it was Illinois’ turn.
As an Illini fan, I’m biased, of course. So it was nice to see these words in the review:
Illinois is my dark horse choice in the Big Ten. Coach Hartleb returns a balanced ball club — they can run, hit, catch and pitch. I would certainly expect Illinois to qualify for the conference tournament. It will be difficult to overtake both Michigan and Ohio State, but if a couple of players step-up, Illinois might be in the running for the top spot overall.
I think this is spot on. The Wolverines and Buckeyes will not be easy to overtake (even Coach Hartleb alluded to this in his interview on our podcast). But given the chance and the motivation, it’s very possible.
Here are Big Ten Hardball’s previews for all the Big Ten teams