It’s opening day for the Illini which means they’re someplace warm, in this case, Clearwater, Florida. What’s different this year is that tonight, they are opening up against a Big Ten team, Iowa. My guess? They’re making up for lost time. They didn’t play the Hawkeyes all last year.
Lars Davis and Tanner Roark after our last game with Iowa in 2007
The last time Illinois baseball team faced off against Iowa was when they trompled over them in the first game of the 2007 Big Ten Tournament on May 21, 2007. Illinois won it 12-3. I remember the game well. Tanner Roark was the starter and pitched seven shutout innings before giving up three in the eighth. Roark was helped by 5 DPs in five innings (a Big Ten Tournament record, I believe).
But that was almost two years ago and a lot of players have come and gone since then since then. Still I’m betting any players from Iowa who are still there haven’t forgotten that.
Game time is 6:30 Central time tonight. Any who are interested can catch the game on Gametracker at the Fighting Illini site.
Update: In case anyone was wondering (like I was), the Iowa-Illinois game was been pushed back to 8:15pm which was about 10 minutes ago. Go Illini!