Illinois rallied today but it was too little, too late. Purdue took the last game of the regular season from Illinois 12-8. The Illini managed to rally for 7 runs in the last four innings but the Purdue lead was already too great. The Boilermakers had scored seven runs before Illinois drew first blood in the fourth.
Four Boilermakers had three or more hits in today’s game.
Offensively for the Illini, Pete Cappetta went 4 for 5 with his second homerun of the season. Brandon Wikoff had three hits including a double.
As hard as it is to believe, this tough loss puts Illinois down at 4th place for the season and of course, they are the #4 seed in next week’s tournament. With such a packed top of the standings, it makes sense but is still hard to fathom.
And if you haven’t heard, Ohio State is now the 2009 Big Ten Baseball Champions. A Buckeye win against Iowa combined with a Minnesota loss to Penn State seals it for OSU. A sincere, if somewhat begrudging, congratulations go out to the team and their fans.
Purdue, with their two wins against us, garner them the right to play in the tournament, pushing out Michigan. Here are the final standings and here is the Big Ten Baseball Tournament bracket in pdf form.
If there is any silver lining in all of us, it’s that Illinois gets to start out the tournament against Michigan State. MSU has been hot as of late but not against Illinois. We swept them in our first Big Ten series of 2009.
A tough way to end the regular season, no doubt. But these guys are hopefully shaking it off and are gearing up for the Tournament.
First game for the Illini (and for the actual Tournament itself): Wednesday May 20 at 11:05am CT against the MSU Spartans.
Thomas i can’t make it to your game Wednesday cause i have to work, but i will be around for the IU-Purdue game at 3:30 .
Drew, I’ll be there. I’m planning to go to all the games I can.
What is the status of pitcher Ben Resser? How is he doing injury wise.
good question.. since we didnt see him in West Lafayette, I assume there are still issues there.
Latest release from the press is that he’s out with a back injury but that might have changed.
That stinks to hear Resser is not healthy,but Will Strack has filled in very nicely to say the least. Lee Zerrusen has been good from the pen also.
Well be safe coming down to Columbus and i will see you on Wed afternoon.
Who starts games 1 and 2 for the Illini in the tourney?
this is just a guess but I’d say #1 Phil Haig and #2 Will Strack and #3 Bryan Roberts
Good news for Illinois!
I found out late last night that Reeser has made the trip to columbus and he’s “ready to go”.
That’s great news even if he’s only good for 4 or 5 innings. Everyone knows how grueling the tournament can be on pitching staffs.
That is great news for the Illini. For my money, Reeser is the best starting pitcher they got. Not the most flashy, not the highest ceiling, but still the best. He knows what works and mixes up his pitches well. Any team should be scared to see him in the tourney…even if is is in relief.