That’s the way to start the season!
Consider that the Illinois baseball team went into the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge cold having missed the first weekend of play due to weather while their opponents, Notre Dame, got a three game head start.
Consider also that same Notre Dame team won all three of their games last weekend.
Well, I think Illinois did okay by themselves Friday night. As a matter of fact, they did superb. The hitters hit and the pitchers pitched. After spotting the Fighting Irish a one-run lead, the Illini roared back scoring 11 runs including a six-run fifth inning. Illinois won 11-1.
| By the numbers | |
|---|---|
| 9 | The number of starters that got at least one hit |
| 17 | Total hits by Illini. |
| 6 | Strikeouts by Will Strack. He already has 1/3 as many as he had in 2009. |
Not much went wrong Friday night. Starter Will Strack (right) did exactly what he needed to do. He allowed only one run in six innings. Strack struck out six and walked none. In comparison, Will only struck out 18 all last year .
Mike Sterk came in the 7th and did a fine job in relief. He earned the save not allowing any runs on just three hits.
It’s hard to pick an offensive hero… they all produced last night. Each starter got at least one hit. A few come to mind, though. Matt Dittman, who batted cleanup went 3 for 4 with 2 runs. Craig Lutes went 3 for 5 with a run and rbi each. I could go on and on… Aaron Johnson, Pete Cappetta and Mike Giller all had two hits each. Willie Argo had a hit, rbi and run and surely would have produced more if Notre Dame hurlers would have pitched to him. They walked him 3 times.
Freshman thirdbaseman Brandon Hohl had a fantastic college debut. He got 2 hits and 2 rbis and scored a run. I saw this kid during fall practice and I’m looking forward to good things from him in ‘10 and beyond.
**
Besides keeping tabs on the game on Gametracker, I enjoyed the live blogging updates from Sports Information Director Ben Taylor. There was a fair amount of us joining Ben including parents and girlfriends and one or two players who couldn’t make the trip. I believe they’ll be doing the same today so stop by fightingillini.com to join in.
Tonight, it’s the Bulls of South Florida. USF are now 0-4 right now after losing to Ohio State last night.
Go Illini!!
If for some reason the Illini don’t run a CiL, USF runs a CiL for everything, just as a backup plan.
CIL is getting to be quite popular. just hope it doesnt go down like it did during the Consumer Elect Show. Lot of upset people then :)
/not likely tho