First a look at the Big Ten standings:
| Team | W | L | T | Pct | W | L | T | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0.800 |
| Michigan State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0.600 |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 |
| Iowa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 |
| Indiana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0.400 |
| Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0.364 |
| Northwestern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.300 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.300 |
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0.167 |
| Purdue | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0.143 |
we can thank Purdue’s surprisingly slow start for keeping us out of the cellar.
For those who follow RPI ratings, Larry Fall posted the Big Ten standings by RPI on his Penn State baseball blog, Happy Valley Hardball. We’ve played some good teams but we still place pretty low (take a look at Penn State, though).
Ohio State’s Zach Hurley’s 5 for 5 performance on Sunday helped him garner the Big Ten Player of the Week award. Northwestern’s Francis Brooke pitched eight shutout innings to get the Pitcher of the Week.
Stats ‘n Stuff
Speaking of Ohio State, just how dominant are the Buckeyes statistically so far this early in the season? As a team, they lead the conference in EVERY major offensive category except homeruns and steals. Michigan leads in homeruns with 8 and Indiana leads in steals with 20. If you’re wondering, traditionally speedy Illinois has 15 stolen bases so far this season. Not bad if you consider they missed their first weekend of play.
Illinois can at least take pride in our shining star, Matt Dittman (left). Ditt is the conference batting leader with a batting average of .526. He also leads the Big Ten in OBP with a .640 mark. Brandon Hohl checks in at #8 in the Big Ten with a .409 batting average.
Our pitching staff has had a rough time of it so far this season but the stat boards do show one positive aspect of our hurlers… walks allowed. Brian de la Torriente (0), Will Strack (1) and Kevin Johnson (2) have all proven they don’t easily give up the free pass.
Random Rumors
Looks like former Illini hurler Ben Reeser (right) has got some work this season. You’ll find his name on the roster of the Schaumburg Flyers. The Flyers are in the independent Northern League. Reeser graduated from the U of I and pitched his last year in 2009.
Thanks to Josh Jones from Cardinals Best News for passing this news on about Ben.
Good luck, Ben!!