… When I did hear
The motley fool thus moral on the time,
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, …William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 2
If you think Caravelle Resort sounds like a nice place to visit, it probably is. This resort area is the sponsor of this week’s tournament. Here’s the official announcement of the tournament on the Caravelle Resort web site.
And if you think this will be a tough weekend for Illinois, you might be right. They will be playing a ranked team, the #12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Twice.
But something similar happened in 2009 during Illinois’ trip south and they ended putting their names on the national map of college baseball. So I’m looking forward to this weekend with cautious optimism.
We had some history with Ball State (5-1) but as far as Lipscomb and Coastal Carolina, they’re both pretty new to the U of I baseball program. This will be Illinois’ first contest with the Bisons and they’ve played the Chants once before.
Let’s take a look at Illinois’ opponents for the Caravelle Resort Classic.
Lipscomb University Bisons |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 12, 2010 | 11 am ct | |||
| Conway, SC | ||||
| Program website link | Record | 4-8 | ||
| Head Coach: | Jeff Forehand | Key player: | Tyler Wilson | |
Tyler Wilson leads all Bison starters in hitting with a .404 average and in runs with 12.
This season, head coach Jeff Forehand won his 300th game. That was a while ago though. The Bisons are on a six game losing streak at the moment.
#12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 12, 2010 | 3 pm ct | |||
| March 13, 2010 | 5pm ct | |||
| Conway, SC | ||||
| Program website link | Record | 12-1 | ||
| Head Coach: | Bobby Moranda | Key player: | Jose Iglesias | |
Jose Iglesias is hitting .400 with 16 rbis but I’m just picking his name out of a hat. Three Chanticleers are in double digits in rbis and five in runs.
#12 Coastal Carolina has simply dominated. They’ve outscored their opponents by a 2-1 margin (96-47). I’ve already alluded to their offense. Their pitching is just as good. (2.45 ERA).
All this and Illinois gets to play them twice. Once on Friday afternoon and their next game on Saturday evening.
I just have three words for the Illini: Louisiana State University
Ball State Cardinals |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 14, 2010 | 11 am ct | |||
| Conway, SC | ||||
| Program website link | Record: 4-9 | |||
| Head coach: | Greg Beals | Key player: | Kolbrin Vitek | |
Vitek is the driving force behind Ball State. He leads the team in hitting, slugging, on-base, homeruns, runs, and is tied for rbis. Watch this guy… he can do it all. Note also he is the probable starter against the Illini.
Historically, the Illini have a 5-1 record against Ball State. That combined with their slow start this year, might give us good shot at a win.
The key for a good Illini weekend
No doubt, getting the win against 3-8 Lipscomb in the tournament opener would be big. The Illini could ride the momentum into the game against #12 Coastal Carolina that same day.
Random Observations
At this point, Will Strack (right) and Brian de la Torriente have been tabbed for the Friday games. The pitchers for Saturday’s and Sunday’s games are TBA. It will be interesting to see what Coach Hartleb decides what to do.
All games will be on Gametracker of course. Both games against CCU (Friday 3pm and Saturday 5pm) will be broadcasted over the web.
By the way, if you haven’t seen it, Lee Zerrusen has posted his third installment of Diamond Notes. Lots of interesting stuff including a Ken Westray baseball card and a visit by Fayetteville coach Darrell Handlesman to an Illini game.
Go Illini!!!