Today’s game against the Akron Zips was much like yesterday’s game against Bucknell. Illinois fell behind early, caught up to tie later then it was a dogfight till the end. The good news is that this time, Illini came up the victor, defeating Akron 7-6.
It took some doing, though. Akron almost outhit the Illini by a margin of 2-1 (13 hits to 7). The Illini were helped by four errors by the Zips not to mention a particularly messy 7th inning by Akron which helped Illinois go ahead for good. Down 5-4, Illinois benefitted from an error, a balk, and wild pitch that inning. Add to that singles by Willie Argo, Mike Giller and Aaron Johnson and you get a three-run inning which put the Illini up for good.
By the numbers |
|
|---|---|
| .421 | Willie Argo’s batting average for the season. Argo went 2 for 4 today. |
| 7/13 | Number of hits today by Illini and Akron Zips today. The Illini defeated the Zips 7-6 despite being drastically outhit. |
| 3 | Number of wins + saves by Mike Sterk so far this season (out of four total wins by the Illini). |
Kevin Johnson wasn’t helped by Illinois’ defense today… of the five allowed runs, only two were earned. Once again, Mike Sterk came in and did his job. He pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball and got the win out of it. It’s the second win of the season for 
Sterk. Corey Kimes (right) earned his first save of the season.
Kudos to all the pitchers on their control. Only one walk was issued today. That’s been a strong point for our pitching staff all season.
For the game, it was the top of the order who performed for the Illini. As a matter of fact, the top four were the only ones to get a hit. #1 hitter Willie Argo went 2 for 4 with 2 runs and a rbi. Mike Giller scored 3 runs. Casey McMurray banged out two hits, one a double and Matt Dittman drove in two runs.
Random Ramblings
So after a 1-5 start, the Illini have won three of their last five. Seems like they’re playing like I knew they were capable. I’m not sure if it took a little longer to get into the groove or maybe it was an issue of players getting comfortable with their new roles.
I do want to commend the pitching staff, especially the bullpen. Admittedly, the relief corps got lit up a bit in the first few games of the season. But they’ve really gotten it together lately. I’m especially impressed by Mike Sterk who’s really come a long way from last year. Most importantly, Coach Hartleb is now getting a sense how his bullpen will shape up when it comes conference season (not that far away, Illini fans!!). He even gave them a bit of praise after today’s game:
“Defensively, we were better than we have been, and we had another good pitching performance from Kevin Johnson, who gave us an opportunity to win. Our bullpen was very good when they came in late to secure the win."
Keep it up, guys!
Next up
North Dakota State University who is probably enjoying playing in the warm Florida weather more than anyone, is next on the schedule. Set your Saturday alarm clocks early because it’s a 9:30am game.
The last time (and only time) Illinois faced NDSU was in 1982 when we swept them in a doubleheader so there’s not much history between these two.
Go Illini!