The Illini are back from their Spring Break and ready to play up here in the north. Fortunately, the weather is going to cooperate… at least for this week.
On Tuesday, Illinois will take on Illinois State University at their place in Normal. ISU is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference where they are currently second in this early season. This will be the first of two meetings between the two teams this season. In less than a month, the Redbirds will come visit us.
Then on Wednesday, it’s our first home game of the year!!! I encourage all Illini baseball fans to come out and cheer on the guys. They’ll be taking on the Chicago State Cougars. Gametime is 6:05pm.
Welcome back to the North guys… here are your two opponents this week:
Illinois State Redbirds |
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| March 30, 2010 | 4:30 pm ct | |||
| Normal, IL | ||||
| Program website link | Record | 11-10 (2-1 MVC) | ||
| Head Coach: | Mark Kingston | Key player: | Kevin Tokarski | |
Tokarski leads the team in batting (.479), runs scored (25) and OBP (.591) and slugging (.863). He also has plenty of gap power with 15 doubles.
Overall, ISU’s offense has been a bit better than their opponents (.304 to .290, .463 slugging to .402 but most importantly 166 runs to 146).
The biggest question here is will we see one of top two starters, Kenny Long or Corey Maines? Both have been exceptional this year. Long has just been honored as the MVC pitcher of the week.
Chicago State Cougars |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31, 2010 | 6:05 pm ct | |||
| Illinois Field | Champaign, IL | |||
| Program website link | Record | 1-8 | ||
| Head Coach: | Michael Caston | Key player: | Kevin Hussey | |
Hussey is hitting .370 and leads the Cougars in rbis and runs.
The Cougars’ 1-8 record really doesn’t tell the whole story. Their opponents have outscored them three times over (119-39). CSU’s power isn’t there (2 HR and 15 total extra base hits) and their ERA is a mite high at 13.57.
Is this a gimme win for the Illini’s opening home game? Maybe. But I know the Illinois players will be taking the just as seriously as any other. That’s just how they are. Part of it is just their mentality. And part of it is the fact we’ve lost some “gimme” games in the recent past.
Random Ramblings
Former Illini centerfielder Kyle Hudson (left) is making good with the pro team while in last stages of spring training. He’s been playing for the Baltimore organization since drafted a couple years ago.
Today, Hud took advantage of a pinch hitting opportunity and singled and drove in a run in a game against Boston. Here’s the box score of the game.
Good Luck Illini!!!