Illini crush Chicago State 18-2 in home opener

Wow, the University of Illinois baseball team sure knows how to put on a show for their home opener, eh?  The Illini crushed the Chicago State Cougars last night by the score of 18-2.  The outcome of the game almost seemed apparent by the end of the second inning.  By then, Illinois had gotten off to a 9-0 lead.

 

Craig Lutes drives in a run with a double in the first inning

Mike Giller rounds third to score

 

The Illini were quite efficient with their offense.  They scored their 18 runs on “just” 16 hits.  That’s mostly attributable, I guess, to four errors and five walks.  But let’s give credit to some timely hitting by the Illini as well.  The boxscore is something to behold.  Five Illinois players (Willie Argo, Mike Giller, Casey McMurray, Aaron Johnson and Josh Parr all contributed with two hits.  Johnson drove in three runs thanks in part to a two-run shot to left.

Doug Schumacher talking to a fan before the game.  Later that night, he would hit a pinch hit homerun

Thomas Shelton moments before he hit his pinch hit triple…

… and the ball flies off Shelton’s bat!

Pinch hitter Doug Schumacher came through with a two-rbi homerun as part of the Illini’s 5 run eight inning.  Schu wasn’t the only second-stringer to make good in last night’s game though.  In the same eight inning, Thomas Shelton, also pinch hitting, hit a triple.  In the next at-bat, Daniel Parker got a base hit which drove home Shelton.  Later that inning, Pat Sheehan reached base on a error by the shortstop and scored Josh Parr.  It was ruled an rbi.    Nice going all!

Matt Milroy gets his first win

Matt Milroy allowed five hits and five walks over five innings but with some help from good fielding, found it no problem getting out of any jams he got into.  As a result, Chicago State managed just one run off of Matt.  Over those five innings, he also KOed five Cougar batters.  This was Milroy’s first career collegiate win.  Congrats, Matt!

The bullpen performed admirably, allowing only one unearned Cougar run over the balance of the game.

There are more of my pictures from Wednesday’s game against Chicago State in the photo gallery.

 

Next Up

This weekend is the conference opening weekend all around the Big Ten.  Illinois will be taking on Penn State.  The Big Ten’s new schedule will now take effect.  Instead of a four game weekend with a Saturday 7-inning doubleheader, it will be one game each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (nine innings for all, of course).  Friday’s game is at 6:05 and it promises to be a battle between two dominant pitchers.  Our Will Strack is going up against PSU’s Mike Wannamaker.

For those out-of-towners and those who simply can’t make the game, don’t forget that the Big Ten Network will be broadcasting the game via live streaming over their website.

Other Notes

You won’t see Big Ten hitting leader Matt Dittman’s in yesterday’s boxscore.  He’s out with an injured wrist.  Matt (left) told me he’s getting a CT scan on it this Friday so that indicates to me that we probably won’t see him this weekend. As you can by the photo, Matt was still suited up, though.  I could sense his frustration when he said he really wished he could be out there.

Yesterday, Coach Hartleb did a online chat with fans.  In case you missed it (I did), you can see the transcript here.  Of particular interest is Hartleb’s answer about the special fan promotions for this season.  He says the second annual Bleacher Bum Barbeque is scheduled for April 30th  Mark the date on your calendar.

With the Big Ten schedule almost upon us, we can expect media attention to increase.  Also, keep an eye on Big Ten’s own baseball blog as I expect more frequent updates there.