Will we see more of Wes Braun after his fantastic appearance at Busch?
After traveling to St Louis to play in the Battle at Busch on Wednesday, the Illini don’t get much break in their traveling schedule. They’re off to Iowa City to play the 10-15 University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
All three of these games will be streamed on the Big Ten Network web site.
Illinois has been pretty dominant historically over Iowa. The good guys have a 122-77-2 record over the Hawkeyes. Last time we played them was our season opener at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge last year. Illinois won that game 8-3.
Details on Iowa:
Iowa Hawkeyes |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 9, 2010 | 6:05 pm ct | |||
| April 10, 2010 | 1:05 pm ct | |||
| April 11, 2010 | 1:05 pm ct | |||
| Duane Banks Field | Iowa City, IA | |||
| Program website link | Record | 10-15 (Big Ten 1-2) | ||
| Head Coach: | Jack Dahm | Key player: | Ryan Durant | |
Hitting .315, OF Ryan Durant leads the Hawkeyes in rbis with 20 and is second in runs with 19.
Iowa is 10-15 for 2010 but they’re on a roll now. They’ve managed to win six of their last nine games. That didn’t stop Michigan State from taking two from them this past weekend though.
The Hawkeye’s power is a bit down this year. They’ve been out-homered 19-10 by their opponents. Unfortunately for Iowa, it’s not being made up by gap power either (39 doubles to opponents 49). No Iowa player has more than 2 homers.
Look out for Jarred Hippen. The Iowa starter is looking good so far this year. He’s 2-2 with a nice 2.62 ERA. He also has good control (12 walks in 48 innings).
Random Ramblings
I mentioned the other day that Iowa was scheduled to play former Illini Chris Robinson and his AAA Iowa Cubs. Unfortunately, that game was canceled because of bad weather.
Also, this came out last week but is worth mentioning. Illini Retrospective: The 1940s was posted last week. It’s the latest in the series of historical Retrospectives that the Fighting Illini web site is putting out.
Good Luck Illini!!!
“Look out for Jarred Hippen.”
No kidding. Sharp lefty that creates a lot of soft contact. He had an amazing game against Texas that his bullpen blew. If you can get him out of the game early, I like Illini’s chances for a sweep. Iowa doesn’t have the bats to keep up with your offense. They certainly don’t have the bullpen either.