I spent the weekend at my mom’s for Mother’s Day. Admirable, I know but my family and I stayed in a relatively remote cabin with no wireless, Internet, TV or anything. Now all things considered it’s a great place to stay but if you’re trying to keep up with how the Illinois baseball team is doing against Ohio State, forget about it.
Long story short, I didn’t know about Illinois’ 2-1 series win till I got back to Champaign-Urbana. Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! I was more than happy to do it for you.
That said, on any other weekend, I wish I could have been at Bill Davis Stadium during those games. Looks like Kevin Johnson (right), who seems to be getting stronger as the season wears on, pitched a humdinger. It’s his fourth win of the season.
Friday’s game must have been the most exciting. A three-run ninth inning rally to put the good guys up for good. Not sure if anyone noticed but the Bucks got 12 hits that game but could only score three runs.
Sunday, they couldn’t quite pull it off and lost 8-4. Willie Argo managed to get three hits in the process, though.
Here are the current standings in the Big Ten:
| Team | Record | Pct. | Record | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Michigan | 10-8 | .556 | 29-17 | .630 |
| Purdue | 10-8 | .556 | 28-18 | .609 |
| Minnesota | 10-8 | .556 | 22-27 | .449 |
| Northwestern | 10-8 | .556 | 21-27 | .438 |
| 5. Ohio State | 9-9 | .500 | 25-19 | .568 |
| Indiana | 9-9 | .500 | 23-22 | .511 |
| 7. Michigan State | 8-10 | .444 | 29-16 | .644 |
| Illinois | 8-10 | .444 | 23-22 | .511 |
| Iowa | 8-10 | .444 | 21-25 | .457 |
| Penn State | 8-10 | .444 | 21-25 | .457 |
I’ve never seen such a tight race in Big Ten baseball before. A four-way tie for first, a two-way tie for fifth and a four-way tie for last… and only two games separating everyone.
This is true every year but so much more this year; the last couple weekends will be VERY important.
Stat Stuff
Willie Argo continues to steal bases and is within reach of breaking the Illinois single season record. With three thefts on Sunday, Argo is at 37. The record is held by Kyle Hudson (left) with 40. No doubt, that will be broken.
Bryan Roberts is cruising as Illinois’ closer. He racked up two more saves against Ohio State giving him nine for 2010.
And I’m not sure what to make of this but… Illinois has outscored their opponents 298-293 but trails in rbis 269-262.
Next up
No midweek games this week. I don’t know if that helps us or not. I can’t help but think that the 19-0 win over Butler influenced Illinois’ outlook going into Ohio State. It certainly didn’t hurt.
Our next game will be against the Purdue Boilermakers this coming weekend. It will be our last home conference series. Friday’s game is at 6:05pm.
Most chaotic scenario I could generate had Minnesota winning it by 2 game, with 7 teams tied for 2nd. Unhappily, Illinois ended up a game back of those 7 teams. The scenario wasn’t that far fetched, but it was definitely possible.