If you haven’t been to an Illinois baseball game all year, your time is running out. This weekend’s series against Purdue will be the last home Big Ten series. After that, there will be just one more midweek game.
So get out to Illinois Field this weekend!
This has to be one of the tightest races for the Big Ten Tournament placement I’ve seen since following the conference. All ten teams are within 2 games of each other and only six can go to the tourney.
Unfortunately, Illinois (8-10) is in a four way tie for last place right now. Yes, Illinois may be only two back from first place but their biggest stumbling block right now is all the teams ahead of them.
Purdue Boilermakers |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 2010 | 6:05 pm ct | |||
| May 15, 2010 | 6:05 pm ct | |||
| May 16, 2010 | 1:05 pm ct | |||
| Illinois Field | Champaign, Il | |||
| Program website link | Record | 28-18 (Big Ten 10-8) | ||
| Head Coach: | Doug Schreiber | Key player: | Kevin Plawecki | |
Kevin Plawecki leads the Boilermakers in rbis with 41 and sports a .331 batting average.
Purdue gets it done with the longball. They have three guys (Plawecki, Cameron Perkins, and Drew Madia) who have seven homeruns each. As a team, they’ve outhomered their opponents 47-32. Don’t give them anything too fat to hit.
That said, Purdue’s pitching is something to be concerned about too. They’re ranked #2 in ERA in the Big Ten, Ironically, their winningest pitcher Pat Gannon has an ERA of 6.65. I guess that’s a testament to Purdue’s offense more than anything.
Purdue (10-8) is tied for first in the Big Ten which right now doesn’t mean a whole lot. Illinois (8-10) is tied for last and we’re only two games behind them.
Winning two against Ohio State last weekend was so great.
If only we won three.
In Other News:
Sacred Heart-Griffin junior Michael Hurwitz has committed to play for Illinois.
According to the State Journal-Register:
The switch-hitting leadoff man and infielder is batting .412 this year with one home run, 22 runs batted in and a team-high 22 stolen bases. He also leads the Cyclones with 34 runs scored, and he’s got a .721 slugging percentage and a .600 on-base percentage.
He was a varsity starter at third base as a freshman, when he batted .352 with nine stolen bases and 16 RBIs. As a sophomore, Hurwitz moved to shortstop and batted .282 with three home runs, 15 RBIs and 17 stolen bases.