The tournament which is rapidly being considered the beginning of Illinois baseball season has been set in stone for 2011.
The schedule of the 2011 Big East/Big Ten Challenge was released today. Illinois will take on Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and West Virginia on the weekend of February 18-20. The Big East/Big Ten Challenge will be played at the spring training facilities at St Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida.
This is the third Big East/Big Ten Challenge and so far, the conferences are tied at one tournament apiece. Last year, Illinois went 1-2, winning their first against Notre Dame but losing their last two (if you remember, Matt Dittman started out HOT, hitting .667).
You can read the UI’s official announcement of the event and see the full schedule at the Illinois baseball website.
Rumors are that Coach Hartleb is finalizing the last few bit and pieces of the full 2011 baseball schedule and it should be posted within a couple weeks.