Casey McMurray leads the Illini in hitting (.391) and rbis (7)
Sunday’s 5-1 loss to Florida Gulf Coast was a little disappointing but overall the Illini baseball should feel good about their 2-1 series against the Eagles. According to the team press, this was the first time Illinois has won a series win against a Florida school since 2006. That was when we swept South Florida three straight in the early days of March of that year. The winner of the final game of that series? Then-redshirt freshman Scott Shaw who is now making his way through the minors.
Josh Parr collected two more hits on Sunday giving Casey McMurray (.391) a run for his money. Parr’s batting average has climbed to .370. Notably, Parr also already has six steals in six games.
On Sunday, Corey Kimes pitched reasonably well in his second start of his career… much better than his first. He only allowed one run in four innings. He got up to 90 pitches in those four innings so that’s my guess why he got the quick hook. Still, I’m hoping for more good outings from him.
Looking over the stats, I did a double take when I saw Justin Parr’s numbers. Despite hitting just .182, So far this season, he has six rbis second only to McMurray who has seven. Justin drove home four during the FGCU series this past weekend including three on Saturday.
Other news:
-The Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League have announced they have signed Kevin Johnson and Reid Roper for the 2011 summer.
-Illini starter John Anderson was featured in an article in his hometown paper, the Mt Vernon Register-News.
Coming up:
This coming weekend it’s another tournament. This time it’s the Brighthouse Invitational which takes place in Deland, Florida. Illinois’ first game is at noon Friday against Central Michigan. A note about CMU, they started off the season with Florida Gulf Coast and went 2-2. Small world.