Illinois baseball had a pretty rough Sunday against Michigan.
In game 1, they were shut out for the third time this year, 3-0. Pete Cappetta did manage to bang out two hits in the losing cause. John Anderson does deserve some credit for his eight inning complete game where he only gave up seven hits and one walk.
Illinois were up in game 2 as late as the seventh inning. That was when Michigan came up with a 4-run rally to go ahead for good. Adam Davis had three hits and he, Cappetta, Matt Dittman and Davis Hendrickson all recorded doubles.
After this weekend, Illinois’ mark is at 12-19 and more to the point, 4-5 in the Big Ten. Currently, that puts them tied for sixth in the standings a very precarious situation if you’re looking towards the Big Ten Tournament. Never fear. There are five more Big Ten weekends left by my count.
This coming midweek, we’re looking at two re-matches, one that the Illini won handily and the other where they lost frustratingly.
Illinois State Redbirds |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 19, 2011 | 4:30 pm ct | |||
| Wilpon Complex | Normal, IL | |||
| Program website link | Record | 24-10 (4-2 in the MVC) | ||
| Head Coach: | Mike Kingston | Key Player: | Tyler McNeely (.382, 29 rbi) | |
The Illini took ISU for a ride 14-2 at home the first time around but that hasn’t broken the Redbirds stride. They went on a five game winning streak right after that loss. Plus, they just swept last place Bradley last weekend. They currently are in second in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Regardless, I’m still hoping Illinois scores in double digits again. They need it after that nasty Michigan weekend.
Eastern Illinois Panthers |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 20, 2011 | 6:05 pm ct | |||
| Illinois Field | Champaign, IL | |||
| Program website link | Record | 11-19 (5-3 in the Ohio Valley) | ||
| Head Coach: | Jim Schmitz | Key Player: | Ben Thoma (8 hr, 25 rbi) | |
Since the Panthers defeated the Illini 4-1 on April 12, they’ve gone 2-2 but get this… they defeated Illinois College by a football score of 20-0. Their offense was certainly on that day.
And just for kicks, I’m choosing Ben Thoma as key player. He leads the team in homers with 8 not to mention his 25 rbis.
Random Ramblings
I’m finding it interesting to look at the Game-by-Game results page. Aside from the usual scores, winning/losing pitcher, etc., it has some other interesting data. It includes info like park attendance, time and such.
So far, our Iowa Saturday game is our most attended at Illinois Field with 1326. That’s good but believe it or not, the game at Eastern Illinois was better attended with 1331. I’d like to see us break that mark this year.
Let’s go Illini!