Finally! Home Field!
It’s a bit of a strange schedule this year. After the Big Ten opener last weekend against Nebraska, the Illini come home to play a non-conference team, the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. To add to the weirdness, Illinois hosts Bradley for a midweek game next week. Illinois just played Bradley only this week.
Nevertheless, it will be exciting to have baseball on University of Illinois soil once again. The Fighting Illini are currently at 12-10 though it seems they have had a rough week. Truthfully, it was only three games but they were three ROUGH games. But I pledged to put those nasty times behind us and look ahead. The 6-3 win against Bradley on Wednesday showed that winning is back on the minds of the players.
So, it’s the Delta Devils of M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i (yes, I spell it that way when I type it) Valley State this weekend. I don’t ever remember playing them in recent memory though I could be wrong. Currently, they’re 6-20 according to the Southwestern Athletic Conference website.
A quick rundown on MVSU:
Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 30, 2012 | 4:05 pm CT | |||
| March 31, 2012 | 1:05 pm CT | |||
| April 1, 2012 | 12:05 pm CT | |||
| Illinois Field!!!! | Champaign, IL | |||
| Program website link | 2012 Record 6-20 (6-6 SWAC) | |||
| Head Coach: Doug Shanks | Key player: Michael Lowe | |||
If the Illini can take solace in anything, it’s that MVSU is 0-20 against non-conference teams. The Delta Devils have had a streaky season to put it nicely. They lost their first ten games of 2012. Once the conference season started though, things got into gear. They managed to sweep Alabama A&M three games. As a result, they have a .500 record (6-6) against their fellow Southwestern Athletic Conference rivals.
Fortunately, we don’t fall into that category.
Keep an eye on Michael Lowe, the Delta Devils’ outfielder who was placed on the preseason watch list .
How to follow the games this weekend
Well for one, you could come to Illinois Field if you live in the area (Google Map). Rumor has it they’re going to have $2 Nachos on Friday Sunday. Yumm! Feel free to chat with me if you see me.
GameTracker will be up, of course. The link will be available near game time on the fightingillini.com website.
For video access, there is the Big Ten Digital Network.
Random Ramblings
A quick shout out and thanks to Ben Taylor who is the assistant Sports Information Director at the U of I Department Intercollegiate Athletics. When I do previews of other baseball programs, I’ve run across websites that were out of date or worse, malfunctioning. On the other hand, Ben does a great job of keeping us up to date on the Illini baseball program and it really makes a difference. This is only one of his many duties as assistant SID but I appreciate it.
thanks, Ben!
Speaking of keeping us updated, here is a photo of Coach Hartleb getting prepped for an interview with the Big Ten Network’s Kara Lentz. The interview should air Sunday.