Davis Hendrickson and Thomas Lindauer share a high five
In the past, Eastern Illinois University has given the Illini fits. Tonight however, Brian de la Torriente had no trouble with the Panther offense and Illini offense teed off of EIU pitching and Illinois won 10-3.
Brian de la Torriente, in his first start of 2012, pitched fantastically. He didn’t allow a run for the first five innings and struck out six Panther batters in seven plus innings. Helped by the defense which contributed three double plays, DLT got through the Panther order without trouble. Reliever Drasen Johnson came in the eighth inning and got the Illini out of a jam with runners in scoring position then pitched a scoreless ninth.
Kelly Norris-Jones starts out the scoring in second with a run-scoring double
Bill Charvat cranks an rbi double
Offensively, what can you say when your team scores eight runs in the first three runs? Kelly Norris-Jones got the scoring going with an rbi double in the second. In the third, the Illini were helped by two Panther errors and a few walks but a Jordan Parr triple and a Bill Charvat double were key in the six-run rally that help set the tone for the game.
Stat-wise: Parr was 3 for 3 with two runs scored. Brandon Hohl collected two hits, two runs and an rbi. Thomas Lindauer continues to thrive in the leadoff spot… he went 2 for 4 with a run. Reid Roper got zero hits but that’s ok. He came through with two rbis for the team.
Random Ramblings
I was really glad to see Brian de la Torriente (left) pitch well tonight and here’s why: he had the dubious honor of recording a 24.55 ERA in 2011. He had one or two bad outings and never got the playing time to get that ERA down. We all knew he’s a better pitcher than that and I’m happy he could prove it tonight against EIU.
Next Up
Tomorrow (Wednesday) the boys head over to St Louis and play Missouri at Busch Stadium. I know the players are looking forward to this. Game time is 6:30pm. If you don’t have tickets, I know it’s not too late. You can still order them. If you can’t make it, don’t fret. The Big Ten Network will be showing it on television, too.
Tom, the kids sure look good in the orange, my favorite uni……
heh, mine too! some year, i’m going to do stats on how they do wearing each of their unis.