| Game #1 / February 15, 2013 | ||||
 |
vs |  |
||
| 13 | 2 | |||
The Illinois Baseball players gave Coach Dan Hartleb a pretty nice birthday present today. An opening day win.
Today, pretty much everything went right for the Illini as they defeated the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in Cookeville. The Illini won 13-2 behind the solid pitching of starter Kevin Johnson and the offense of Jordan Parr and a host of others (full box score)
Senior Johnson pitched like the KJ we remember. He allowed just one run on nine hits and just one walk in six innings while striking out six in six innings. Johnson got the well-deserved win.
The Parr brothers were a combined 6 for 12 with six rbis. Jordan Parr (left) drove in four with the help of a double and a homerun. Not only did he contribute offensively but he prevented a potential run in the last play of the game throwing out a Golden Eagle at the plate.
The Parr brothers weren’t the only offensive stars today. Brandon Hohl, Thomas Lindauer and Reid Roper also had multi-hit games. Lindauer also drove in three runs with a double.
After securing a 7-1 lead after a five-run rally in the fourth inning, Coach Hartleb found it safe to bring in some of the untested freshman. Ryan Castellanos relieved for Johnson in the seventh. While he walked three batters, he didn’t give up a hit and struck out three in the inning. More importantly, he didn’t give up any runs. J.D Nielsen wasn’t quite so lucky in eighth giving up one run but like Castellanos, he showed some fire striking out two batters. Josh Ferry finished out the game pitching a scoreless ninth thanks in part to Jordan Parr arm and Jason Goldstein’s tag.
Speaking of Goldstein, the freshman catcher notched his first college career hit going 1 for 4 with a run scored.
One down, Fifty more to go.
Next up: the Illini go up against TTU again tomorrow at 2pm. Freshman Kevin Duchene is on the mound.
Smiling while writing
I am once again covering Illini Baseball for Champaign-Urbana’s online magazine, Smile Politely. My season preview article came out today, just in time for opening day. Thanks to Smile Politely for this opportunity!