Don’t look now but Illinois is in first place in the Big Ten Baseball.
| Big Ten |
Overall | |||
| Team | Record | Pct. | Record | Pct. |
| Illinois | 0-0 | .000 | 7-4 | .636 |
| Indiana | 0-0 | .000 | 6-2 | .750 |
| Ohio State | 0-0 | .000 | 6-4 | .600 |
| Minnesota | 0-0 | .000 | 6-5 | .545 |
| Michigan | 0-0 | .000 | 5-5 | .500 |
| Northwestern | 0-0 | .000 | 4-2 | .667 |
| Michigan State | 0-0 | .000 | 4-4 | .500 |
| Iowa | 0-0 | .000 | 4-6 | .400 |
| Penn State | 0-0 | .000 | 3-6 | .333 |
| Purdue | 0-0 | .000 | 3-8 | .273 |
| Nebraska | 0-0 | .000 | 2-7 | .222 |
I say this with a big disclaimer and not without a bit of trepidation. It’s early in the season and these are non-conference games. Being on top makes yourself a target. That all said, I love seeing the Orange and Blue doing so well!
I may sound like a broken record but with their breakthrough weekend in Arlington, I thought the Big Ten might see the light when it came to the conference weekly awards. There certainly were some legitimate contenders. Not this week though. I have to admit, the the honorees were deserving.
Player: Michael O’Neill, Jr., MICH
Pitcher: Ben Meyer, So., MINN
Freshman: Evan Hill, MICH
With help from O’Neill, who batted .474 this past weekend, and Hill, who pitched six scoreless innings against St Louis, Michigan managed to win three of four games over the weekend bringing their record up to an even .500. Indiana (6-2) swept all three of their games which means they’re second to our 7-4 record.
Meanwhile Nebraska is finally showing their stuff as they won two games, their first wins of the year.
Big Ten Stats
After three full weekends, Illinois leads the conference in hitting with a .312 batting average. They’re paced by conference leader Justin Parr who has a .479 average. Indiana takes the lead in pitching with a mean 2.57 ERA. Illinois is sixth with a 3.86 mark.
Some other individual names that are popping up… Michigan’s Michael O’Neill’s great weekend is helping his stats. He’s third in hitting (.447) behind Indiana’s Sam 
Travis (.448) and leads in doubles (6), total bases (30) and steals (7). He’s also tied in runs with Illinois’ own Michael Hurwitz with 12.
Jordan Parr (left) and Justin Parr are neck and neck for the conference lead in rbis with 14 and 13 respectively while Justin leads the conference in hits with 23.
Finally, Iowa reliever, Ricky Sandquist has yet to give up an earned run in four appearances and 12 innings pitched.
In other news, good luck to former Illini Chris Robinson in the WBC! He’s been slated to start as catcher for Team Canada. His first game will be this Friday against Italy.
Go Illini!