Illinois Baseball to help SIU inaugurate Itchy Jones Stadium this weekend

While every series with friendly rival Southern Illinois University is a little special, this weekend’s three-game set down in Carbondale holds a special meaning for both teams.  They will be breaking in the brand spanking new Itchy Jones Stadium, the new home for the SIU Salukis baseball team.  Itchy Jones (seen left coaching for the Illini in 2005) is not only the winningest coach in SIU history but he went on the bring glory to the Illini baseball program with a 474-373-1 record two regional appearances and two Big Ten titles.  Overall, Jones had a 1,240-751-6 record throughout his career. 

A list of of Itchy Jones’ other accomplishments:

Coaching Honors
2005 Big Ten Coach of the Year
1998 ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
Big Ten Coach of the Year
1990 NCAA Division I Diamond Baseball Coach of the Year
1978 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
1971 Adirondack National Coach of the Year

Team Accomplishments
2 Big Ten Regular Season Titles (1998, 2005)
1 Big Ten Tournament Title (2000)
8 Missouri Valley Conference Titles (1975, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’81, ’84, ’86, ’90)
3 College World Series appearances (1971, ’74, ’77)
12 NCAA Regional Appearances (1970, ’71, ’73, ’74, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’81, ’86, ’90, ’98, ’00)

Hall of Fame Inductions
American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame
Southern Illinois University Hall of Fame
MacMurray College Hall of Fame
Illinois High School Association Baseball Hall of Fame
Illinois High School Association Basketball Hall of Fame
Jacksonville High School Hall of Fame
Herrin High School Athletic Hall of Fame

So yeah, he’s was quite a coach.  I just started watching Illini baseball during the 2005 season when Illinois won the Big Ten title and hosted the Big Ten Tournament here at Illinois Field.  I hear a lot of great stories from the hard core fans at Illinois Field.  There is nothing more appropriate than having Illinois help the Salukis inaugurate the stadium named after one of our beloved coaches.  Nice move by those behind it.

There will be a slight shakeup in the Illini pitching rotation.  Ryan Castellanos (1-0, 2.57) gets the nod in favor of John Kravetz (1-1, 4.96) on Saturday.  Kevin Duchene (1-1, 1.93) and Drasen Johnson (2-1, 2.30) will take the mound on Friday and Sunday respectively.   

With all the hoopla surrounding the new Itchy Jones Stadium, don’t forget that SIU is Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb’s alum.  He played there as a catcher and got his start as a head coach.  Rumor has it, Coach Hartleb was a pretty good hitter as a Saluki. 

The Salukis have done pretty well this season getting off to a 8-7 start. If it makes Illinois feel any better, SIU lost two of three against Western Kentucky to start the year.  Illinois had a bit of trouble with WKU last weekend losing all three.

While SIU haven’t played top tier teams like Illinois has this year, we can always expect a good fight against them.  Every year no matter what the W-L records are, the results between these two teams are up in the air.  That’s what makes these particular games fun and interesting.  SIU leads the all-time series at 31-28 but Illinois got a little lucky in 2013 winning all four games.

You can follow all three games on GameTracker as always.  In addition, there will be a live audio feed (for a fee) for all three games as well. 

High temps in Carbondale look to be in the 50s and 60s on Friday and Saturday and dipping into the mid-40s on Sunday.  There a small chance for precip on Saturday. 

Go Illini!