Illinois baseball host South Florida this weekend

Drasen Johnson will go for win #3 this Saturday

This weekend, #18 Illinois baseball will take on a tough University of South Florida Bulls team at Illinois Field  This season, the Bulls are 15-6-1 and currently on a nine-game win streak.  The Illini are 15-4-1 and look to extend their three-game winning streak.

The pitching rotations are up on the Fighting Illini weekend preview.  Kevin Duchene (2-1, 0.90 ERA) will be starting on Friday.  Drasen Johnson (2-1, 1.75) will be on the bump on Saturday and John Kravetz (1-0, 1.83) will show his stuff on Sunday. 

 

 

The Bulls of South Florida are from the American Athletic Conference.  As good as their 15-6-1 record is, it’s only good for fifth place in the AAC.  A tough conference, indeed. 

The Bulls baseball team is a little like the Illini.  They have a formidable pitching staff especially if you look at their top starters.  The probables for USF have an impressive combined record of 10-2 with ERAs of 0.85, 1.91 and 1.32.  The key to winning against the Bulls is to get to their bullpen as quickly as possible.  With a few exceptions, opponents have had better luck getting through to them.   

Random Ramblings

John Kravetz gets another shot this weekend at moving up the charts.  He is currently 20-7 lifetime and tied for eighth place on the all-time Illini record list for wins.  Last weekend, Kravetz gave up just one run in seven innings against Southern Illinois but relief ace Tyler Jay came home with the win. 

 

Casey Fletcher hit another dinger against SIU last Sunday

Much has been made about the pitching performances of the Illinois team this year.  However worth mentioning is second in the Big Ten in homeruns with 13.  David Kerian leads the crew with three while Casey Fletcher, Jason Goldstein, Pat McInerney and Matthew James have all hit two.

 

There’s more information on the weekend preview about the new video display being erected outside the right field fence.  The new scoreboard will feature a YESCO video display and will measure 36’x19’.  The board is being put together by Correct Digital Displays Inc. from Sheridan, Illinois. 

Some features will include: high-res 16mm pixel spacing video display, 10-inning scoreboard with team names, time, at-bat, count, and pitch speeds. 

Go Illini!!