Illinois baseball still working out the kinks

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CF Doran Turchin: 8 for 18 and two homers for the weekend

Well, it looks like Illinois baseball (6-7)still has a few kinks to work out.  A week after they swept the Stetson Invitational, they were swept four games straight themselves at the Coastal Carolina Invitational in Conway, South Carolina.  Illinois dropped two to UNC Greensboro Spartans and two more to host Coastal Carolina Chanticleers this past weekend. 

Starting pitching was nowhere near the quality that we have seen so far, the defense had holes and the bullpen was ineffective at best.  Ironically, the best pitching performance was by Cole Bellair who made his first start of the year. 

 

Quick summary of the damage done:

 

Game #10 / March 11, 2016    
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20

  9

 

Random Ramblings

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Jalin McMillan hit his first career homer

I think it’s time to look at the bright spots of the weekend.  Yes, the Illini went 0-4 but there were a couple things that went right. 

Cole Bellair- Has Coach Hartleb found a new starter?  After his seven inning performance on Saturday, Bellair has still not given up an unearned run this season. 

Doran Turchin- The new centerfielder went 8 for 18 with two homers and six ribbies. 

Plus, I may be reaching here but when games get out of hand, coaches tend to bring in the second-stringers.  This happened more than we would have liked this past weekend.  But if we’re going to look for a silver lining, we can see Jalin McMillan who went 2 for 2 and a homerun on Sunday and 1 for 1 on Friday.  David Craan came in as a sub on Friday and got a hit. 

While it didn’t affect the overall outcome, I’m sure the coaches were still paying attention. 

Next up

How do I know that our home opener is coming up soon?  The games are moving further north.  Next weekend, Illinois has four game set in Carbondale.. They will face the Northern Illinois Huskies for two and Coach Hartleb’s alumnus Southern Illinois Salukis for two more. 

Go Illini!

2 Comments:

  1. Illinois baseball fan

    It seemed like a rough weekend, but great practice for the upcoming Big Ten schedue. The number of errors should decline as the season progresses. Skony got some time behind the plate which will help the team out immensely next year. Looking forward to seeing them play at home.

    Go Illini!

  2. yes, it seems Goldstein pulled a hamstring on Saturday giving Skony some time behind the plate.

    http://www.dailyillini.com/article/2016/03/mishaps-lead-to-shellacking-for-illini-baseball

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