At 8-6, Illinois hopes to improve their overall record even more during a non-conference weekend starting Friday. The Valparaiso Beacons are coming to town. Now the Illini are in 8th place in the ever-expanding Big Ten conference. That said, they are riding a two-game win streak including Tuesday’s win against Western Illinois.
Successes
What has gone right for the Illini so far? Well, the hitting is off to a great start with five starters batting .300 or better. Shortstop Jack Zebig is having a great year behind the plate. He’s batting .393 with four home runs and 20 rbis. Nick Groves leads the team with eight steals while batting .373. In part time work, Grant Ross broaches the .400 mark in 12 games and 9 starts.
Speed is playing a role this season. As I mentioned, Groves already tabulated eight steals but he isn’t the only one with thefts. Cameron Chee-Aloy has also stolen eight while Greg LaChance has four steals. The team total of 27 far exceeds the season total from last year. The best news is they aren’t getting caught much. Illinois’ success rate on steals is 27 out of 30.
If many of those names don’t sound familiar, many of them are new to the team. And they are contributing with the bat, the glove and their legs!
Weekend with Valpo
Illinois has a three-game set scheduled with Valparaiso this weekend.
Note that Friday’s game has been re-scheduled to 3pm because of inclement weather. I would keep an eye on FightingIlllini.com in case of any further changes. It’s that time of year.
Tuesday’s win over WIU
I got my first look at the Illini squad this year on Tuesday when the Leathernecks of Western Illinois came to Illinois Field. It was a brisk evening and the wind was blowing slightly in. And hey guess what? I got to see a win!
While it was touch and go for a while, the Illini scored seven runs in the eighth inning thanks mostly to five walks and a couple of hit-by-pitches. Kyle Schupmann put the nail in the coffin with a two-run single, the only hit of the inning.
Payton Hutchings pitched two scoreless innings in relief with three strikeouts and got the win.
Final score: Illinois 11 WIU 4
A few photos from Tuesday’s game can be found at my gallery.
See you at the ballpark!