The annual Hot Stove Banquet which benefits the University of Illinois baseball program is less than a month away. On February 9, the event will take place at the Round Barn Banquet Center in Champaign. The keynote speaker is former White Sox slugger Ron Kittle. The 1983 Rookie of the…
Asst. Coach Eric Snider plays an important part in Illinois’ recruiting process It was announced yesterday that four prep stars signed letters of intent to play for the University of Illinois baseball team. No doubt it was a long process and Coach Dan Hartleb and his staff have been working hard to this…
After work today, I thought I’d bop on over to Illinois Field and see how the installation of the Field Turf was going. My place of work is only a couple blocks away so it’s convenient enough. So when work was done, I trekked over the cemetery that separates me from Illinois…
The 2008 schedule for the University of Illinois baseball team has been finalized. As for the non-conference part, some of the usual suspects are on there. The Illini will be playing in the Al Ogletree Classic to begin the season February 22. Some of the new teams on the schedule…
Now with the Orange and Blue series over and done with, construction is underway for installation of Field Turf. The Fighting Illini website has photos.
I don’t want too much time to go by without giving the University of Illinois football team their due. They defeated #5 Wisconsin this past Saturday 31-26. There have been some lean years in Illini football lately though last year, there was no doubt it was an exciting team to…
I dropped by the fourth game of the Orange and Blue series after work today. I ran into former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof at the game. I hadn’t seen Roof (shown above with junior Nathan Lawrence) since the Big Ten Tournament last spring so we caught up with each other. …
On Sunday, my son and I went to Illinois Field to watch the Illini play Game 3 of their Orange and Blue Series. Coach Hartleb (right) takes the field before the game. Scott Shaw pitches for the Orange team. In 2006, Scott was practically unhittable when he was on his game. Freshman…
There’s been an interesting but probably not surprising development in the case to bring a minor league team to Champaign-Urbana. Among other points, investors are saying that the sale of beer would be critical to the financial success of the team. From the AP artcle via WBBM: “It is a…
Ben Reeser coming off a lights-out summer, started for the Orange team. I stopped by the first game of University of Illinois’ Orange and Blue series. Stop by The Baseball Zealot photo gallery and see the photos I took. 2B Ryan Hastings takes third on a fly ball. If you want to…