Former University of Illinois starting pitcher Brian Blomquist is on a roll. He’s had four straight quality starts for the Southern Illinois Miners culminating in Saturday night’s outing. That night, he pitched a four-hit shutout against the River City Rascals. “It had been a year since I had thrown in…
Scott Shaw pitching during the Big Ten Tournament Fightingillini.com has starting pitcher Scott Shaw up this week for their regular series of University of Illinois baseball player reporting back from their collegiate leagues. Shaw is pitching for the Waterloo Bucks in the Northwoods League. He’s doing a good job up…
Northwoods League. Coastal Plain League. Central Illinois Collegiate League. I’ve written about about these leagues and others like them. They’re all college summer leagues and they serve a very important purpose in developing college baseball players. In this episode of Baseball Zealot Radio, I interview Andrew Hartwell who, as far…
Turns out Ben Reeser and Aaron Martin aren’t the only Illini doing well this summer. Take a look at Joey Bonadonna who is spending his dog days playing for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League. Bonadonna has already broken the team single season record for stolen bases. He did…
Brian from Big Ten Hardball pointed out to me that University of Illinois’ Ben Reeser is putting up some good numbers for the Fayetteville Swampdogs in the Coastal Plain League. He’s 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA in 25 1/3 innings. He’s leading the CPL in ERA. Swampdog teammate and Illini…
The Illini who are playing in college summer leagues have been busy typing away for the fightingillini.com’s Summer Diamond Notes. A few days ago, Mike Stankewicz checked in from the Crystal Lake Cardinals and just today, Nick Stockwell writes from the Lombard Orioles. Both are in the Chicago Suburban League.…
Within a week of the First-Year Player draft, both Illini players who have been drafted have already signed contracts with their respective teams. According to the Denver Post, the Colorado Rockies signed 27 of the draft picks including catcher Lars Davis who they called an “intriguing catcher from Illinois”. And…
Fightingillini.com has their first college summer league update. Dom Altobelli checks in from the Coastal Plain League.
I’ll admit it, I was all smiles when pick #1018 rolled past on the ol’ Draft Tracker this afternoon. That was when the Detroit Tigers chose Illini shortstop Shawn Roof in the 33rd round. And if you notice, his younger brother got picked a few rounds later by the Red…
This shouldn’t be a big surprise. University of Illinois catcher Lars Davis went in the 3rd round (102nd overall) of the First-Year Player draft yesterday. The lucky team is the Colorado Rockies. I’ve probably said it before but I’ve never seen a college player exude professionalism the way Davis does.…