The Big Ten Tournament banner including Illinois’ Brandon Wikoff As always, I had a great time at the Big Ten Tournament. Win or lose, it’s a culmination of everything that the Illinois team has worked so hard for all season. They’ve exceeded everyone else’s expectations this season and each one…
#25 Illinois lost an ugly affair against University of Evansville tonight 4-3 in 10 innings. Ugly in more ways than one. But before we get to that, let’s talk about some of the positive things to get us started. Dom Altobelli: 3 for 5 Dom Altobelli went 3 for 5…
Despite scoring five runs in the last two innings, the Illini lost to the St Louis Billikens in St Louis tonight. This in spite of efforts of Joe Bonadonna, Casey McMurray, Dom Altobelli and Josh Parr who had two hit each in the 11-10 heartbreaker. This was third mid-week, non-conference…
Matt Dittman practices his “mean” face before the game with Eastern. It’s late so I’m going to keep this short. The Illini are heading to Marion, IL to play Coach Hartleb’s alma mater, Southern Illinois University. Hartleb will play down his time at SIU but word has it he was…
Boy, that was a close one! Josh Parr drove in the winning run in the 10th inning Down 4-1, Illinois pulled ahead in the fifth by a run only to lose the lead in the next inning. The Illini quickly tied it up and that’s where it stood till the…
The Illini got 16 hits today against Central Connecticut State but failed to capitalize as they lost to the Blue Devils 6-4 in Winter Haven, Florida. Offensively, Illinois had plenty of chances but didn’t take advantage, leaving 15 runners on base. Coach Hartleb alluded to that after the game: “I…
Hate to sound like a broken record but good starting pitching gave Illinois a victory down in Texas. This time it was Ben Reeser who gave up just one earned run and six hits in 7 2/3 innings against Texas Arlington in the last game of the Al Ogletree tournament. …
Last weekend it was Florida… this coming weekend, our boys are going to Texas for the Al Ogletree Classic. More specifically, they’ll be visiting Edinburg Stadium. That’s the home of the University of Texas Pan American Broncs who are currently 0-4 this season. Don’t make fun though. UTPA was the…
I wandered onto the Illinois Field premises during practice on Wednesday and snapped a few shots. It had rained earlier in the day but conditions were ok for a few hours of field time. Say what you want about Illinois Field’s Field Turf, it does handle the rain pretty well.…
The Big Ten Network began broadcasting the games by the third round. This camera operator didn’t care for me taking her picture even though she was poking her camera into Illinois’ dugout a good part of the game. This is a mid-game interview of Coach Hartleb of Illinois. This goes…