Some news comes over the wire from the Daily Herald that informs us of Robby McDonnell’s verbal commitment to play for the University of Illinois. McDonnell is a senior at Barrington (IL) High School. He’s lefthanded pitcher and looks pretty good. He’s certainly had interest from plenty of schools including…
All these times I’ve crossed the cemetery on Florida Avenue on my way to Illinois Field to watch the Illini play, I never realized I was passing by the gravestone of a former major leaguer. I learn from Kyle of the Chillini blog: Big Jeff (Pfeffer) was born and raised…
For those Illini Baseball fans interested in a field trip to sunny St Petersburg, Florida to see some Illinois baseball, the 2010 Big Ten/Big EAST Challenge tickets are on sale now. The second annual Challenge will take place February 26-28, 2010. An all-tournament pass will cost $25. More info at…
Ok, this one goes back in the annals of Illinois baseball history… The SouthTown Star just did a piece on their star that made it big from Evergreen Park High School, Donn Pall. Pall, of course, played for the University of Illinois. In 1985, he was drafted and went on…
It was nice and warm Sunday October afternoon for Game Two of University of Illinois’ Orange and Blue World Series. There was just enough breeze to make things interesting. Yesterday, it was a good crowd in the stands because of the home football game. Even so, they managed to get…
Forget the cold. Forget the fact that it’s only a split squad game. It was just nice to see an honest to goodness baseball game at Illinois Field today. And in some ways, a split squad game between the University of Illinois baseball squad makes it interesting. It gives us…
John Anderson sets to pitch during last year’s Orange and Blue World Series It’s getting a bit chilly out there but for those interested in catching a ballgame, the Illinois baseball team will be playing in their annual split squad Orange and Blue World Series in the coming days. The…
Crap. For the second time in three years, the top starting pitcher for the Illini will be kicked off the baseball team. That’s right… Phil Haig. The official reason given was that he was dismissed because of a “violation of team rules”. Here’s the official word from Coach Hartleb: "We…
Team Canada took the Bronze in Baseball’s World Cup. Former Illini catcher Chris Robinson can take a little credit for their success. For the Cup tournament, he went 11 for 29 (.379) with 8 runs scored and 6 rbis. Canada defeated Puerto Rico 6-2 on Saturday to clinch the Bronze,…
Citing the success of last year’s effort, the Big Ten and the Big EAST will once again kick off the season in 2010. Both conferences have announced the schedule of the Big Ten/Big EAST Challenge. "We are very happy to once again host the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge," said Kevin…