“Kevin Johnson pitched extremely well and deserved to win, but we were bad out of the bullpen,” -Coach Dan Hartleb on Friday’s game against Central Michigan That about sums it up. Illinois went into the top of the eighth inning ahead 5-0 in their first game of the Bright…
Tonight, the University of Illinois baseball team (1-2) will take on Florida Gulf Coast University (2-2) at Fort Myers. It will be the first in a three game series. FightingIllini.com has their weekend preview up. We’re looking at the same starters from last weekend: Johnson, Anderson and Kimes. The interview…
Hard core big league fans look forward to when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. I guess the closest that college baseball has is when players begin full team practice… and that happened for the first time yesterday. Players and coaches convened at the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility (complete…
If you’re a fan of Coach Hartleb (and if I’m a good judge, most of us are), rest assured. He has been told by athletic director Ron Guenther that he still has a job. The UI Athletic Department has said all year that it was going to wait till the…
It’s becoming crunch time in the Big Ten conference schedule and who better to play than Ohio State? Ok, that’s a very positive spin on a dire situation for the Illini (21-21 6-9 Big Ten). But the team has done well under pressure before so I’m hoping they respond well…
Craig Lutes heads towards first after hitting the ball Friday night We’re winding down the season with six more home games left. We’re fortunate to have two midweek games at home this week though. And whenever Coach Hartleb’s alum comes to town, that gives the media another storyline to…
For this week’s two midweek games, we’re playing two state universities… Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois. Don’t look at their records. Both are tough in their own way. As for us, we’re even-steven. The Illini are 13-13 overall and 3-3 against the Big Ten. Let’s take a look at both…
Before the game, Pete Cappetta predicted two wins for the weekend This time it was the Illini who took some advantage of the 20-25 mph wind at Illinois Field. With four homers and a fantastic effort by the bullpen, Illinois closed out this past weekend’s series on a winning note. …
A quick note: Brian over at The College Baseball Blog is interviewing college baseball coaches around the nation and recently he got around to quizzing our own Coach Hartleb. It’s a good read.
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…