What a lovely day it was for a ballgame! Of course it would have been nicer had we not missed the first few innings because I forgot my Go Illini card at home. Reliever Brian Long By the time we got there Brian Long had things well in hand. He…
Last weekend was big, there was no doubt about that. A split against the #13 team in the country on their home turf is a big victory in my book. More importantly, it meant that the Illinois squad didn’t lose ground in the fight to qualify for the Big Ten…
It couldn’t get any better today for the University of Illinois. With Illinois going against Michigan in a doubleheader, I had Gametracker going on all day today. When the Illini won the first in extras that was great. When they won the second game behind a solid performance by Scott…
Last night I went to the University of Illinois baseball game against Robert Morris with my friends Brando and Shawn. Shawn Roof took some time to chat with us about ball and bat physics Before the game, Brando and I went down to the left field fence to watch the…
University of Illinois secondbaseman Ryan Hastings has been named Big Ten Player of the week. Lately, Hastings has had a hot bat (and by a “hot bat”. I mean that literally). Last week, he was 8 for 11 and had the game-winning hit against the Buckeyes in Game 1 of…
I didn’t make it out to Illinois Field tonight but had to be content with listening to the game on the radio. I picked it up when Illinois was up 4-0. Unfortunately, that was all the scoring they would do. Brandon Wikoff’s 3 hits and a solid start from Billy…
The cold winds blew but they finally got some games in. Illinois and Ohio State’s games were postponed on Friday and canceled on Saturday but on Sunday everything went as planned. Well, everything except for the loss in the twinighter. More on that later. Batting leader Lars Davis up to…
University of Illinois had their hitting shoes on Tuesday as they scored 11 runs and beat Western Michigan. The offense included 3 home runs by Lars Davis, Nick Stockwell, and Ryan Hastings. Davis, who went 4 for 5 with 4 ribbies, raised his season average to .478, good enough to…
Were you worried? Just a little bit? I wasn’t. Ok, maybe a little bit. When the University of Illinois lost all three against Louisiana-Lafayette two weekends ago, it does make one pause to think. But consider this. The Ragin’ Cajuns had the advantage of having played five games already. Not…
A few of the Illini baseball players, while not in C-U, have been in college leagues throughout the country. And some have been doing quite well. Take Jake Toohey, for example. Pitching for the Rochester Honkers in the Northwoods League, he’s made the All-Star team with 13 saves and a…