Illinois Baseball Report

Photos of Wednesday’s Practice: My first visit to Illinois Field this year

Today was my first trip out to Illinois Field. The second I stepped outside the building I work, I heard the ping of the bats (yes, I work that close). I walked across the cemetery that separated me from the field and voila!, I was there.

It’s been a good four months since I’ve been there. The last time I stepped onto the grounds of Illinois Field was the Orange and Blue World Series in early October.

Sure it wasn’t a real game. Yeah, it was just practice. But it sure was nice to see some baseball at Illinois Field.

Here are some photos. You can see some more at the Photo Gallery.

Yes, it was 60 degrees today but the stands still had a smattering of snow.

As usual for practice, the Illini wore their gray unis today.

Today it was mostly bunting and situational hitting practice. Here, Coach Snider throws some batting practice.

A good shot of freshman thirdbaseman Brandon Hohl

Josh Parr takes in a pop fly.

Aaron Johnson runs one out.

Catcher Adam Davis takes his turn at bunting.

Coach Westray holds a clinic for the pitchers

Tags: aaron johnson, brandon hohl, Coach Snider, coach westray, illinois field, josh parr, practice, UI baseball photos

Illini Baseball: 3/8 Post-weekend de-briefing

First a look at the Big Ten standings:

Team	W	L	Pct
Ohio State	8	2	0.800
Michigan State	6	4	0.600
Penn State	4	3	0.571
Iowa	4	5	0.444
Indiana	4	6	0.400
Michigan	4	7	0.364
Northwestern	3	7	0.300
Minnesota	3	7	0.300
Illinois	1	5	0.167
Purdue	1	6	0.143

we can thank Purdue’s surprisingly slow start for keeping us out of the cellar.

For those who follow RPI ratings, Larry Fall posted the Big Ten standings by RPI on his Penn State baseball blog, Happy Valley Hardball. We’ve played some good teams but we still place pretty low (take a look at Penn State, though).

Ohio State’s Zach Hurley’s 5 for 5 performance on Sunday helped him garner the Big Ten Player of the Week award. Northwestern’s Francis Brooke pitched eight shutout innings to get the Pitcher of the Week.

Stats ‘n Stuff

Speaking of Ohio State, just how dominant are the Buckeyes statistically so far this early in the season? As a team, they lead the conference in EVERY major offensive category except homeruns and steals. Michigan leads in homeruns with 8 and Indiana leads in steals with 20. If you’re wondering, traditionally speedy Illinois has 15 stolen bases so far this season. Not bad if you consider they missed their first weekend of play.

Illinois can at least take pride in our shining star, Matt Dittman (left). Ditt is the conference batting leader with a batting average of .526. He also leads the Big Ten in OBP with a .640 mark. Brandon Hohl checks in at #8 in the Big Ten with a .409 batting average.

Our pitching staff has had a rough time of it so far this season but the stat boards do show one positive aspect of our hurlers… walks allowed. Brian de la Torriente (0), Will Strack (1) and Kevin Johnson (2) have all proven they don’t easily give up the free pass.

Random Rumors

Looks like former Illini hurler Ben Reeser (right) has got some work this season. You’ll find his name on the roster of the Schaumburg Flyers. The Flyers are in the independent Northern League. Reeser graduated from the U of I and pitched his last year in 2009.

Thanks to Josh Jones from Cardinals Best News for passing this news on about Ben.

Good luck, Ben!!

Tags: ben reeser, brandon hohl, brian de la torriente, Kevin Johnson, matt dittman, ohio state, rpi, standings, will strack

Illini swept in Keith LeClair Classic

Five in a row. I’ll bet Coach Hartleb will have a few words with the team in the locker room after this one.

It was a tough one to lose. Once again, Illinois had the lead only to lose it. They were up by scores of 4-1 and 5-3 but West Virginia pecked away till it was gone. Any chance of a comeback was lessened when the Mountaineers rallied for five in the eighth. To their credit, the Illini didn’t give up and scored three before the game was over, making the a little interesting. Final score 11-8.

Quite honestly though, we got some good offense. Twelve hits and eight runs. That should be enough to win most college games. Unfortunately, West Virginia scored more today and we lost.

By the numbers
63	Times Illini batters have struck out for the season
.526	Matt Dittman’s season batting average
4/13	Opposing batters hit by pitch today/season

Illinois continues to be a little impatient at the plate. They struck out 10 times today, nine times in the last seven innings. But obviously, we got some good performances from the plate.

Matt Dittman continues his hot hitting. He was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and an rbi. Casey McMurray’s weekend shaped up pretty well. Today, he got two more hits plus two rbis and two runs.

Freshman Brandon Hohl showed his performance during the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge was no fluke by adding two hits and three rbis to the table. Aaron Johnson was the only Illini to get an extra base hit today. His double was one of two hits and he also scored two runs.

Two more hits for Craig Lutes… boy he’s really hitting the ball in 2010. I think he’s solidifying his position in the lineup. Considering our personnel situation, outfield is probably the best place for him but we’ll miss his outstanding defense at first.

I don’t want to belabor the pitching situation. One, I know Coach Hartleb and the coaching staff are going to deal with it. We have a very pitching young staff. Even our “experienced” pitchers are a little green so it’s impacting our staff. I’ll just say that it’s my guess that Coach Hartleb might be adjusting the pitching strategy throughout the weeks before we start playing conference games and I’ll leave it at that. If I’m wrong, you can call me on it.

Next up

The Illini have a few days off to recoup before they go down to Conway, South Carolina on Friday. There, they will play in the Caravelle Resort Classic. First up on Friday morning, they’ll take on the Lipscomb University Bisons. They won’t get much rest after that. That afternoon, they’ll play the Coastal Carolina (yes, another Carolina) Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina, by the way, is ranked #8 in the nation.

Get some rest, team.

Go Illini!!

PS Happy Birthday, former Illini 3B Dom Altobelli!

Tags: casey mcmurray, craig lutes, keith leclair classic, matt dittman, west virginia

Illinois clawed by WCU Catamounts 4-2

Today in Greenville, North Carolina, the Illini dropped their second game of the Keith LeClair Classic to the Western Carolina Catamounts by the score of 4-2. This brings Illinois’ record to 1-4 for the season and itchin’ for a win.

Box Score

In the 2nd inning, Western Carolina accomplished something you don’t see everyday… a triple play.

Illinois 2nd – Dittman, M. walked (3-2 BFBBFB). McMurray, C. singled up the middle (2-1 BBK); Dittman, M. advanced to second. Cappetta, P. lined into triple play 3b to 1b (3-2 BBBKK); McMurray, C. out on the play; Dittman, M. out on the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Unlike the game against East Carolina, Illinois never had the lead, though it WAS close. WCU had a 3-0 lead by the end of the 4th and the good guys managed to close the gap a little thanks in part to a solo homer by Mike Giller (left) in the 4th.

Other than Giller, the offense was pretty quiet. Casey McMurray was 2 for 4 but the team didn’t manage to capitalize… no runs or rbis for Mac.

By the numbers
26	Total strikeouts by Illini batters in the last two games
4	Season total of rbis for Mike Giller (now leads the team)
4-1	Record in 2009 after 5 games

Those four Catamount runs came off Starter Brian de le Torriente. Three of them were earned. Considering WCU got eight hits, it was lucky that de la Torriente kept them to four. Or perhaps it wasn’t luck. The fact that he didn’t walk a batter probably helped. In his two starts, he hasn’t given up any walks.

Illinois got good performances from the bullpen. Kevin Manson saw the ball for the first time this year and responded well. He pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Coach Hartleb put Lee Zerrusen in to finish the game and he pitched a scoreless eighth.

Next up

The Illini play their last game of the Classic on Sunday bright and early at 9 am against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Fighting Illini can take some heart that they have a 6-0 record against the Mountaineers.

Random Stuff

Coach Hartleb’s former recruit Seth Schwindenhammer (whose name I always have to copy and paste) was named in Bus Leagues Baseball’s The Best Names in Minor League Baseball. Schwindenhammer is now with the Red Sox organization.

I suggested to BLB that their list should include our own Joe Bonadonna (right) who is now with the Texas Rangers organization. His name just rolls off the tongue.

Go Illini!

Tags: brian de la torriente, casey mcmurray, joe bonadonna, keith leclair classic, kevin manson, lee zerrusen, mike giller, Seth Schwindenhammer, western carolina

Former Illini Toby Gardenhire in the news

Gardenhire rounding third to score in his final regular season game with the Illini in 2005

Kelsie Smith of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press has a lengthy feature article on former Illini infielder and current Minnesota Twin catcher Toby Gardenhire. Much of the article is focusing on the relationship between Toby and his father Ron, the manager of the Twins.

"There are a lot of times when I don’t really notice him," the skipper (Gardenhire) said Wednesday. "He just blends in, and that’s a good thing. There are other times when I’m watching him, like today when he didn’t field a bunt and should have, I’m like, dumb (expletive)!"

There is a pretty awesome photo that goes with the article.. Check it out.

Seems Toby has been making the news a lot lately, by the way. For a ballplayer, that can only be a good thing.

In 2005, Toby Gardenhire was drafted out of the University of Illinois by the Minnesota Twins in the 41st round.

Tags: Media, toby gardenhire

Tickets now available for Illini-Mizzou matchup at Busch Stadium!

Tickets are now available for the April 7 game between Illinois and Missouri at Busch Stadium. If you’re interested, you can purchase them at the St Louis Cardinals web site.

Gametime is 7pm and the tickets are $15

Tags: announcement, missouri, schedule

EC Pirates squash Illini’s lead

They played hard but Illinois lost to #21 East Carolina 7-5 in the first game of the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, North Carolina.

It was a tough game against a tough team perhaps harder to take because Illinois was so close to winning it. Illinois had the lead after 6 1/2 innings but East Carolina put together a four run rally in the seventh to come back.

Coach Dan Hartleb gave credit to his team but also knew one of reasons why the team didn’t score more runs.

"We played hard. We struck out too much and when we have scoring innings, we need to turn around and put zeroes on the board in the next inning. But we continued to play hard when things didn’t go well and we saw some good things from our guys."

Fair enough. The Pirate pitchers struck out 16 Illini batters.

By the numbers
4/9	Number of runs/hits by the top of the 7th for the Illini
5/7	Number of runs/hits for the Pirates after that
16	Times the Illinois batters struck out

Who was hot for the good guys

The good news is that we had some good games some different players today. That’s a quality Illinois has traditionally had. Every player has the potential to be the big player of the game. Today we had a few who really contributed. Willie Argo actually got a chance to bat today (see last weekend where he was walked eight times). Willie responded by getting 2 hits, one a double with 2 rbis. Aaron Johnson pretty much matched that (2 hits, one double, 2 rbis). Casey McMurray, who came into the weekend with one hit, got two today plus an rbi. Craig Lutes (right) was 2 for 3 with a double. Lutes, by the way, is off to a hot start this early season… he’s hitting .357. That’s a slight improvement over his 2009 figure of .216.

Will Strack, it seems, didn’t pitch bad (3 runs, 5 hits in 5 innings). Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t hold the Pirates in the long 7th inning. Relievers Mike Sterk and Bryan Roberts bore the brunt of East Carolina’s attack.

Next up

Tomorrow the Illini take on the Western Carolina Catamounts. It’s a 10am game so fire up Gametracker early.

By the way, a fan informed me that it might be possible to watch the game live via the East Carolina baseball website. I haven’t had a chance to try it but here is the link.

Go Illini!

Tags: aaron johnson, casey mcmurray, craig lutes, east carolina, keith leclair classic, will strack, willie argo

Some last minute weekend notes and is Tanner Libby a trend-setter?

A few last minute notes before the Illini start the Keith LeClair Classic tomorrow:

According to fightingillini.com, Illinois is going with the same starters from last weekend…. Will Strack, Brian de la Torriente, and Kevin Johnson. Strack will have a tough job going against an East Carolina team that is ranked #21 right now. Their 4-3 record suggests that they CAN be beaten though.

A bit of trivia… the last time we played Western Carolina (was in the Stetson Tournament in 2006. That was former catcher Lars Davis’ first appearance for the Illini. He went 4 for 5 for the weekend with 4 rbis. A sign of things to come for that particular Illini Canadian catcher.

Illini closer Lee Zerrusen does another write-up for Diamond Notes #2. This is his second in a row… I’m sure but maybe he’ll be the team’s designated scribe… he does well at it. He gives a quick wrap-up of last weekend and a looks forward to this weekend.

He also introduces freshman reliever Tanner Libby (right):

Being the youngest member of the bullpen, (Tanner) got the distinguished honor of carrying a pink Barbie Princess backpack through the airport and to the games. This bag carries sunflower seeds, gum, and peanuts among other things for guys in the bullpen to have during the game.

Don’t feel too bad, Tanner. My 9-year old daughter thinks that’s pretty awesome. Watch out, everyone will want one soon enough.

Finally, I just want to remind everyone Illinois Baseball Report is on Facebook and on Twitter @illbaseballrpt. If that makes it easier for you to get updates, feel free to follow IBR in those ways.

Go Illini!!

Tags: east carolina, facebook, lars davis, lee zerrusen, previews, tanner libby, twitter, western carolina, will strack

Weekend Preview: Keith LeClair Classic

This weekend, Illinois baseball will take part in the Keith LeClair Classic (named in honor of a baseball coach with ties to both East Carolina and Western Carolina) at the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Two of Illinois’ opponents in the Classic, Western Carolina and East Carolina, have had their most recent games fall victim to the nasty weather the east coast has been having. Both of their games were canceled.

Let’s take a look at Illinois’ opponents for the Keith LeClair Classic.

East Carolina Pirates
March 5, 2010		4 pm ct
		Greenville, NC
Program website link		Record	4-3
Head Coach:	Billy Goodwin	Key player:	Dustin Harrington

Harrington leads the Pirates with a .393 batting average and six runs. Jared Avchen is also someone to watch. He’s the Pirate catcher and was named to the Johnny Bench Watch list just like Aaron Johnson was.

Western Carolina Catamounts
March 6, 2010		10 am ct
		Greenville, NC
Program website link		Record	6-1
Head Coach:	Bobby Moranda	Key player:	Tyler Kirkpatrick

The Catamounts have a trio of boppers in Kirkpatrick, Tyler White, and Cameron Dulling. All are hitting over .400. Kirkpatrick got hot against Charlotte and hit two dingers last Tuesday.

And if you’re wondering (because I was and had to look it up), a catamount is a cougar. cat-a-mount… makes sense now.

West Virginia Mountaineers
March 7, 2010		9 am ct
		Greenville, NC
Program website link		Record: 2-5
Head coach:	Greg Van Zant	Key player:	Jedd Gyorko

Set your alarm clock. This is an early game.

The Mountaineers just came off an 18-14 win so despite their 2-5 record, it’s clear they can put some runs on the board.

Gyorko is main offensive threat on this team. He leads in homers, doubles, rbis and runs. Matt Frazer (.450) and Dom Hayes (.429) are also hitters to watch out for.

What the Illini need to do this weekend

Obviously, the key thing for the Illini to do is to put the last two losses out of their mind and focus at the task at hand. These games are winnable.

Will Strack can to build on his success he had against Notre Dame. Kevin Johnson and Brian de la Torriente, who from all accounts, didn’t pitched ok, just need to translate their good work into wins.

Of course, that can’t happen without some offense. It’s common, almost a Murphy’s Law, that when you get good pitching, you don’t get offense and vice-versa. It’s just a question of how to break out of it.

And Matt Dittman… don’t change a thing.

Go Illini!!!

Tags: east carolina, keith leclair classic, previews, west virginia, western carolina

Weekend Roundup: Dittman gets tournament honors

Now that the dust has settled from the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge, we can get a sense where the Big Ten look like now. No surprise… Ohio State is at the top, getting a quick 5-1 start on season.

Team	Record	Pct.	Record	Pct.
Ohio State	0-0	.000	5-1	.833
Michigan State	0-0	.000	4-2	.667
Penn State	0-0	.000	2-1	667
Iowa	0-0	.000	3-2	.600
Michigan	0-0	.000	3-4	.429
Minnesota	0-0	.000	2-4	.333
Illinois	0-0	.000	1-2	.333
Indiana	0-0	.000	2-5	.286
Northwestern	0-0	.000	2-5	.286
Purdue	0-0	.000	0-4	.000

Congrats to Matt Dittman, by the way, for getting named to the All-Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge team sponsored by Collegebaseball360.com. Not only did he hit .667 for the tournament but he drove three runs and scored four. Nice going, Ditt!

Here is the whole All-Tournament team from last weekend from collegebaseball360.com.

Speaking of awards and such, the official watch list for the 2010 Johnny Bench award has been announced and our catcher Aaron Johnson is on it. Illini fans shouldn’t be too surprised the way Johnson has played last year. Johnson has also been named the Big Ten’s Best Catcher’s Arm.

On May 19th, the Bench award list will be narrowed to 10 finalists.

As long as were talking awards, here are the Big Ten Players and Pitchers of the Week. No, there aren’t any Illini there. YET.

In a couple days, it’s time to catch up and start winning.

Go Illini!!

Tags: aaron johnson, Awards, BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge, matt dittman, Weekend Recaps

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