Davis wins Big Ten honor but Illini lose home opener

Ok, good news first. Canuck catcher Lars Davis took Big Ten Player of the Week last week. How good was he? Try 12 for 14 on for size. How about three homers and 5 rbis? Add to that that he threw out 2 baserunners and even stole a base of his own. By the end [...]

Raise the Roof! Shawn named to Coastal Plain League All-Decade Team

University of Illinois shortstop Shawn Roof received quite an honor this week from his summer college league. The Coastal Plain League named Roof to their All-Decade Team in celebration of their first 10 years in existence. Not a big deal? Well, take a look at some of the players sharing the honor with Roof. Other [...]

Davis Unstoppable as Illini win fourth straight

University of Illinois catcher Lars Davis is on a tear and the Illini are on a streak. Thursday, Davis went 4 for 5 (his second 4 hit game in a row) with a home run and 3 rbis. The Illini won 5-2 against Dartmouth. That makes 4 in row and gives them a 6-8 record. [...]

Illini Baseball Whip the Ivy League

As an Illini fan, I’m celebrating. Someone asked me, “Did you hear about the Illini?” Not thinking, I said, “Yeah! Whew! 17-5! What a win!” Then I realized they were talking about the basketball team’s loss in the March Madness tourney. Sorry, my faux pas. I’m on baseball mode year round. Anyway, the Illini weren’t [...]

Summer Ball web site

Illini fans know that our ball players don’t stay idle during the summer season. They hone their craft in summer colliegiate leagues. Andrew is doing a good job keeping tabs on these leagues at his website called Summer Ball. Feel free to contact him with info about any summer college leagues in your area and [...]

Illini sees leads slip away in losses to Texas-Arlington

It was a frustrating weekend for the Illini as they had leads in all three games against University of Texas-Arlington only to lose them. Friday’s game was a heartbreaker lost in extra innings. Instead of dwelling on the losses (you can check out box scores yourself with fightingillini.com’s new web feature, click on a game [...]

Illini take two of three at Al Ogletree Classic

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 only that, they WON all [...]

Illini Play for first win tonight

Tonight is the first game of Al Ogletree Classic for the Illini. They face Sam Houston (8-5). Game time is 6pm, Scott Shaw is the starter. Five teams compete in the Al Ogletree Classic; Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, University of Texas San Antonio, the host team University of Texas Pan-American, and… Illinois. One [...]

Baseball Zealot Radio #12- Interview with Chris Robinson from Spring Training

This was exciting for me. Chris Robinson is a former Illini catcher who when I saw him play, I thought had promise. Sure enough, he was drafted 90th overall in 2005 by the Detroit Tigers. Last year to my delight, he was traded to the Cubs. He finished the season at the Cubs’ single-A Daytona [...]

I get interviewed by Big Ten Hardball

I did a Q&A for Big Ten Hardball on the University of Illinois baseball team. Thanks to Brian from BTH for the opportunity to do this. I really appreciate his website. It’s a very comprehensive site and the only site of its caliber I know of that exclusively covers Big Ten baseball. I think BTH’s [...]