Illinois Baseball Report

Dugout Club rep John Santas called me this morning and told me that late this afternoon, the boys would be leaving Illinois Field if I wanted to come by and wish them well. I sure appreciated the heads up.  Since I wasn’t going to make the trip to California, the least I could do is [...]

Filed under: NCAA Regionals on May 31st, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Illinois now has a place to play and time to play.  The NCAA Baseball Regionals brackets have been announced. Yesterday morning, ESPN2 took a break from their marathon of Jim Tressel news coverage to announce the NCAA Regionals selections. Here’s the scoop: Illinois will be in the Fullerton Regional in Fullerton, California. They will be [...]

Filed under: NCAA Regionals on May 31st, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

The Illini baseball team rolled back into town yesterday and were welcomed back by a crowd of fans and some local media.     Matt Dittman had the proof in the pudding in his hands in the form of the Tournament Trophy. Thanks to the Dugout Club’s John Santas who I think pulled this all [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament on May 30th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

From all communications from Columbus, the mood is obviously high in the Illini camp.  Let me say from someone who has covered this team for the last five years, I’ve never seen a team put it together the way this Illinois team has.  Between you, me, and the Internet, I wasn’t sure what this team [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament, Awards on May 29th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

In their second straight game against Michigan State, the University of Illinois Fighting Illini baseball team clinched their first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2000 by defeating the Spartans 9-1. Starting pitcher Corey Kimes threw a career high 9 innings and seven strikeouts and seemed to have the Spartans fooled.  Giving up no walks on [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament on May 28th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Maybe it’s a bit of schadenfreude on my part but sometimes I like to read recaps on Illinois victories that were posted in newspapers in the enemy’s territory.  Here’s the write-up on last night’s game in the Detroit Press. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with good ol’ friendly Illini HQ and fightingillini.com either. Tonight, Illinois [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament, Media on May 28th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

No comeback today.  No dramatic walk-offs in the ninth inning.  Not even a stray cat made its way onto the field tonight.  The Illini just cruised to a victory over their co-conference title holders Michigan State in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament by the score of 4-1. We can thank starter John Anderson (right) for [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament, Game Recaps on May 27th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Ho hum… another walk-off win for the Illini.  What else is new? Hehe, I can’t pull that complacent shtick off, I am psyched as all get out.  Maybe I got worried a bit watching the Illinois-Ohio State game on my friend’s wide screen TV in his basement but I’ll tell you this:  When we were [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament on May 27th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago has a nice piece on Pete Cappetta and his comeback in the second half.  Definitely check it out. The Chicago Tribune interviewed walk-off hero Matt Dittman The Daily Illini has a couple of interesting articles.  One on the missing trophy (stupid policy in my opinion) and another preview of the [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament, Media on May 26th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Ohio State and Purdue came out winners in the first day of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.  The Buckeyes eked out a win over Minnesota 5-3 and Purdue came back to score seven runs and won 7-2 over Penn State. That sets the schedule for Thursday.  In the ‘loser’s bracket’, Minnesota will face off against [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament on May 25th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »