Thomas Shelton hopes to extend his five game hitting streak this weekend
The University of Illinois baseball team hope to continue to climb the Big Ten standings this weekend as they take on the Northwestern Wildcats. This year’s intrastate series will be played at Rocky Miller Park in Evanston.
The pitching assignments are the same. Kevin Johnson and John Kravetz take the mound Friday and Saturday respectively and Mr. TBA will pitch Sunday. Coach Hartleb likes surprises.
John Kravetz is tied for second with teammate Kevin Johnson in wins in the Big Ten with 6
By the way, both Johnson and Kravetz are going for their seventh win. Currently, their six wins puts the two of them tied for second with six others in the Big Ten (Blake Mascarello of Purdue has 7). While we’re on the topic of conference leaders, Matt Milroy is tenth in the Big Ten in strikeouts. Pretty good considering he’s only started two games.
Interesting Stat of the Day: Illinois is tops in the nation in turning the double play. They have done it 52 times.
A quick rundown on the Wildcat series:
Northwestern Wildcats |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 27, 2012 | 3 pm CT | |||
| April 28, 2012 | 1 pm CT | |||
| April 29, 2012 | 1 pm CT | |||
| Rocky Miller Park | Evanston, IL | |||
| Program website link | 2012 Record 14-23 (5-10 Big Ten) | |||
| Head Coach: Paul Stevens | Key player: Jack Havey (.291, 24 rbis) | |||
Northwestern is on a down turn this year it seems. They’re 14-23 with a 5-10 conference record. They did manage to beat the decimated Michigan baseball program two out of three last weekend. With that series win, they at least share last place with the Wolverines. They hope, I’m sure, to beef up their record on another second division team this weekend. With Illinois’ good showing against Ohio State, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
The Wildcats overall stats don’t look horrible for a last place team, actually. While they’re being out hit .306 to .262, look out for their power (14 homeruns to opposition’s 10) and their pitcher’s strikeout rate is better than average, too.
Keep an eye out for Jack Havey and Geoff Rowan who is their only .300 hitter among the starters. He’s hitting at a nice .342 clip.
Random Ramblings
As always, check out my latest column for Smile Politely. If you like it, feel free to make a comment on SP’s site. I’d like everyone to know there are Illini baseball fans out there!!
There’s live video for Game 1 against the Wildcats this weekend. For all three games, there will be live audio from available as usual. For those in the area, WDWS-AM 1400 will be broadcasting the games. With the game in Evanston, though, I’ll bet there will be a sizable visitor crowd. Root them on!!
Finally, I have a question. Does anyone know what the Buckeye players were advocating for in this photo (here’s another) during Saturday’s game ? I honestly forgot the context but the hand signals seem to indicate they were arguing for one play call or another. Just curious.
