As some of you know, I was in town for Friday’s game but had to leave town and wasn’t able to attend Saturday’s or Sunday’s events. Heh, what events they were! Let it be known I did follow each game though. Thank goodness for Gametracker. There’s something about a baseball fan’s loyalty when he’s sneaking glances at the score on his smartphone during his family’s Easter Dinner… only to get a smirk and a finger-wagging from his daughter.
I’m so glad I did, though. Having watched Friday’s game in person I wondered about Illinois’ ability to come out of it. (I realize my article Friday was a bit negative). Boy, was I wrong! The Illini seemed to breeze through the rest of the weekend winning both Saturday’s and Sunday’s game against Indiana.
Saturday
John Kravetz pitched seven solid innings allowing just three runs and recorded his fifth win of the year. The top four in the lineup (Thomas Lindauer, Willie Argo, Justin Parr and Brandon Hohl) all had multi-hit games and combined to go 8 for 16. Reid Roper (more on him later) added two hits including a triple. And hey, Ronnie Muck got his first save pitching a scoreless 1 2/3 innings.
Score Illinois 7 Indiana 3
Sunday
Matt Milroy was the story (more on HIM later, too). This game looked to be the quite the exciting game from my viewpoint. After Illinois and Indiana both scored five in the first two innings, Milroy came in relief and shut down the Hoosiers. He kept them scoreless for five innings. Not only that, he struck out ten Indiana batters in the process. Meanwhile, Illinois kept scoring. It was pretty much the same hitters from Saturday, the top of the lineup and Reid Roper. Lindauer, Argo and Justin Parr combined for seven hits. Parr by himself had five rbis thanks mostly to a sixth inning grand slam. As for Roper, he went 2 for 4 with an rbi and two runs scored. Oh and he finished out the game pitching a perfect ninth inning.
Score: Illinois 11 Indiana 6
Milroy, Roper honored
For their efforts, both Matt Milroy and Reid Roper were honored by the Big Ten. Milroy was named Co-Pitcher of the Week. Milroy’s ten Ks were a career for him. Roper was named Freshman of the Week. It’s the third time we’ve had a Freshman honor (Kravetz has had the other two).
It was the first honor for both of them. Congrats Reid and Matt!
Next Up
Two midweek games this week including a special one. Tuesday, Illinois takes on EIU at home. Game time is at 6:05pm at Illinois Field.
On Wednesday, the players travel to Busch stadium to play Missouri. It’s a great opportunity for the guys, I know. Game time is 6:30pm.
See you at the ballpark!