Illinois Baseball play four at UTA-Invitational this weekend

UTA-Hilton Invitational

Starting tomorrow, the Illinois will take part in the UTA-Hilton Invitational down in Arlington, Texas.  They will play two games against host Texas-Arlington and two against Houston Baptist.  Both teams come in with winning records.  In fact, the Mavericks’ 5-2 record is good enough for first place in the Western Athletic Conference.

As for Houston Baptist (4-3-1), I’m not sure what to think of a team (from Texas no less) that believes you can end a baseball game in a tie.  Don’t let them do that to you, Coach Hartleb!

A little bit of schedule trivia:  This Saturday is the only time all year that Illinois will be scheduled to play two games on one day.  I’m not saying it won’t happen because of re-scheduling and such.  I’m just saying…

We’re seeing the same pitchers as last weekend but Coach Hartleb has juggled the rotation around a bit.  Kevin Duchene is starting Friday, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Johnson are pitching on Saturday respectively.   John Kravetz pitches the final game on Sunday.

Both Kravetz and Blackburn (left) are coming off hot starts and Duchene has to be motivated after getting his first win for the Illini last weekend.  As for Johnson, we just need ol’ KJ back after his rough outing last weekend and we’re back in business.

Stat of the Week

Illinois leads the Big Ten in OBP with a .414 mark.  They also lead in walks with 43.  Who do they have to thank for that? Michael Hurwitz who leads the team with 10 bases on balls.

Illinois Catcher getting media attention

In other news, the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers wrote a bit about Illini former catcher Chris Robinson in his column. Robinson, currently in camp with the Orioles, will be leaving to join Team Canada to play in the World Baseball Classic.

The Daily Illini had good feature article on a current Illini catcher, Jason Goldstein.  Kudos to the DI for keeping up on Illini Baseball action!

Finally, speaking of media attention, I just posted my latest article for my weekly column covering the team on Smile Politely.  Take a look.

Good luck this weekend, Illini!!