Illini Baseball find themselves closer to home this weekend

This weekend, the Illini head home.. almost.  They’re back in the state at least, playing Southern Illinois University down in Carbondale.  It’s a four-game weekend with a special Sunday game at Rent One Park home of the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League.

SIU qualifies as one of U of I’s rivals, I think.  There’s the backstory of Coach Hartleb’s affiliation with the school (he was their catcher for the Salukis a fair number of years ago and honed his coaching skills as an assistant coach there).  Also, no matter how good either team is in any given year, it’s always a hard fought series (historically, SIU leads the series 31-24).  There’s always the rematch later in the year too.  This year, SIU visits Illinois Field on April 30th.

Right now, the Salukis are doing quite well.  They’re 9-7 and have won four of their last five games.  You can thank Northern Illinois for that.  SIU swept the Huskies last weekend at Carbondale.  Yes, the Salukis have gotten a bit of a head start in getting some home games in and it’s helped.  They’re 4-1 at home.

With a four game weekend, all four of the expected Illinois starters are getting a turn.  Kevin Johnson, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Duchene and John Kravetz are on the hill respectively.  I’m sure Kevin is excited to be on the mound for the game on Sunday.  That day is when both teams square off at minor league stadium Rent One Park.

No big boppers in Southern’s lineup but some solid hitters (Matt Jones and Jake Welch) and a couple of real aces on the pitching staff.  Sam Coonrod and Cody Forsythe have both only allowed seven runs in over 21 innings pitched.  As a team, they’re ERA outpaces their opponents’ 3.52 to 4.54.

Random Ramblings

Take a look at my column at Smile Politely this week.  Courtesy of Dewi Krug, it’s adorned with a great photo of Michael Hurwitz being congratulated at home plate after his homerun at Baylor. Thanks to Dewi for the photo!

Team Canada did get knocked out of the World Baseball Classic by USA on Sunday but you can hardly fault former Illini catcher Chris Robinson.  He did his part by going 2 for 4.  For the WBC tournament, he went 5 for 9.  Nice job, Chris!

Good luck this weekend, Illini!!