Illinois baseball remains undefeated after eventful weekend

Casey Fletcher is hitting .417 in seven games this season

In Friday’s game, Drasen Johnson got run support.  An Illini win ended with a walk-off HBP on Saturday.  And Sunday’s game ended in a tie.  Indeed, it was a strange weekend for Illinois baseball down in Florida. 

But in the end, the Illini can still claim to be unbeaten after defeating Florida Gulf Coast and Fordham one game each.  The Illini are off to fantastic start.  They got off to a 6-0 start for the first time since 1986 when they went 7-0.  Alas, the travel-curfew induced tie put a kibosh on matching that. 

Regardless, this past weekend has cemented the point that the Illinois baseball’s performance in the opening weekend is certainly no fluke. 

Here are some quick recaps:

 

 

The Fighting Illini headline wasn’t too subtle about it.  “Bats Back Johnson in 13-2 Victory over FGCU”, it read.  Starting pitcher Drasen Johnson finally got some run support and then some.  Big hitters in the game against the Eagles were Casey Fletcher (4 for 5, 3 rbis) and Will Krug (1 for 5 but 3 rbis and 2 runs). 

Johnson was his typical efficient self.  He allowed just two runs on four hits in seven innings striking out eight FGCU batters.  Doug Hayes and Andrew Mamlic pitched the scoreless 8th and 9th innings.

 

 

 

 

Saturday’s was a little exciting going down to the wire.  The Illini had a comfortable 6-3 going into the ninth but the Fordham Rams rallied to tie the game in the top half of the inning.  It took a walk-off hit-by-pitch of Casey Fletcher that scored Jason Goldstein to win the game.  Former Illini Shawn Roof would be proud. 

Again, John Kravetz was lights out straight out of the gate.  He shut the Rams out for the first four innings before running into a bit of trouble in the fifth inning.  Nick Blackburn got him out of too much trouble and pitched two more scoreless innings. 

Adam Walton stole three bases and Reid Roper (pictured) who went 3 for 4, stole two. 

 

 

 

 

This had to be frustrating game for both the Illini and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.  Sunday’s game ended in a tie because of a travel curfew. 

Down by a run, Pat McInerney drove home Casey Fletcher in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game 4-4.  After the end of nine regulation innings at 5:45pm, the game was officially called. 

Starter Rob McDonnell gave up a run in the first and three in the fifth.  In between, he was perfect, retiring 10 consecutive FGCU batters.  In relief, Tyler Jay got the job done pitching 4 plus scoreless innings. 

Reid Roper was 2 for 3 while David Kerian hit his first homer of the season. 

 

 

Random Ramblings

There is no tie in baseball. 

Realistically, I understand the logic behind Sunday’s imposed tie.  The Illini baseball players are students and need to get back to campus.  Aside from that, the logistics of arranging for travel are already a nightmare.  Accommodating a change is near impossible. 

I still feel for the players of both teams.  The Illini most definitely want to preserve their win streak.  Also, I can imagine that the Florida Gulf Coast players would have loved that feather in their cap of defeating an undefeated team. 

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FYI.. Mark Skonieczny, I’m adding your name to my spell check dictionary now.  I’ve learned my lesson from Nick Chmielewski. 

Next up:  Illinois will participate in the Chanticleer Classic which starts February 27th in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  First up is Ball State at 1pm.