Justin Parr:  #1 in conference batting average for 2011

The local paper, the News-Gazette, just posted a list of the top 100 Illini athletes according to sportswriter Jeff Huth.

Illini baseball got their due getting eight players mentioned on the list.

#23  Justin Parr

#38  Charlie Tilson

#44  Brandon Hohl

#52  Davis Hendrickson

#67  Willie Argo

#70  Bryan Roberts

#89  Kevin Johnson

#99  Jordan Parr

It should be mentioned that Huth’s list was created before the school year (and most likely the MLB signing deadline) hence any confusion over the inclusion of Charlie Tilson who was signed by the St Cardinals.

As for my opinion, it’s hard to put a few Illini baseball players on any list without putting all of them on it.  I know it’s a cliché but historically, the Illini baseball club has played like a ‘team’.  They cycle through heroes each week, taking turns being the one who comes through in clutch.  These lists are fine for the bigs but I’m not a big fan of ranking players like this on the college level.

That said, every player on this list certainly deserves every accolade coming to them.  I especially like the choice of Roberts.  Good to know that his efforts weren’t forgotten after a year on the shelf.  We’re looking forward to having him back on the mound in 2012.

An infielder from Dakota Dunes, SD has signed a letter of intent.  David Kerian can play shortstop, third base, or second base.  He’s also a switch hitter.  He’s a valuable prospect it seems.  He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 2011 draft.

You can read his bio at fightingillini.com.

  Tomorrow (July 18th) is the Northwoods League midseason All-Star Game.  Two Illini were named to NWL All-Star teams.  Davis Hendrickson and Matt Milroy (left) are both having great seasons for their respective teams.  Hendrickson is hitting .336 with 18 runs for the Waterloo Bucks.  Matt Milroy has a 4.02 ERA with 24 strikeouts as a reliever for the Madison Mallards.

The game will be broadcast live on the web July 18th at 7:05pm.  More info at the NWL web site.

Finally, congratulations to Billy Barrett, Lee Zerrusen, and Wes Braun who were named as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar!

Meanwhile, the Big Ten All-Tournament Team has been announced.  No surprise here.. The Illini did pretty well.

Starters John Anderson and Corey Kimes were named for their respective outstanding performances.  Catcher Adam Davis who besides doing a fine job behind the plate, went 5 for 13 with 3 doubles.  Center fielder Willie Argo got 5 hits and stole four bases.  I’ve already talked about Justin Parr’s qualifications for the All-Tournament team.  I’m glad he was chosen. He ended up 6 for 14 and scored three  times.

But Matt Dittman, rumor has it he’s pretty popular now with Illinois baseball fans.  Both of his hits were homeruns and one of them was a grand slam against Michigan State for a total of five rbis.  And don’t forget, though Dittman (right) didn’t get a hit in the wild Ohio State game, he scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, too.

Who did they leave off?  If I could place one more Illini player on the team, who would it be?  Well, it would be hard to displace Minnesota’s AJ Pettersen but Josh Parr had an excellent tournament at shortstop making some excellent plays. He went 4 for 13 and drove in three runs and scored two.  He might have been my choice.

Here is the complete All-Tournament Team

2011 Big Ten Baseball All-Tournament Team

P – John Anderson, ILL
P – Corey Kimes, ILL
P – Kurt Wunderlich, MSU
P – Tom Windle, MINN
C – Adam Davis, ILL
1B – Matt Dittman, ILL
2B – Matt Puhl, MINN
3B – Torsten Boss, MSU
SS – AJ Pettersen, MINN
OF – Willie Argo, ILL
OF – Justin Gominsky, MINN
OF – Brian DeLucia, OSU
OF – Tyler Spillner, PUR
DH – Justin Parr, ILL

Congratulations to John, Corey, Adam, Matt, Willie and Justin!!!

Josh Parr:  All-Big Ten Second Team

Yesterday, seven Illinois baseball players were honored with All-Big Ten awards.  While the Big Ten championship team was shut out of the All-Big Ten First team, Adam Davis, Pete Cappetta and Josh Parr were placed on the Second Team and Casey McMurray and Wes Braun were selected for the Third Team. 

Thomas Lindauer was selected as All-Big Ten Freshman at shortstop.  Additionally, Josh Parr was also honored with a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. 

Congrats to everyone!  You’re all first team as far as I’m concerned.

Here is the full list:

ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
C – Kevin Plawecki, PUR
1B – Jeff Holm, MSU
2B – Ryan Jones, MSU
SS – AJ Pettersen, MINN
3B – Torsten Boss, MSU
OF – BRANDON ECKERLE, MSU
OF – SEAN DEEGAN, PSU
OF – Barrett Serrato, PUR
DH – Alex Dickerson, IND
SP – Joey DeNato, IND
SP – Tony Bucciferro, MSU
SP – Kurt Wunderlich, MSU
RP – Scott Matyas, MINN

ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
C – Adam Davis, ILL
1B – Josh Dezse, OSU
2B – Pete Cappetta, ILL
SS – Josh Parr, ILL
3B – Chris Lashmet, NU
OF – Patrick Biondi, MICH
OF – Michael O’Neill, MICH
OF – Tyler Spillner, PUR
DH – Paul Snieder, NU
SP – Jarred Hippen, IOWA
SP – Drew Rucinski, OSU
SP – Steven Hill, PSU
RP – Nick Wittgren, PUR

ALL-BIG TEN THIRD TEAM*
C – Tyson Blaser, IOWA
1B – Nick O’Shea, MINN
2B – Micah Johnson, IND
SS – Trevor Stevens, NU
3B – Cameron Perkins, PUR
OF – Willie Argo, ILL
OF – Casey McMurray, ILL
OF – Trevor Willis, IOWA
OF – Stephen Talbott, PUR
DH – Jared Hook, MSU
SP – Brandon Sinnery, MICH
SP – TJ Oakes, MINN
SP – John Walter, PSU
RP – Wes Braun, ILL
RP – Tony Wieber, MSU

ALL-BIG TEN FRESHMAN TEAM
C – Joel Fisher, MSU
1B – JOSH DEZSE, OSU
2B – KYLE RUCHIM, NU
SS – Thomas Lindauer, ILL
3B – DUSTIN DeMUTH, IND
OF – Taylor Zeutenhorst, IOWA
OF – MICHAEL O’NEILL, MICH
OF – Tim Wetzel, OSU
DH – Jack Livingston, NU
SP – JOEY DeNATO, IND
SP – David Garner, MSU
SP – GREG GREVE, OSU
RP – Ryan Halstead, IND

Unanimous honorees in ALL CAPS
* – Additional honorees due to tie

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Josh Parr, ILL
Brian Lambert, IND
Tyson Blaser, IOWA
Anthony Toth, MICH
Brandon Eckerle, MSU
Kyle Geason, MINN
Matt Gailey, NU
Theron Minium, OSU
Bobby Jacobs, PSU
David Blount, PUR

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jeff Holm, MSU

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Kurt Wunderlich, MSU

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Josh Dezse, OSU

COACH OF THE YEAR
Jake Boss Jr., MSU

Matt Dittman got the Big Ten Player of the Week award this week.  He better have after his walk-off performance on Saturday.

But Ditt actually had a great weekend independent of his walk-off homerun.  That homerun was his second of the series and for the series, he hit .600.  He drove in five runs plus scored six as well.

Congrats, Matt!

Illinois lost Friday night’s affair 9-2 but it seemed they were ready for revenge Saturday as they scored four runs in first inning.   That’s all they would need as John Anderson (left) pitched his third complete game in a row and led the Illini to victory 6-3.  Anderson didn’t give up a walk and two of those three runs were unearned. Brandon Hohl, Matt Dittman, Pete Cappetta and Casey McMurray all had multi-hit games on Saturday.

The rubber game on Sunday pretty much started out same way… with Illinois going out ahead.  They scored five in the first two innings and added three more in the fourth all before the Wildcats had a chance to get a run across the plate.  While NU did make a small effort toward the end of the game by scoring four runs in the last three innings, it was too little, too late for the Wildcats.

It looks like Corey Kimes put out a fine effort on Sunday.  He spread out seven hits and four walks in seven innings allowing the Wildcats to score only twice.

Pete Cappetta, playing second base on Sunday, had a fine day at plate.  He got four hits one of which was his first homerun of the year.  For the game, he drove in three runs.

Cappetta (left) was rewarded for his efforts this weekend.  The conference honored him as the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week.  For the weekend, Pete was 8 for 12 with five runs scored.  This was the second week in a row an Illini player was so honored as Willie Argo got the award last week.

Congrats Pete!

Random Ramblings

It’s amazing how different the Big Ten standings look after just one weekend.  Last weekend, just one game separated the top eight teams.  Not so any more with leaders Purdue and Michigan State at 10-5 and sixth place Penn State at 7-8.  As for Illinois, we’re at 8-7 which puts us at a tie for fourth place with Minnesota.

Don’t forget we have Ohio State coming up this weekend.  I don’t need to look at the standings… the Buckeyes are always tough in any year.  But we’re playing them at home this year, we have that going for us.  An extra bonus, Friday night will probably be the most attended game all year with the Bleacher Bum BBQ promotion.  So tell your friends and get out to the park this weekend and support the team!

Tomorrow’s game against Southern Illinois at Rent One Park will be the third time Illinois will play them this year.  It is also the last scheduled midweek game of the 2011 season. [correction: we have one game against Illinois College tomorrow (5/4) at 6:05pm.  Was that a late addition?  I didn’t see it.]

Argo:  speediest in the Big Ten?

College Baseball Insider asked the Big Ten Baseball coaches their opinions on a variety of baseball topics.  Nine of them responded and CBI put them together for their Big Ten baseball preview.

The team to beat?  It was unanimous for Minnesota.  A lot of things can happen from now till conference season but it looks like the Golden Gophers have a solid core especially if every coach can agree on it.

There were a couple of Illini players that showed up in the CBI Big Ten Baseball preview.

The best base-runner is: Willie Argo, Illinois

The best outfield arm is: Pete Cappetta, Illinois

Argo also showed up in the list of the “three best pure hitters” along with two of Indiana’s offensive threats, Alex Dickerson and Jerrod Sabourin.  Certainly good company to be in and I would definitely agree with the label “pure hitter” when applied to Willie.

Congrats to Willie and Pete!

Of the 79 baseball players honored, ten were from the University of Illinois. 

Congrats to them all!

University of Illinois Spring Academic All-Conference Honorees

John Anderson	Jr.	Political Science	Mt. Vernon, Ill.
Willie Argo	So.	Recreation, Sport & Tourism	Davenport, Iowa
Billy Barrett	Jr.	Business Administration	Homer Glen, Ill.
Wes Braun	Jr.	Speech Communication	Deerfield, Ill.
Adam Davis	So.	Recreation, Sport & Tourism	Bloomingdale, Ill.
Craig Lutes	Sr.	Finance	Normal, Ill.
Kevin Manson	Sr.	Recreation, Sport & Tourism	Park Ridge, Ill.
Mike Sterk	Sr.	Accountancy	Oak Lawn, Ill.
Will Strack	So.	General Studies	Sycamore, Ill.
Lee Zerrusen	Jr.	Kinesiology	Teutopolis, Ill.

Shortstop Josh Parr (left) was named to the All-Big Ten third team.  Making the switch from second base to short, his conference.337 average and 21 runs scored were tops at his position.  Also bearing on this honor was his 21 steals in 25 attempts.  No doubt, he was one of the strongest #9 hitters in the Big Ten. 

Starting pitcher Kevin Johnson (right) was unanimously named to the All-Freshman team.  In a season with uncertainty in the rotation, Johnson was a hint of stability as he was there every Saturday.  He had a rough start but he came on during Big Ten  play and for two or three weekends, he was downright unstoppable. 

Finally, Craig Lutes was honored with the Illinois Sportsmanship Award.  I don’t know anyone who deserves it more.  During his time here, Craig has always been a team player and done what was asked of him.  A quiet and unassuming fellow, his hard work really paid off in 2010 when he had a career season hitting .305. 

Of course, Craig also treated Illinois fans to one of the most exciting game enders we’ve seen in a while, too.

Congrats to Josh, Kevin and Craig!

Here is the full list of winners courtesy of bigten.com

ALL-BIG TEN BASEBALL TEAMS

FIRST TEAM
1B – Nick O’Shea, MINN
2B – Zach Morton, NU
SS – Jonathan Roof, MSU
3B – Chris Lashmet, NU
OF – Alex Dickerson, IND#
OF – Ryan LaMarre, MICH
OF – Zach Hurley, OSU
C – Ben Heath, PSU
DH – Josh Lyon, IND
SP – Eric Jokisch, NU
SP – Alex Wimmers, OSU#
SP – Matt Bischoff, PUR#
RP – Paul Snieder, NU

SECOND TEAM
1B – Jerrud Sabourin, IND
2B – Ryan Jones, MSU
SS – Trevor Stevens, NU
3B – Torsten Boss, MSU
OF – Kurtis Muller, IOWA
OF – Eli Boike, MSU
OF – Michael Kvasnicka, MINN
C – Chris Berset, MICH
DH – Ryan Dew, OSU
SP – Jarred Hippen, IOWA
SP – Phil Isaksson, MINN
SP – Seth Rosin, MINN
RP – Tyler Burgoon, MICH

THIRD TEAM
1B – Jeff Holm, MSU
2B – Tyler Rogers, IND
SS – Josh Parr, ILL
3B – Zach McCool, IOWA
OF – Michael Earley, IND
OF – Michael Stephens, OSU
OF – Steve Snyder, PSU
C – Kyle Knudson, MINN
DH – Chris Roberts, MSU
SP – Alan Oaks, MICH
SP – Kurt Wunderlich, MSU
SP – TJ Oakes, MINN
RP – Scott Matyas, MINN

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM*
1B – Jack Havey, NU
2B – Ryan Jones, MSU#
SS – Derek Dennis, MICH
3B – Torsten Boss, MSU#
OF – Patrick Biondi, MICH
OF – Arby Fields, NU
OF – Elliot Searer, PSU
OF – Steve Snyder, PSU#
C – Kevin Plawecki, PUR#
DH – Mike Corbeil, IOWA
SP – Kevin Johnson, ILL#
SP – Bobby Brosnahan, MICH#
SP – TJ Oakes, MINN#
RP – Brad Schreiber, PUR

BIG TEN INDIVIDUAL HONORS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alex Dickerson, IND#

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Alex Wimmers, OSU

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Ryan Jones, MSU

COACH OF THE YEAR
John Anderson, MINN

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Craig Lutes, ILL
Sterling Mack, IND
Michael Jacobs, IOWA
Chris Berset, MICH
Brandon Eckerle, MSU
Kyle Knudson, MINN
Chad Noble, NU
Zach Hurley, OSU
Louie Picconi, PSU
Matt Bischoff, PUR

# – Unanimous Selection
* Additional Honorees Due to Tie

College Baseball Insider tells us what we already know.  They polled the coaches of the Big Ten (actually eight of the ten participated) and Aaron Johnson (right) came up with “The Best Catcher’s Arm” honor.  No surprise there.

In other pre-season awards, Baseball America came out with their pre-season All-Big Ten list.  Pete Cappetta and Willie Argo were named on the list at second base and centerfield, respectively.

Congrats to Aaron, Pete and Willie!!

For what it is worth, Baseball America picked Illinois to finish 4th in the Big Ten.  Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan were the top three.

If you haven’t been over to the Illini baseball website lately, they have a nifty pre-season preview for the position players.  For me, they officially confirm and dispel some of the rumors of who’s playing where.

Some of the big changes mentioned:

• It seems Josh Parr will move from secondbase to shortstop
• Among other things, Pete Cappetta will try his luck at second in 2010.
• Freshman Brandon Hohl will be the opening day thirdbaseman.  Mike Giller will be playing some at third as well (not too much of a surprise since he played there exclusively during the Orange and Blue series).

I’m sure in a couple days, I’ll bet we’ll see a Pitcher’s Preview from them.

Gah, since I’ve written this, those flurries have turned into a full-fledged snowstorm.