Argo, Wikoff honored

More mantle hardware for the Illini hardballers.  Willie Argo was named to the Louisvile Slugger Freshman All-American team by Collegiate Baseball newspaper last Wednesday.  Argo hit .355 for Illinois in 2009 with 12 homeruns and 47 rbis and 10 stolen bases.  His homerun mark was tied for second all-time for Illini freshman.   Brandon Wikoff, who [...]

Six Illini get All-Big Ten honors

  Dominic Altobelli- 3B All-Big Ten First team Brandon Wikoff- SS All-Big Ten First Team Pete Cappetta- OF All-Big Ten Second Team Aaron Johnson- C All-Big Ten Second Team Willie Argo- OF All-Big Ten Third Team All-Big Ten Freshman Team Will Strack- SP All-Big Ten Third Team All-Big Ten Freshman Team The Big Ten annual [...]

Chalk another award up for Wikoff

With all the excitement surrounding the Ohio State series, I didn’t want to forget about this.  Yeah, yeah, another award for Brandon Wikoff. What else is new?  Seems like he’s being honored like this every other day.  I bet it’s gets old, getting all this attention.  Just kidding, Brandon.  This time, Wikoff was named to [...]

Build a bigger mantle; the awards keep comin’

Brandon Wikoff (left) becomes the next in a long line of Illini who can claim the honor of being named the Big Ten Player of the Week.  Wikoff was deemed the honor for his efforts against Northwestern at Evanston this past weekend.  For the weekend, he hit .692 including a 4 hit game on Sunday.  [...]

Wikoff named to Wallace watch list

Big news for Illini’s shortstop!  Brandon Wikoff has been named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award.  The Wallace Award is annually given to the nation’s best college shortstop.  Wikoff is the only Big Ten player to be named to the list and the winner will be awarded the  trophy on July 2.  [...]

Not surprisingly, Argo takes Big Ten honor

After a monster weekend against Penn State, Illini Willie Argo garners the Big Ten Player of the Week award.  The Davenport, Iowa native took the award based on his 8 for 12 performance while Illinois swept the Nittany Lions.  Argo drove home 8 runs and scored six with the help of three homeruns, a double [...]

Big Ten Player of the Week goes to Dittman

I didn’t want to jinx it but I had a sneaky suspicion that Illinois firstbaseman Matt Dittman’s efforts against Michigan might have been good enough to garner him Big Ten Player of the Week.  They were.  Dittman had started in only one Big Ten game before this weekend and boy, he really made the most [...]

Frosh Strack honored by Big Ten

Congrats to Will Strack.  With his complete game shutout in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, Strack received the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award. Strack allowed just four hits and a walk in Illinois’ win which completed their weekend sweep of the Michigan Spartans.  He is the second Illinois freshman to win an [...]

The spoils of the LSU Battle; Illinois is now among the ranked teams

Lots to talk about in the wake of Illinois’ series victory over (then) #1 LSU Tigers last weekend.  The Illini won Friday’s game and Sunday’s game both on the efforts of good starting pitching by Phil Haig and Ben Reeser respectively. I say "then #1" because well, it’s no surprise that LSU dropped in the [...]

Freshman Parr earns Big Ten Player of the Week award

Illini secondbaseman Josh Parr who is barely getting his feet wet in college ball, has already been honored by the conference by being named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week. Considering his performance at the Al Ogletree Tournament over the weekend, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Parr was 7 for 10 with [...]