Illinois Baseball Report

Ben Taylor is my go-to guy for information about the University of Illinois baseball program.  Ben serves as Assistant Sports Information Director at the U of I and specifically works with the Illini baseball, wrestling and football teams.  It his job to coordinate publicity for the sports programs and work with the media.  From my [...]

Filed under: Feature on May 14th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

This weekend, the Illini take on the University of Michigan Wolverines for a three game series.  To get a good feel for the team, I’m interviewing fomerlyanonymous who blogs about the Michigan baseball team at mgoblog.com.  On to the interview: Illinois Baseball Report:  Michigan outfielder Ryan LaMarre, who was injured in the first weekend of [...]

Filed under: Feature on April 14th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Larry Fall blogs about sports at Penn State University and his blog, Happy Valley  Hardball covers the baseball team at PSU.  Happy Valley takes a unique look at the team as it is very stats-oriented and Larry even occasionally expands his coverage to the conference in general.  In light of Illinois’ opening Big Ten series [...]

Filed under: Feature on March 31st, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

My first memory of Pete Cappetta was during a particularly one-sided loss against Penn State in 2008, his freshman year. Cappetta was our backup shortstop back then and wasn’t getting a lot of playing time yet. While Illinois lost that game 16-5, Cappetta’s three-run homerun in the seventh inning (seen right as he high-fives the [...]

Filed under: Feature on February 13th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

Though it’s still freezing here in Central Illinois, we have to remind ourselves that opening day IS less than two weeks.  Let’s find out about the University of Illinois baseball by the numbers. There are 34 players listed according to the roster.  I’ve sorted, filtered, and broken it down to get a sense of exactly [...]

Filed under: Feature on February 9th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

I hadn’t even noticed this when I first glanced the 2010 Illinois schedule.   However, someone pointed out to me that in April, the team are in for a treat.  On April 7th, they will play at the St Louis Cardinals’ home field, Busch Stadium.  Outstanding!  They will play the University of Missouri Tigers.  I’m not [...]

Filed under: Feature on January 8th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

A streak of fire, a breath of flame Eluding all who reach and clutch; A gray ghost thrown into the game That rival hands may never touch; A rubber bounding, blasting soul Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois! Grantland Rice Permit me to go a little off topic today.  On this [...]

Filed under: Feature on November 21st, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

All these times I’ve crossed the cemetery on Florida Avenue on my way to Illinois Field to watch the Illini play, I never realized I was passing by the gravestone of a former major leaguer.  I learn from Kyle of the Chillini blog: Big Jeff (Pfeffer) was born and raised in Champaign and attended the [...]

Filed under: Feature on November 3rd, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

A little non-baseball yet Illini-related material stuff in honor of tomorrow’s football game versus Illinois State.  For me, I can tell that it’s fall by the sound of a marching band.  You see, I have the privilege of hearing (and sometimes watching) the University of Illinois Marching Band practice right outside the building where I [...]

Filed under: Feature on September 11th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

For my money, Brian DeCaussin knows more about Big Ten baseball than any of us “regular guys” and more importantly, doesn’t back down speaking out about some of the issues facing the game. DeCaussin runs Big Ten Hardball, the “go-to” website for anyone who is interested in Big Ten baseball.  BTH acts as sort of [...]

Filed under: Feature on May 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment »