I really do hope that we can get Friday’s game in.  If not, I’ll be MIA for this weekend’s series.  I’ll be out of town for the remainder of the weekend (you simply can’t reschedule Easter for the rest of family even when baseball is involved).  If Friday’s game is postponed, this will be the first weekend series I’ll miss in two years.

Fightingillini.com’s preview is up.  Worth noting is that Friday’s game is scheduled to be broadcast on Big Ten Network Television so another reason to put away the rain sticks.  Saturday’s game will be streamed live on BTN as well. Live stats and audio as usual on fightingillini.com

Michigan State rides atop the Big Ten (along with Indiana) in the early conference season with a 6-3 record.  They can back that up with a 23-10 overall record.  MSU has outscored their opposition by a 188-131 margin so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Michigan State and Illinois have long been rivals for a good many reasons.  Brother rivalries, late-inning wins (like this one) and simply because the two teams are usually vying for the last qualifying spot in the Big Ten Tournament.  Not this year, it seems for the Spartans as they seem to be off to a hot start.

Random Ramblings

I’m glad to see Pete Cappetta (above) back in the lineup and even happier to see him contribute.  He hit safely in all three Michigan games.  It doesn’t hurt that Pete can play practically every position if you ask him.  He’s played in right field, second base and third base and could certainly fill in at short (his original position) if needed.

Pete’s a hard playing ballplayer who gives his all to his team even when he’s not in the lineup.  If you don’t know what I mean, keep an eye on him during ballgames… he’s always the first one welcoming the fielders back to the dugout.

But for me, I’m glad to see him in field now.

Let’s go Illini!

In Illini Nation, Craig Lutes is the hero of the day.  Yes, he’s in that mob of Illinois players you see in the above photo.  Not only is he the one who hit the walk-off homerun against the Northwestern Wildcats today to win 4-3 but he’s bringing a bit of hope to the beleaguered Illini baseball team. 

With one out in the ninth and the score tied 3-3, Lutes cracked a homer to right field.  It was his second of the year.

Pardon me, while I indulge you with a few Lutes photos from today:

Lutes readies himself to go into right field early in the game

With a smile on his face, Craig Lutes rounds the bases after hitting his walk-off homer

Lutes gets interviewed by the Big Ten Network after the game…

… then soon afterward gets doused by shaving cream by his teammates.

Dad John Lutes got his share of congrats, too

Craig Lutes wasn’t the only hero for today.  Overshadowed in the headlines of the walk-off was the fantastic performance of starter Kevin Johnson.  When Kevin is on, boy, is he on!  He spread out nine hits over eight innings and only allowed three runs to a team that scored eleven last night.  The only sin was that he didn’t get the win.  Not that Bryan Roberts, who is usually the save man, doesn’t deserve it.  He pitched a perfect ninth for the ‘W’. 

A couple other performances of note…

Key rbi for Cappetta today

Recently, Pete Cappetta has been coming in late innings to play third base, something new.  Tonight, he got a start there, giving freshman Brandon Hohl a break.  Pete responded with a key hit in the 5th inning which scored Mike Giller. 

Casey McMurray continues to produce as he banged out two hits.

So thank you Craig Lutes and company.  The phrase I heard over and over from the parents and other fans after the game was “we really needed this”.  That is so true.  Watching the team congregate on home plate and mingling after the game, I get the sense that there is an air of winning now. 

Now let’s win Sunday’s game!!

Check out the rest of my photos at the photo gallery or just watch the slideshow.

Giving credit where credit is due

Props to two Northwestern Wildcats…. CF Arby Fields and starting pitcher Eric Jokisch.  Fields, who had two homeruns last night, continued his attack today with a 3 for 4 performance including a homerun.  Fields is the Wildcat leadoff man.  Note to the Northwestern coaching staff:  you might want to move him down a bit.

The eighth inning notwithstanding, Wildcat starter Eric Jokisch pitched a heck of a game.  For a while there, it looked like the two runs that the Wildcats were able to produce would be enough to win the game.  Jokisch comes with hype but no doubt, he lives up to it.

Altos bring good luck??

Thumbs up from Papa Alto for a win

I was happy to see my friends Mike and Kathy Altobelli at the game today.  The Altobellis are the parents of former 3B Dominic Altobelli.  Dom graduated last year and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies. 

It was good to see Mike.  I really got to know Mike last year during Dom’s senior year and he really made coming to Illini baseball game that much more fun. 

Mike sent me a photo of Dom, by the way.  Here he is in a Colorado Rockies uni:

Mike tells me that Dom is playing in extended spring training right now and is still loving the game of baseball (of course). 

Just for kicks

Finally, I’m posting this photo for my friend, Robin who watched me get my timing right as the gum-chewing ump was blowing a bubble.  I finally got it.

And please, no hate mail from umpires.  I have the utmost respect for the men in blue who work tirelessly and get little accolades from the fans.  If they get any attention at all, it’s of the negative kind. 

But I do like the photo. 

Great job, Illini!  Let’s win this series!

Casey McMurray hopes to continue his hot hitting against Penn State this weekend

Nothing brings out the best in our players than an honest-to-goodness Big Ten battle.  This weekend, we’re getting just that.  Coach Robbie Wine brings his 10-13 Penn State Nittany Lions to town to face the 9-9 Illini. 

The Nits are coming off a 3-1 weekend against Hofstra in which they rebounded from a 7-1 loss then won the next three.  They also split two midweek games against Kent State.  Once again, they came back to win the second game after losing the first.  My point?  Don’t expect them to lose heart or get demoralized after a loss.  They’re more likely to become motivated. 

If you haven’t already, take a look at the interview I did with Larry Fall.  Larry runs Happy Valley Hardball which covers the Penn State baseball team.  He’s got a lot of good insights on the team and the program.

Some facts/opinions on Penn State:

-It seems the Big Ten is a breeding ground for good hitting catchers.  Penn State’s backstop Ben Heath is no exception.  With seven homeruns and 27 rbis to go with his .348 batting average, Heath is the big offensive threat on this team.

-Penn State’s pitching is a bit suspect.  They are ninth in the conference in with a 6.57 ERA behind only Northwestern. 

-Offensively, PSU seems to rely on power.  They are 3rd in the Big Ten in homeruns and fourth in triples despite being ninth in batting average.  Watch out for the long ball!  That said, 11 of their 15 homeruns have come from two players (Heath and Jordan Steranka). 

-Coach Robbie Wine isn’t afraid to put a runner on if he thinks it will help the team get out of a nasty situation.  Penn State leads the conference with five intentional walks.  No other Big Ten team has more than two intentional passes. 

Random Ramblings

Don’t forget all three games will be live streamed on Big Ten Network’s web site.  Not the same as being there but better than Gametracker (that’s no dig on Gametracker… I actually quite like/depend on it). 

It won’t be long before we take on Michigan.  The Indiana baseball blog, Behind the Plate, has an interview of formerlyanonymous who writes for mgoblog.com.  If you want to get some quick info on the Wolverines, it’s a good read.

Just a random thought to process here.  Here at the University of Illinois, football and men’s basketball reign supreme at least in terms of fans drawn and revenue brought in.  But my friend Robin who I chat with at the ballpark brought up this interesting point:  of all the athletics at the University, baseball has been around the longest.  Men’s basketball’s first season was 1905.  Football has been with us since 1910. 

Take that, revenue sports.

Finally, if you’re on Facebook, stop by Illinois Baseball Report’s Facebook fan page and become a fan!  I’ve seen a few of you have joined up and recognize many of you and recognize the names of others.  Become a fan and feel free to make comments on the page.  I’d love to hear from you!

Good Luck Illini!!!

BTN’s baseball and softball coverage will be doubled from last year, they say.  They will be producing at least 102 baseball and softball games for either the Big Ten Network telecast or the Big Ten Network live streaming.  In all 33 baseball games will be televised including all of the 2010 Big Ten Tournament which takes place in Columbus this year.

The April 2 Illinois-Penn State game will kick off their coverage season as the will live stream the game.  A total of 13 Illini games will be live streamed on the Big Ten Network.  Four games will be televised including the April 30-May 2 Northwestern series and the May 15 Purdue game.

Here is the full baseball and softball broadcast schedule (in pdf format).

Essentially, it comes down to the Illini series with Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State and the April 27th game with Bradley (the warm one).  The Penn State and Michigan series will be at home at Illinois Field as well as the Bradley game.

Here is the complete schedule for Big Ten Network’s offering of baseball.  Thanks to Formerly Anonymous at the Michigan blog, Mgoblog.com for compiling the baseball schedule. 

Tue, Apr 27 7:00PM ET	Bradley at Illinois Illinois Field	Men’s	Baseball	$2.99
Fri, May 7 6:30PM ET	Illinois at Ohio State Bill Davis Stadium	Men’s	Baseball	$2.99
Sat, May 8 1:00PM ET	Illinois at Ohio State Bill Davis Stadium	Men’s	Baseball	$2.99
Sun, May 9 1:00PM ET	Illinois at Ohio State Bill Davis Stadium	Men’s	Baseball	$2.99
Wed, May 12 6:30PM ET	Ball State at Ohio State Bill Davis Stadium	Men’s	Baseball	$2.99

The Big Ten Network has announced that the Illinois-Penn State games will be streamed live from their web site.  These are home games so they’ll have limited value for those who can actually attend (though if you want, you can buy them and re-watch them later).  But for those out-of-towners, it might be kinda cool.

In other news…

Former Illini catcher Chris Robinson has had a busy month.  He received an award at Baseball Canada’s award banquet.  Robbie received a Special Achievement award for his play with Team Canada.  At the same banquet, Justin Morneau became the second player to be added to their Wall of Excellence. 

And as expected, Robinson got his official invite to the Cubs spring training.

The Big Ten Network tried their best to delay today’s game as much as possible but it just wasn’t going to happen.  Around 4:30, during a break between “Big Ten Short Stories” (did you know a Penn State hockey goalie became Miss Virginia??), the broadcasters told us that they were going to try to get this game in and the Illinois players were actually going out onto the field.

I actually half believed them.  I went out on the porch to check the weather.  By that time, steady sprinkle we had been getting had then turned into a decent downpour.  Don’t tease me BTN.

The plan now is to get both games in Sunday.  The new game time is 11am.  I’m getting varying forecasts for tomorrow depending on which weather source I look at (some are calling for 1-2” snow”  but most agree that the precipitation will end by noon.

In either case, if you come to tomorrow’s games, dress warm.

The Big Ten Network began broadcasting the games by the third round.  This camera operator didn’t care for me taking her picture even though she was poking her camera into Illinois’ dugout a good part of the game.

This is a mid-game interview of Coach Hartleb of Illinois.  This goes for MLB too but my feeling is let the manager do his job.  There’s nothing he can say then that can’t wait till after the game.  This is just a failed gimmick on TV sports media’s part.

On the left Steve Putnam and on the Brian DeCaussin from Big Ten Hardball.  The three of us chatted Thursday.

Zach Putnam is Steve’s son and considering what Zach did to our Illini, I’d say some mean things but he’s a really nice guy and actually a Illinois alum so I won’t.

No team in the tourney gets in the game more than the Purdue Boilermakers.  Whether it’s yelling encouragements to the pitcher or batter or riding the opposition, they’re doing it.  There’s constant chatter. They’re always up on the railing making themselves the tenth player.

Something I noticed… when the Boilermaker pitcher makes the third out, four or five of them run out to meet him with high fives and ‘atta boy’s.  In my opinion, that’s got to make a difference.

Quote of the Week:

“Ok, you’ve told the world you’re going to sacrifice.  Now get the job done!”

-Indiana Coach Tracy Smith to an Indiana batter who fouled off a pitch while attempting a bunt.

my photos of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament this week (I’m closing in on 400 taken so far)

Zealot coverage of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament

Schedule, Boxscores and other info hosted by UM