The Coastal Plain League’s Fayetteville Swampdogs have announced their first signings of the season.  This college summer league team based in North Carolina has been known for taking in Illini players during the summer and 2010 will be no different.  The Swampdogs have signed four University of Illinois ballplayers. 

Of the four, Lee Zerrusen will be the only “veteran”.  The others three are first-timers to the Coastal Plain League.  Last year, Zerrusen earned 15 saves and struck out 37 batters in 32 innings for the ‘Dogs.

Zerrusen will bring three Illini freshman with him in the summer.  P/OF Matt Milroy, 3B Brandon Hohl and OF Christian Cummins were all signed by Fayetteville.

The U of I has had a history of sending players down Fayetteville’s way for as long as I’ve been following them.  The Swampdogs article touches on this briefly:

Darrell Handelsman and University of Illinois Associate Head Coach Eric Snider first met when they faced each other on the field. Off the field they earned each other’s respect for developing talent and young men. Since Snider’s move to Illinois, he has sent Handelsman players.

The Coastal Plain League is in its 14th season.

The Northwoods League, always a big client of the U of I, will see eight players from Illinois (Pete Cappetta, Nick Chmielewski, Brandon Wikoff, Phil Haig, Aaron Johnson, Willie Argo, Mike Giller and Corey Kimes) on four of their teams.

Matt Dittman and Doug Schumacher will travel north and play for the Lake Erie Monarchs which is in the Great Lakes Summer League.

Lee Zerrusen will carry the torch for the Illini as he pitches for the Fayetteville Swampdogs in the Coastal Plain League.  The Swampdogs have had a rich tradition of Illini playing for them including Shawn Roof, Ben Reeser and Aaron Martin.

Players will be as far west as Dan Parker playing for the Nevada Griffons in the M.I.N.K. League and Casey McMurray on the Santa Barbara Foresters in the California Collegiate League.  Wes Braun will be playing as far east as the Albany Dutchmen in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.

More locally, Adam Davis, Bryan Roberts and Will Strack will be on the DuPage Dragons in the Prospect League.  No doubt, they will be facing Josh Parr who is joining the Springfield Sliders.  Another league in the Chicago area, the Chicago Suburban Baseball League, will be hosting Bill Charvat.

Craig Lutes will be on the Lexington Snipes in the Eastern Illinois League.  I’ve actually been to a few EI League games last year.  It’ll be worth checking the schedule to see if I can catch Craig in action.

fightingillini.com has a handy web page that lists all the players and what teams they will be stationed at this summer including links to their team and league web pages.

Twenty-four Illini are dispersing throughout the country and playing in a number of collegiate summer leagues out there.  Some of the Illini league favorites are among them.  The Northwoods League up north will be taking on nine of our Illini.  The Coastal Plain League in the southeast will have five. 

Some summer leagues are close to home, too.  This includes the Central Illinois Collegiate League and the Chicago Suburban Baseball League.

The Illini baseball page has a handy web page with a list of leagues and teams and where our players are headed this summer. 

Also, check out Summer Ball which is a blog dedicated to college summer leagues. 

Good Luck Illini!!

Reeser was dubbed Coastal Plain League Defensive Player of the Year after winning a Fayetteville Swampdog team record 8 games with a 1.61 ERA. 

Stockwell ended the summer season well.  His Lombard Orioles won the Chicago Suburban Baseball League World Series and he was the Most Valuable Player of the series. 

Back to School

Well, classes have started at the U of I and that can only mean one thing… Fall practice for the baseball team.  They will begin drills next week, 

Also, the dates for the Orange and Blue series have been set.  Mark your calendar for the week of September 24. 

It’s playoff time in college summer leagues and ten Illini will be enjoying the fruits of postseason play.   Check out the details at the Fighting Illini website.

Looks like Joe Bonadonna is two steals away from the Northwoods League record held by former Illini Ryan Rogowski.  He currently is seventh on list with 46 walks.  The record is held by (yes, an Illini) Ryan Hastings who had 57 in 2004.

Good luck to all!

Swampdog teammate and Illini Aaron Martin is doing great too. He’s 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA.

Between the two of them, they are helping the Swampdogs to an 18-4 record, good for first place in the South Division in the CPL.

There is a web page at fightingillini.com that lists the players and who they will be playing for. A bonus: the page includes links to the teams and leagues so you can check in and see how they are doing.

As usual, the Northwoods League is big with the Illini. They claim seven of the Illinois players, including Big Ten Player of the Year Lars Davis who is playing waaayy north with the Duluth Huskies.

In the Coastal Plain League, the Fayettevile Swampdogs, another popular venue, draws three alas without Shawn Roof this year.

Finally, closer to home, the Chicago Suburban Baseball League, have four Illini. That one is close enough to maybe catch a game or two this summer.

If college summer baseball is your thing, you might want to check out Summer Ball, a web site dedicated to College Summer Leagues.

Good luck to the Illini this summer!

University of Illinois shortstop Shawn Roof received quite an honor this week from his summer college league. The Coastal Plain League named Roof to their All-Decade Team in celebration of their first 10 years in existence.

Not a big deal? Well, take a look at some of the players sharing the honor with Roof. Other names on the CPL All-Decade Team include Justin Verlander, Ryan Zimmerman, Kevin Youkilis and Ty Wiggington. Nice bit o’ company.

Shawn Roof

Roof’s qualifications in the CPL:

Fayetteville SwampDogs, 2005-06
• In 2005, batted a team-best .315 with 47 hits, 24 runs scored, two doubles, 18 RBIs, 49 total bases, a .446 on-base percentage, and 15 stolen bases
• In 2006, batted .268 with 44 hits, 37 runs scored, a double, 19 RBIs, 45 total bases, a .406 on-base percentage, and a team-best 20 stolen bags
• Career .291 batting average with 61 runs scored, 37 RBIs, and 35 stolen bases overall
• Two-time CPL All-Star: starting second baseman of the American CPL All-Star team in 2005 and starting shortstop of the American CPL All-Star team in 2006

Last December, Shawn was kind enough to grant Baseball Zealot Radio an interview. You can hear it during the second half of our fifth show.

Congratulations Shawn!!