Illinois Baseball Report

SS Shawn Roof dogging baserunner and brother Eric Roof in a 2007 MSU-ILL game "It’s awesome, it’s the coolest thing ever.  He’s worked his tail off, and not too many people get to say they have a brother who plays minor-league baseball as well. Now, he gets to play in the same organization. Hopefully, he [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on June 12th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

  I just got off the phone with Mike Altobelli, father of Dominic Altobelli.  Turns out a representative of the Colorado Rockies will be coming to the Altobelli household tonight so that Dom can sign his first pro contract.  Over the weekend, Dominic will be heading to his first assignment which I assume will be [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on June 12th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

The linescore pretty much says it all After spotting Michigan State four runs on an Eric Roof grand slam in the 3rd inning, Illinois came back like they were possessed scoring sixteen unanswered runs.  MSU managed to put one more across for the final tally of 16-5. Take away the grand slam and you could [...]

Filed under: 2009 Big Ten Tournament, Game Recaps on May 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

MSU fan Tom Tomkins posted some Spartan photos from last weekend’s series against Northwestern on his blog, Oak Openings and Observations.  It looks like we played MSU at just about the right time.  After we swept them, they mightily defeated Central Michigan 20-3.  The Roof Brothers (brothers of former Illinois SS Shawn) had an incredible [...]

Filed under: Big Ten on April 8th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

The weekend is almost here.  THE weekend is almost here!  The weekend when Big Ten teams face off against each other and it really counts.  For the #25 (yes, we’re still ranked) Illini, they face the Spartans of Michigan State.  If we can avoid the weather bug that we have avoided so well this year, [...]

Filed under: Game Previews on March 26th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

Tom Tompkins has a short report from Lansing. Your guys broke our hearts in the 1st game with those 4 runs in the final inning. It was fairly cold and windy, and we had a lengthy rain delay between games. We got great pitching from two freshman and a winning hit by Eric Roof in [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on March 30th, 2008 | Leave a Comment! »

Yes, there was baseball in Lansing today.  There weather cooperated and the University of Illinois have swept Michigan State in today’s doubleheader.  Because nothing beats being there, here’s the report from Tom Tompkins who is attending the games this weekend.  Once again, thanks to Tom T. for his “eyewitness” reports. Under a cloudless blue sky [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on March 29th, 2008 | Leave a Comment! »

I’ll admit it, I was all smiles when pick #1018 rolled past on the ol’ Draft Tracker this afternoon. That was when the Detroit Tigers chose Illini shortstop Shawn Roof in the 33rd round. And if you notice, his younger brother got picked a few rounds later by the Red Sox. No, not Eric, who [...]

Filed under: Awards, Former Illini in the pros on June 8th, 2007 | Leave a Comment! »

Game Two’s scoreboard says it all It wasn’t a good day for Illinois baseball. They lost both games to the Michigan State Spartans and it wasn’t really close. They were outscored 23-7 for the two games. I hope Coach Hartleb has some good words of wisdom for boys in Orange and Blue. They need to [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 19th, 2007 | Leave a Comment! »

Tonight’s game against the Spartans of Michigan State had it all. You name it… an injury, questionable umpiring, sibling rivalry, a comeback by the Illini. What a game! Coach Hartleb passed by where I was twenty minutes before the game. I asked him, “Are you ready?” “I’m ready but that doesn’t matter.” Well, it looked [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 18th, 2007 | Leave a Comment! »