Bischoff:  23 straight

But tonight’s game didn’t help (you saw that coming).  Purdue’s Matt Bischoff had the Illini lineup handcuffed and won his ninth game of the season as Purdue defeated Illinois 8-2 .  At one point, he retired 23 batters in a row.  I hate posting opponents’ photos in these articles because space is limited but he deserves it.  He was in his zone as was commented to me.  Working quickly, he never seemed to come up for air.  Duration of game:  1:57.  It had to be the shortest game I’ve seen at home. 

Argo slides in to score

For a while, the game was actually closer than it seems.  Illinois’ first two batters got hits and managed a run out of it.  Willie Argo singled and stole second (his 38th) and Craig Lutes drove him home with a base hit in the next at bat.  Unfortunately, those would be the last hits the Illini would get till the 8th inning. 

Brian de la Torriente delivers off the mound

However, Lee Zerrusen kept it close by only allowing a run in his first five innings.  So for a while we had a pretty good pitcher’s duel going.  It wasn’t till the 6th inning when Purdue got out their sticks and hammered Big Z for four more runs.  With one out and a runner on base, Brian de la Torriente came on and induced a DP. 

de la Torriente continued to do well through the seventh but ran into trouble in the 8th giving up a couple of hits including a double.  He wasn’t helped by an error.  In all, Purdue scored three more runs that inning. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Christian Cummins got a base hit, the Illini’s first since the first inning.  Josh Parr followed that up with an rbi triple. 

This was probably going to be our toughest game to win and Bischoff just had our number.

Lots of alumni action at tonight’s game.  Three former head coaches threw out the ball in today’s game.  Not only that, I saw former Illini Nick Stockwell, Aaron Martin, Chris Montgomery and Ty Milner in the stands watching their former team.

Speaking of former players, I’m throwing this link to the All-time Illini baseball rosters on fightingillini.com out here.  I’ve had one person ask me where it was (you know who you are).

And finally, in the spirit of keeping things positive, here is the link to the announcement that tickets are available for the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.

My photos from the game are at the photo gallery or watch the slideshow.

Tomorrow’s game is at 6:05.  See you then!!

Let’s go Illini!!

As for us, we’re even-steven.  The Illini are 13-13 overall and 3-3 against the Big Ten. 

Let’s take a look at both teams.

Zach Borenstein leads the team in doubles (10), homers (6), rbis (28), and runs scored (27). 

Time was playing EIU had extra special meaning because Illinois had three or four players from the Mattoon area (Kyle Hudson and Ryan Hastings were a couple from there).  The coach from the Mattoon high school would make the trip to the ballgame to see his former ballplayer make good. 

I was a little surprised to see EIU’s 9-21 overall record.  Eastern has been pretty tough in past years both in general and against Illinois.  But this year, they’ve had their troubles.  EIU has had a bad case of homesickness in 2010.  They are 6-2 at home but suffer from a 3-15 record away from Coaches Stadium. 

Their hitting isn’t overpowering though they have a few players have a bit of pop (see Zach Borenstein).  Overall, it looks like they aren’t taking advantage of baserunners… they’ve been outscored 206-163. 

There’s one feather in Eastern’s cap.  In mid-March, they beat Ohio State who were ranked #27 at the time by the score of 7-6.

Southern Illinois Salukis
April 13, 2010			6:30 pm ct
Rent One Park			Marion, IL
Program website link			Record	15-16 (Missouri Valley 4-4)
Head Coach:	Dan Callahan		Key player:	Chris Serritella

Yikes!  Look out for Chris Serritella.  He’s having a fantastic year at the plate.  His 10 homeruns lead the Missouri Valley Conference.  He also has 34 rbis and 29 runs which are tops on the Salukis. 

No talk of Southern Illinois University baseball program is complete without mention of the Hartleb connection.  Coach Hartleb is an alum of SIU.  Not only did Hartleb play for the Salukis (he was a catcher who hefted a pretty mean stick, I hear), he also was the head coach for the team before coming to Illinois. 

The game will be taking place at Rent One Park which is the home of the independent Frontier League’s Southern Illinois Miners.  I’ve never been to Rent One but I’ve heard it’s a very nice park.  They have the same kind of field turf that we do at Illinois Field.

Random Ramblings

The Daily Illini has a good article on our series against Iowa last weekend.  I say “good” as in the coverage not that the outcome is any different. 

FightingIllini.com has posted its latest installment of Retrospectives.  This time, it’s the 1950s.  Featured is Lee Eilbrecht and Russ Steger. 

Looks like Illini baseball will be adding some extra color to its radio broadcast for the  balance of this season.  Broadcaster Dave Loane will be joined by various Illini sports personalities including former player Mike Rohde (seen right back in 2007) and former head coach Itch Jones.  You can see the full list of scheduled radio analysts at fightingillini.com.

Finally, Katie Lutes, sister of Craig Lutes got her photo on the front page of the sports section of the Daily Illini today.  Katie plays for the University of Illinois softball team.  You’ll find the photo in the Daily Illini’s softball photo gallery

Good Luck Illini!!!

These photos actually have a bit of significance.  Some of these photos are of the game when Illinois clinched the Big Ten title.  Others were of a game at the 2005 Big Tournament here Illinois Field.  Wow, I never realized I had these.

These aren’t the best photos in the world.  I took these with a pocket point and shoot camera.  But certainly, I thought they were worth sharing. 

Coach Itch Jones (5/20/05)

Illinois Field (5/20/05)

(5/20/05)

The Illini lost this game Iowa but clinched the title anyway. (5/22/05).

I distinctly remember this game because I had to explain to my kids why the players were cheering when they lost. (5/22/05)

Itch Jones waving a runner around in a loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament at Illinois Field (5/27/05)

Shawn Roof hustling (of course) out to his position (was it third base that year?).  Big Ten Tournament vs Purdue (5/27/05).

Hard to tell… can anyone make out this pitcher?  Big Ten Tournament vs Purdue (5/27/05)

PS I found some 2006 photos, too.  I’ll post them in a couple days. Here they are.

IlliniHQ.com has a nice piece by Jeff Huth looking back to 1998 when former Illinois coach Itch Jones won his 1,000 game. 

Also, the Big Ten web site has a nice feature article on Ben Reeser dealing with his trips he has made with his twin brother Collin to aid relief efforts in areas affected by hurricanes.  It’s quite a story and puts everything in perspective. 

This past weekend, the University of Illinois baseball program took some time to honor recently retired coach Richard “Itch” Jones as well as the 2005 Illinois Big Ten Championship team. 

About 200 people were in attendance for the program which included video clips of Jones’ tenure at Illinois.  After the reception, the 2005 team was honored during a timeout during the Illinois-Purdue basketball game.

The Illinois 2006 baseball season begins on February 24.

UI Baseball coach Richard “Itch” Jones has decided to retire after 15 years as Illinois coach and 39 years of college coaching.

Then again, there’s something to be said for getting out while you’re on top. Itch led the Illini to a Big Ten title and he won the Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2005.

Jones is 13th all-time among Division I coaches in wins with a 1,240-752-6 record. His other achievements:

Coaching Honors
2005 Big Ten Coach of the Year
1998 ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
Big Ten Coach of the Year
1990 NCAA Division I Diamond Baseball Coach of the Year
1978 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
1971 Adirondack National Coach of the Year

Team Accomplishments
2 Big Ten Regular Season Titles (1998, 2005)
1 Big Ten Tournament Title (2000)
8 Missouri Valley Conference Titles (1975, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’81, ’84, ’86, ’90)
3 College World Series appearances (1971, ’74, ’77)
12 NCAA Regional Appearances (1970, ’71, ’73, ’74, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’81, ’86, ’90, ’98, ’00)

Hall of Fame Inductions
American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame
Southern Illinois University Hall of Fame
MacMurray College Hall of Fame
Illinois High School Association Baseball Hall of Fame
Illinois High School Association Basketball Hall of Fame
Jacksonville High School Hall of Fame
Herrin High School Athletic Hall of Fame
(Source: fightingillini.collegesports.com)

He managed 40 players who went on to play professional baseball including 22 major leaguers.

I always had a good view of Coach Jones from where I stood at ball games since Jones was third base coach. I enjoyed hearing him yell back encouragements, suggestions or perhaps even comments on the umpiring back to the home dugout.

Thanks, Coach!

Big Ten Coach of the Year Itch Jones

First things first though. Illinois Coach Itch Jones was named Big Ten Coach of Year. Jones guided the Illini to a 20-12 conference season (30-21-1 overall) and won the Big Ten title.

Congratulations Coach Jones!

Other Awards

Big Ten Player of the Year Drew Davidson

UI Centerfielder Drew Davidson won Big Ten Player of the Year. Drew hit 14 homers with 51 rbis while batting .326. All while playing excellent defense (he had no errors for the season). Nice going, Drew!

Five Illini made the All-Big Ten team first team.

1B- Dusty Bensko
OF- Drew Davidson
OF- Ryan Rogowski
C- Chris Robinson
SP- Brian Blomquist

and three made the second team.

2B- J.R. Kyes
DH- Mike Rohde
SP- Jimmy Conroy

Finally, Chris Robinson won the Big Ten Sportsmanship Honorees Award.

Official story from fightingillini.com

Congrats to all for a great season!!

But It’s Not Over Yet

As mentioned earlier, the Big Ten tournament begins tomorrow. Being the first place team, the Illini have a bye and don’t play till Thursday night.

Here is the tournament bracket:

You can find the bracket pdf here

Also, check out The Tournament Central web page.

Finally, a comment from Coach Jones regarding the Illini’s chances:

“I feel confident in our players. We didn’t have a hot, cold, hot, cold season like other teams. We just went hot, hot, hot and then cold.”

I hope that’s a good thing.

Good luck, team!!

Brian Blomquist took the loss last night and it was evident he didn’t have his stuff. Iowa exploded for a 7-run inning in the fourth which pretty much sealed up the game though Illinois did make it interesting by scoring a few in the later innings.

Final score: Iowa 12 Illinois 9

As seen here, Iowa used the hit and run pretty frequently.

Iowa starter Jeff Maitland held Illinois in check until the 6th inning when he was pulled for a reliever.

Maybe it’s me but Iowa has the ugliest road uniforms. Talk about dingy looking.

A frustrated Illini Coach Itch Jones walking off the field after not scoring any runs.

Seems to me I remember when Coach Jones came on board with the Illini years ago, his nickname was “Itchy”. For some reason, the Athletic Dept at the U of I thought that “Itchy” was unsavory or something. So they decreed to change his nickname to the much more acceptable “Itch”.

Whatever.

We moved back behind the plate towards the end of the game. This is probably the worst seat in the park and it ain’t too bad. We stood next to these guys who were riding the umps really hard. I had to admit the home plate ump was pretty inconsistent with his balls and strikes.

Tonight there is a twi-night doubleheader and tomorrow an afternoon game. It sure would be nice if they could sweep tonight and play tomorrow “just for the fun of it”.