Dittman, Davis and Parr honored by Northwoods League

Congrats to Adam Davis, Josh Parr and Matt Dittman who made the Northwoods League postseason All-Star team. All three had excellent summers for their respective teams.  For the Rochester Honkers, Matt Dittman hit .332 with 44 rbis.  Parr, who was with the Madison Mallards, hit .307 and scored 41 runs and stole 21 bases.  Also [...]

Mish-mash of summer happenings

Congrats to Brian de la Torriente who was named to the Prospect League’s West Division All-Star team.  The East and West played to a 3-3 tie on July 6.  de la pitched one inning allowing a run and striking out two batters.  The Northwoods League All-Star classic is coming up in one week.  It’s no [...]

Parr, Johnson honored by Big Ten

On the eve of the Big Ten Tournament, conference awards were handed out.  Three Illinois players got some hardware to display on their mantles.  Shortstop Josh Parr (left) was named to the All-Big Ten third team.  Making the switch from second base to short, his conference.337 average and 21 runs scored were tops at his [...]

Purdue’s Bischoff holds off Illini

A friendly reader told me I was a bit negative as far as the Illini’s chances for the tourney in my weekend preview.  She might be right.  I need to drink from the glass half full.   Bischoff:  23 straight But tonight’s game didn’t help (you saw that coming).  Purdue’s Matt Bischoff had the Illini [...]

Illini travel to Ohio State for a crucial series

It’s becoming crunch time in the Big Ten conference schedule and who better to play than Ohio State?  Ok, that’s a very positive spin on a dire situation for the Illini (21-21 6-9 Big Ten).  But the team has done well under pressure before so I’m hoping they respond well this weekend when they travel [...]

Libby, Illini offense cream Butler 19-0

Ever been to a ballgame where everything just seemed to go right?  That pretty much happened Wednesday night as the Illini embarrassed the Butler Bulldogs 19-0.  Tanner Libby makes the most of his first Illini start First, props go out to starter Tanner Libby who made his first start for the Illini and boy, what [...]

Salukis dog the Illini 3-2

It was a tough game for the Illini tonight losing to Southern Illinois.  When the score was 3-2 after four innings, it looked like it might be one of those games where the teams might trade leads back and forth all game.  Not so.  After Christian Cummins scored on a wild pitch in the bottom [...]

Northwestern takes series on Sunday’s 7-5 win

The Northwestern offensive punch returned today as they defeated Illinois 7-5 Sunday.  We saw too much of this today Illini starter Kevin Manson saw way too many celebrations at home plate, today.  He gave up four Wildcat homeruns in 4 2/3 innings.  Unfortunately, Manson was throwing beach balls as everything they hit was hit hard [...]

Wildcats Scratch Illini 11-4

Not a pretty scoreboard Well, the rains held off for tonight’s game against Northwestern (and the Bleacher Bum Barbeque) but the wind did not.  There was a stiff gale blowing straight out to left field.  Before the game, a few of us figured this would be a definite slugfest between both Illinois and Northwestern.  Well, [...]

Illini split Friday doubleheader with the Spartans

Friday, Illinois split a doubleheader with the Michigan State Spartans.  They eked out a win in Game 1 in 10 innings by the score of 4-3 but were outslugged 10-2 in Game 2.  In any other year, I would pretty much expect a split with the Spartans.  But this year, coming away with a split [...]