Illinois Baseball Report

Kelly Norris Jones rounds the paths Yes, baseball in January. On Tuesday, I got word that the Illinois Baseball team was practicing at Illinois Field so I grabbed the Canon and got out to shoot some photos.   Two hurlers that the Illini will depend on in the 2012 season:  Kevin Johnson and Nick Chmielewski [...]

Filed under: Spring Practice on February 2nd, 2012 | Leave a Comment! »

Illini freshman David Kerian rounds third base for the Blue team I’ve spent the last two afternoons at the ballpark and it’s a joy to see an Illinois  baseball game even if it’s just a scrimmage among the team. It’s nice to see the new guys… the freshmen and transfers who will help the team [...]

Filed under: Off Season Happenings on October 4th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Before we close out the Illini’s venture to California, I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to see these videos.  A few of the players made to the big screen (well, ‘big’ if you are a baseball player). In this first one, pay close attention to the very start where you see a [...]

Filed under: NCAA Regionals on June 6th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Dugout Club rep John Santas called me this morning and told me that late this afternoon, the boys would be leaving Illinois Field if I wanted to come by and wish them well. I sure appreciated the heads up.  Since I wasn’t going to make the trip to California, the least I could do is [...]

Filed under: NCAA Regionals on May 31st, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Ho hum… another walk-off win for the Illini.  What else is new? Hehe, I can’t pull that complacent shtick off, I am psyched as all get out.  Maybe I got worried a bit watching the Illinois-Ohio State game on my friend’s wide screen TV in his basement but I’ll tell you this:  When we were [...]

Filed under: 2011 Big Ten Tournament on May 27th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Casey McMurray hits a solo shot in the bottom of ninth to win the game… … and was warmly greeted at the plate by all his teammates. Casey McMurray’s timing was impeccable tonight.  With one out in the bottom of the ninth and the score tied, he chose that moment to hit his first homerun [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 19th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Illinois came into last weekend’s series against Purdue tied for third and winning their last three Big Ten series.  After losing Friday’s game in low scoring fashion, 3-1, it looked like they had their work cut out for them the rest of the weekend.  The Orange and Blue proved they were up for the challenge [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 16th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

I really hope you came to the park last night.  If you missed Illinois’ exciting 13-9 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes, you missed, in my guess, one of the best games of past few years.  It ranks up their with our win against the same Ohio State team two years ago and even the [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 7th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Why is this man smiling? Because today, he got a lot of offensive support.  As a result, Illinois defeated Michigan 9-2.  Kevin Johnson pitched a gem Friday afternoon striking out eight Wolverine batters.  It was a complete game giving the bullpen some rest.  Johnson’s win today was only his second despite a nifty 3.16 ERA. [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on April 15th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

With a Willie Argo triple and a Josh Parr rbi single, the Illini once again won in the ninth inning, this time against Penn State 7-6 in the Big Ten opener on Friday night. This extends the Illini’s winning streak to five games and they are now breaching the .500 mark at 9-10. Penn State [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on April 2nd, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »