In game 1, they were shut out for the third time this year, 3-0.  Pete Cappetta did manage to bang out two hits in the losing cause.  John Anderson does deserve some credit for his eight inning complete game where he only gave up seven hits and one walk.

Illinois were up in game 2 as late as the seventh inning.  That was when Michigan came up with a 4-run rally to go ahead for good.  Adam Davis had three hits and he, Cappetta, Matt Dittman and Davis Hendrickson all recorded doubles.

After this weekend, Illinois’ mark is at 12-19 and more to the point, 4-5 in the Big Ten. Currently, that puts them tied for sixth in the standings a very precarious situation if you’re looking towards the Big Ten Tournament.  Never fear.  There are five more Big Ten weekends left by my count.

This coming midweek, we’re looking at two re-matches, one that the Illini won handily and the other where they lost frustratingly.

The Illini took ISU for a ride 14-2 at home the first time around but that hasn’t broken the Redbirds stride.  They went on a five game winning streak right after that loss.  Plus, they just swept last place Bradley last weekend.  They currently are in second in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Regardless, I’m still hoping Illinois scores in double digits again.  They need it after that nasty Michigan weekend.

Since the Panthers defeated the Illini 4-1 on April 12, they’ve gone 2-2 but get this… they defeated Illinois College by a football score of 20-0.  Their offense was certainly on that day.

And just for kicks, I’m choosing Ben Thoma as key player.  He leads the team in homers with 8 not to mention his 25 rbis.

Random Ramblings

I’m finding it interesting to look at the Game-by-Game results page.  Aside from the usual scores, winning/losing pitcher, etc., it has some other interesting data.  It includes info like park attendance, time and such.

So far, our Iowa Saturday game is our most attended at Illinois Field with 1326.  That’s good but believe it or not, the game at Eastern Illinois was better attended with 1331.  I’d like to see us break that mark this year.

Let’s go Illini!

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.

Kevin is probably grateful to his fellow Illini in the lineup.  They came through and scored nine runs in the third and fourth innings taking the pressure off of him.  Eight Illinois starters got at least one hit.  Casey McMurray’s one hit was a triple that drove in two runs in the six-run third inning. Pete Cappetta, who was the leadoff man, not only banged out a double, he also coaxed three walks and scored twice.  Hot hitters Adam Davis, Thomas Lindauer and Justin Parr also collected two hits.

Speaking of Parrs, I noticed that Josh Parr made an appearance today.  He pinch hit in the ninth and even stayed to play second base in the bottom of the inning.  That’s great news!

Tomorrow’s game against Michigan begins at 2:05pm .  John Anderson is the scheduled starter.

[Update] the Saturday game was postponed due to rain.  Both teams hope to make up the game by playing a doubleheader on Sunday.  Scheduled game time for the first game is 11am.

Corey Kimes is the scheduled Sunday starter this weekend

Illinois travels to Ann Arbor this weekend to play Michigan.  One note before I go on… the Friday game has been moved up to 3:05pm because of weather.

Illinois’ offense will need to find their bats as they are currently haven’t scored a run in 16 innings.  I’ve heard the term “Midweek Curse” bandied about Illinois Field.  I don’t know about that since I know there many factors that go into it but I do know this… these weekend conference games are oh so important.

Here is a link to fightingillini.com’s weekend preview.

Time was, the University of Michigan was a dynasty in Big Ten baseball.  They were the team to beat and were a lock for the top two positions in the standings.  They were the ones to go on the Regionals.

That was then and this is now.  2011 has not been kind to the Wolverines.  They started the season by losing their first eight games and have also suffered two additional four game losing streaks.  Currently, they are 9-22.  Another telling stat:  Michigan has been outscored by their opponents by an incredible 204-124 margin.

But that said, this is Michigan.  The same team who holds a 130-98-2 all-time record against the UI.  When it comes to the Wolverines, you can throw win-loss records and stats out the window.  Every day is a brand new game with them.

PS Michigan catcher Crank Coley has one of coolest baseball names in college baseball.  He’s living up to it as he has three dingers already this year.

Random Ramblings

There will be live audio and Gametracker for all three games on fightingillini.com.  On Friday and Sunday, Big Ten Network will be broadcasting live audio on their website.

Kudos to the bullpen as of late.  Wes Braun (above), Will Strack, Luke Joyce and others have really been enjoying some considerable success in the late innings.

Let’s go Illini!

Here are quick sum-ups:

Illinois State Redbirds
April 20, 2010			6:05 pm ct
Illinois Field			Champaign, IL
Program website link			Record	18-15 (Missouri Valley 8-1)
Head Coach:	Mark Kingston		Key player:	Kevin Tokarski

Illinois State continues to play well since they defeated us March 30.  Not only do they have a 18-15 record but more importantly, their 8-1 record against the Missouri Valley Conference puts them in first place of the MVC. 

Redbird infielder Kevin Tokarski is a major threat.  He’s hitting .465 with 29 rbis and 43 runs scored.  Not only that, his BB/K ratio (29/19) is pretty good too. 

Eastern Illinois still hasn’t won since we defeated them one week ago.  They’re coming off a weekend when they were swept three games by Tennessee Tech. 

Zach Borenstein remains the offensive threat on the squad.  He leads all Panthers in hitting, homers and rbis.

Random Ramblings

Michigan CF Patrick Biondi had his way with Illinois pitching and it was good enough to get him Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors.  He hit .583 for the weekend including two 3-hit games. 

It doesn’t stop there.  Wolverine stopper Tyler Burgoon also won Big Ten Pitcher of the Week based on one win, two saves and eight innings of scoreless work. 

Josh Lyons of Indiana was given the co-Big Ten Player of the Week as well.

Mark your calendars and pray for good weather.  The 2nd Annual Bleacher Bum Barbeque is scheduled for April 30th and festivties are set start around 5pm.  Illinois will be playing Northwestern that night and gametime is 6:05. 

Admission is free and besides free food there will be plenty of fun things to do.  Inflatable games for the kids, T-shirt giveaways and Olympic speed skater Katherine  Reutter will be on hand. 

Last year’s BBB was a lot of fun and was followed up by a heck of a game with a lot of fireworks (followed by the real ones, seen right) against the Buckeyes.  I hope we get a big crowd for this one.

More details at fightingillini.com

Good luck, Illini!

Mike Giller slides in to score ahead of Casey McMurray

Michigan scored one run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead but Illinois mounted an exciting rally in the third.  With two outs and runners on first and second, the Illini managed to bring home three runs.  That was in thanks to three hits by Brandon Hohl, Craig Lutes and Pete Cappetta and a couple of hit by pitches plus a Michigan error.

It was goose eggs until the seventh when the Michigan offense kicked in.  After an error and a single, starter Lee Zerrusen was yanked.  Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t do much better.  Five hits and six runs later, Michigan had a 9-3 lead. 

Meanwhile, the Illini offense was being stifled by Michigan pitching.  They were led by Tyler Burgoon who went 5 1/3 innings and didn’t give up a run.  Burgoon got the win for the game. 

Bill Charvat manages a ninth inning rbi

Michigan did score two more in the ninth and Illinois plated a run on a Bill Charvat rbi ground out.  But Illini just didn’t weren’t able to rally. 

Zerrusen brings it in the first inning

Starter Lee Zerrusen wasn’t perfect by any means but he didn’t pitch badly either.  He allowed three runs on five hits in six plus innings.  His main issue was control.  He allowed five walks. 

Two hits for Aaron Johnson and Craig Lutes who both remain hot.

Let’s face it.  In any year, Michigan is tough.  I’m not going to add up their stats for the weekend but Ryan LaMarre and Chris Berset came highly touted and they didn’t disappoint the visitor fans.  And at least on Friday and Sunday, the pitching was good enough to support that kind of hitting.  I’m giving kudos where kudos are due.  Great job by the Michigan team. 

I’m just glad the Illini gave us an exciting show on Saturday.

More of my photos here

Random Ramblings

Eight errors in today’s game, five by the Illini.  Five total wild pitches (two by the good guys).  One catcher’s interference.  And one rally killing pick-off.  Not naming names.  Just thought that needed to be said. 

Today was Dog Day.  Plenty of dogs at Illinois Field but only one dog fight to speak of. 

After the game, the sophomore players lined up behind tables in the grassy area so they could sign autographs for the kiddos.  As I left, it was quite a line waiting for their chance to get the John Hancock’s from the players.  I’m glad that the players do this kind of thing.

Get ‘em next time, Illini!

It was a good day to be an Illini fan today.  Illinois got their revenge for Friday night’s loss by defeating Michigan 6-2.

However, it started out ominously enough.  Michigan’s leadoff hitter, Pat Biondi hit the second pitch of the game for a homerun and I wouldn’t blame Illini fans in the stands if they wondered if they were in for more drubbing similar to last night’s 17-1 loss. 

Kevin Johnson gave Illinois the pitching performance they needed

But starter Kevin Johnson bore down and kept at it.   That homerun would be the only run he would allow until the eighth inning.  All told he gave up just five hits and just one walk in 7 2/3 innings.  Nice work, Kevin!  Bryan Roberts pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball for his fifth save of the year.

Argo celebrates after his bases loaded triple

Today, the Illini did something I don’t think I’ve seen before.  Down 1-0 with no out in the fifth, Pete Cappetta led off with a bunt single.  Christian Cummins, playing second today, came to the plate and bunted again and reached on an error by the pitcher.  With first and second and no out, we in the stands were kidding around saying, “watch out, he might bunt again”.  Well, Josh Parr did just that.  Not only did he bunt but he reached base on the thirdbaseman’s boot.  After THREE bunts, we had the bases loaded and no outs.  Willie Argo was up next and no. he did not bunt.  Argo laced a triple to center.  A quick three rbis.  In all, we scored five runs that inning and that was the difference of the game. 

Great job in the field by Parr

The box score may show an E-6 but for my money, Josh Parr was the defensive star of the game.  Seemed to me he made some incredible plays out there.  They kept him pretty busy too.  He had six assists for the game.  Even his error was a bad throw probably caused by throwing off-balance because he had to make a nice dive to stop the ball. 

No doubt about it, it was the most exciting game I’ve seen so far this year.  I’m hoping for a nice comfortable win on Sunday. 

More of my photos here

Go Illini!

Shortstop Josh Parr ponders the scoreboard in the seventh inning

Can we just forget about Friday night?

Friday’s night’s game against Michigan was over pretty much before we knew it.  I had to feel for anyone who came a few innings late to the game.  When they walked in and saw the 15-0 lead Michigan already had after only three innings, you can’t blame them for being a tad disheartened.  But I’ll give the Illini faithful credit.  Many of the 769 fans stuck it out till the end.  It didn’t get much better though as Michigan won 17-1.

Kevin Manson was perfect vs EIU on Tuesday.  Against Michigan… not so much.

I won’t belabor the point but starter Kevin Manson did not have his best stuff (7 runs and 7 hits in 1 inning).  Neither did Will Strack who took over for Manson in the second (4 runs on 2 hits in one inning).  John Anderson who took the mound in the 3rd, didn’t start out much better giving up two walks, a single and eventually a homerun to Mike Dufek but Hartleb stuck with him.  It was sound strategy as Anderson settled down and found his groove.  He pitched three scoreless innings after that and only allowed two Michigan runs after that.  Wes Braun pitched a scoreless ninth. 

In fact, after the third inning, it looked like a totally different ballgame.  We got good pitching from Anderson and Braun.  Our defense was superb.  There were some fantastic plays made out there by the good guys.  Josh Parr, Craig Lutes and Brandon Hohl displayed some great glovework. 

Michigan batted around in the order twice in the game… in the second and the third innings. Michigan’s Dufek was the master with the stick.  He got four hits including the homerun.  He drove in four and scored three.

For the Illini, our sole run came in the sixth inning.  Aaron Johnson gave the fans something to cheer about and cranked a solo shot to center which at least prevented a shutout. 

Cummins gets two hits on the night

One more note, Christian Cummins started at second last night.  It was a bit of musical chairs in our lineup with Pete Cappetta going to left and Casey McMurray taking on the DH role.  Long story short, Cummins responded by getting 2 hits in four at-bats. 

I have more of my photos posted if you’re interested.

And if you can bear to watch it, Big Ten Network has a highlight video of Friday night’s game.

Today’s another day, though and at 3:05 the scoreboard is reset at 0-0. 

Random Ramblings

I got a chance to talk to John Santas last night.  Santas (above) is one of driving forces behind the Dugout Club, the organization that supports and promotes the baseball program. 

I’ve chatted with Santas in the past.  He and his cronies will sit behind home plate and cheer the Illini on from their close vantage point.  I like his style.  He’s an old school baseball fan who knows his baseball history.  Before each game, he will trot down to the bullpen and check on how the starter is feeling for the upcoming game. 

Last night, Santas was helping promote the Dugout Club so he and I talked a bit.  If anyone is interested in finding out more about the Dugout Club, you can find out more at their webpage. 

Ok, Illini… now it’s OUR turn!

If you missed it from the previous post, I did an interview of the Michigan baseball blogger from MGoBlog.com.  Turnabout is fair play, they say and he returned the favor.

He grilled me about the Illinois baseball team for an interview article on MGoBlog.  He asked me a bevy a questions (a total of eleven in all!) which ranged the gamut in topics.  So take a look and check my answers and keep me honest.

Good Luck this weekend, Illini!!!

On to the interview:

Illinois Baseball Report:  Michigan outfielder Ryan LaMarre, who was injured in the first weekend of the season, wasted no time making an impact in his return this past weekend. He played well enough to be named Big Ten Player of the Week. I imagine Michigan fans are happy about this. Do you see him continuing this type of the play throughout the conference season?

MGoBlog:  Michigan fans are ecstatic to have Ryan back and for good reason. This weekend was an explosion that no one saw coming. That said, I don’t think anyone  has the ability to keep a .600 batting average over a 7 week stretch. What should be scary to opposing pitchers is that LaMarre (left) was diagnosed as only about 80-90% this weekend. He still has some time to build back up his strength to the point it was before the fracture. Once he gets that back, those two he hit off the wall in the same inning will be clearing the wall easily.

IBR:  Aside from LaMarre, who are the other Michigan players Illinois needs to keep an eye on? Any newcomers who are pulling their weight?

MGoBlog:  Michigan has a lot of talent on offense this year, but it all starts with the lead off man Patrick Biondi. Biondi was a late round draft pick by the Tigers, but he came to Michigan to build up his draft stock. He’s arguably the fastest player in the Big Ten and has one of the best bats as well. The kid has come out of nowhere to hit .376 with a .482 on base and .547 slugging percentage. The kid just gets on base, then he steals another. He’s already tied Michigan’s freshman stolen base record with 19 so far this season.
Things also won’t be easy after LaMarre. Senior catcher Chris Berset took over the offense during LaMarre’s absence, and he put up better numbers than LaMarre did in the previous season. He’s batting .400 as of the Purdue series and the game plan appears to be get LaMarre on, steal to get into scoring position if necessary, then let Berset line a single in the outfield for the RBI. That combo worked 4 times this last weekend. 
After you get past Berset, you’ve still got Coley Crank, the team’s leading slugger, and Mike Dufek who lead the Big Ten in homers last season.

IBR:  Michigan is 18-11 for the year but 3-8 as the visiting team. Is that going to be an issue during the Big Ten schedule (and hopefully against Illinois)?

MGoBlog:  3-8 as the visiting team is somewhat deceptive. Michigan was swept on the road by three opponents following the exit of Ryan LaMarre. Texas Tech is a top 65 RPI team, UNC is a fringe ranked team, and Coastal Carolina got a wake up call from some team I’m sure you’ve heard of, which left them extra focused for Michigan. That’s 7 of the losses, and the eighth was at Indiana when Michigan made some questionable pitching choices on a weekend when Sabourin and Dickerson were red hot. Michigan probably should have taken one or two from UNC, but they were still shell shocked from the LaMarre loss.
The three wins we have are solid though, including a win at top 100 Florida Gulf Coast and two at Indiana. So I think the boys can handle almost any road situation.

IBR:  Minnesota has had a slow start during the non-conference schedule and even Ohio State, while still dominant, lost to a couple of non-competitive teams early on. Going into the season, they were two of the favorites of the conference. What does that mean to a Michigan baseball team who is trying to regain their status as the team to beat in the Big Ten?

MGoBlog:  I think Michigan is trying to take advantage the best they can. There isn’t the dominant pitcher at the front of our rotation as there has been in the past, but our pitching depth is one of the top in the Big Ten. We also have the advantage of not facing Michigan State, the current leader, in conference play (although we do have a pair of mid-week games against them). This opens Michigan up to a potential run to try and steal a regular season championship if we catch a few breaks.
I don’t think we’re worried about being the team to beat. After last year’s debacle, Michigan is out to just win every series and get a good seed to the tournament. If we can get there, our pitching depth should help us get back to the national picture. 

IBR:  Surely, there has to be a weakness on the Michigan squad. Care to share what it is?

MGoBlog:  There are two major concerns on my mind right now. The lesser of the two is the team defense. Freshman Derek Dennis has been a solid contributor and will definitely be a star sometime in the near future, but his defense has been rocky as of late. It hasn’t cost us a game that recently, but it’s been close a few times.
The bigger issue facing the team right now is consistency in the starting rotation. Alan Oaks dominated out of the gate, but he’s been on a 4 week slide and hasn’t shown signs of digging out of it yet. I’m not sure if this is just fatigue from his first full season on the mound or what. Sunday starting pitching has been a hodge-podge of guys that haven’t had a ton of success this season. Burgoon did alright, but he’s been too valuable at closer. Miller has left the ball up a lot. Sinnery came in for his first start of the season this week and looked good, but that’s just one start. I need more data to really get a feel. 

Ok, let’s do a few rapid fire questions…

IBR:  The Big Ten team Michigan must win all three against?

MGoBlog:  [slams head to desk] Northwestern. We couldn’t do it last year. We can’t afford not to do it this year.

IBR:  Stats aside, the Michigan player that has come through in the clutch?

MGoBlog:  Until this last week, Mike Dufek. He’s cooled, so I’ll go with LaMarre/Berset combo. 

IBR:  Similarly, the pitcher you want on the mound for the big game (or big inning)?

MGoBlog:  Game is tough. Brosnahan is hot right now. Big inning, no doubt it’s Burgoon. He was throwing 93-94 and touching 96 on the fast ball last weekend. Filthy slider.

IBR:  The Michigan baseball team, a group of stars or a team effort?

MGoBlog:  Group of stars. Bottom 3 in the lineup are just contributors this year. We lack the stars in the starting rotation.

IBR:  Finally, your favorite Michigan alum who’s made it to the bigs?

MGoBlog:  So many greats, where to start… I’m going way back to George Sisler (right).  Potentially the greatest Wolverine. Special love to Barry Larkin though. He was the man when I was a kid growing up. He’s also getting his number retired during the OSU series this year.

IBR:  To close this off, tell us about mgoblog.com. How long have you been covering the team? Also, is the program pretty receptive to you as someone who blogs about the team?

MGoBlog:  mgoblog.com was started by Brian Cook in 2005. covering mainly football with a couple other Michigan sports and some U.S. Men’s soccer. It’s grown quite a bit over the last 5 years to the point where the site gets about 50-60,000 visitors each day. Over the course of its existence, coverage became focused to just Michigan football, hockey, and basketball, but following the acquisition of Varsity Blue (my former affiliation) to start this academic year, lacrosse, volleyball, and baseball have all received quite a bit more coverage. Volleyball and baseball are my own contributions to the site, with volleyball just wrapping up it’s first season of coverage, while baseball is now in it’s second year.
From what I heard from a former player, the guys don’t follow my work. That’s probably for the best. I know a couple parents do keep up with the write ups and they seem to appreciate it. The Athletic Department seems to have a few consistent readers as an SID or two has mentioned to me, and as I’ve noticed them sending out specific emails about an hour after certain threads on our message board ask similarly specific questions. My interactions with them have been nothing short of excellent.
In many cases, the UM AD gives Brian, our reporter Tim, or our photographer Paul any media credentials we desire, be that for baseball, football, or otherwise. We’re treated like any other media source, but unlike the Detroit Free Press and a few other major local pundits, we generally have a very positive view of all things Michigan. I think it makes us more desirable.

thanks to formerlyanonymous for taking the time to answer my questions.  I’m looking forward to this weekend’s series with Michigan… it should be a good one.

While of course, I would like to see Illinois higher in his preview (he puts him in the second tier after Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota), it’s pretty consistent with what I’ve seen elsewhere.  And he has some good words to say about some of our players, especially our offense. 

According to formerlyanonymous, Michigan State will be our team to beat.  That’s consistent with recent history.  It’s seems that we’ve been battling with them as rivals the past few years.