Of course, there’s nothing wrong with good ol’ friendly Illini HQ and fightingillini.com either.

Tonight, Illinois will play the winner of this afternoon’s Minnesota-Michigan State matchup.  Both teams will be tough.  We already know how good the Spartans are.  Consider this though:  After an initial loss, Minnesota has eliminated the remaining three tournament participants with wins against Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State.  Call them the Terminator.

Illinois hasn’t had a chance to play Minnesota this year.  As a matter of fact, the last time the Illini faced the Golden Gophers was in 2009.  Given what happened the last time we met with them and our 2011 track record with MSU, I say, bring on the Spartans!

The tournament has simplified itself but here’s the updated bracket anyway.

Good luck, Illini!

Argo:  speediest in the Big Ten?

College Baseball Insider asked the Big Ten Baseball coaches their opinions on a variety of baseball topics.  Nine of them responded and CBI put them together for their Big Ten baseball preview.

The team to beat?  It was unanimous for Minnesota.  A lot of things can happen from now till conference season but it looks like the Golden Gophers have a solid core especially if every coach can agree on it.

There were a couple of Illini players that showed up in the CBI Big Ten Baseball preview.

The best base-runner is: Willie Argo, Illinois

The best outfield arm is: Pete Cappetta, Illinois

Argo also showed up in the list of the “three best pure hitters” along with two of Indiana’s offensive threats, Alex Dickerson and Jerrod Sabourin.  Certainly good company to be in and I would definitely agree with the label “pure hitter” when applied to Willie.

Congrats to Willie and Pete!

Fast forward to this past Sunday when under a foot and a half of snow (complicated by drifts), the Metrodome roof collapsed.

If you haven’t already seen the video, it’s worth a look-see.  Quite a scene.

Not to worry for intrepid Illini folks planning to go to the Metrodome Tournament.  Crews are already beginning to inspect the damage in preparation of repairing the damage.

Illini Matt Dittman was named Player of the Week earlier in March.

Argo is now second on the team in hitting with a .418 average as is his 16 runs scored.  Argo tops the team with 11 steals and 12 walks which probably prompted Coach Hartleb to try him out in the leadoff spot. 

To be accurate, Argo was the co-Big Ten Player of the Week.  Alex Dickerson of Indiana, who leads the conference in homeruns, also won the award. 

Minnesota, who quite honestly needs some good news, owns the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week.  That is junior Seth Roslin who won it on his performance against Louisiana Tech.

Meanwhile, here are the current standings in the Big Ten (if you want the Big Ten RPI standings, Happy Valley Hardball has ’em):

Gophers play at Target Field

The Minnesota Gophers lost their home opener against Louisiana Tech but they couldn’t complain about fan support.  At Saturday’s game, 36, 056 fans showed up to watch them play.  There were a couple reasons for that.  One they were playing at the MLB Minnesota Twins’ stadium and two, they were playing at the Twins’ BRAND NEW stadium.  Target Field has just opened and the Twins agreed to let the Gophers use it for their opener. 

Still, the attendance figure ranks the second highest for a college baseball game. 

Battle at Busch

And while we’re talking about college ballgames at pro stadiums, time is running out for those who want to take the fan bus to the “Battle at Busch”.  The April 7 Illinois- Missouri game should be a blast but if you want to go on the fan bus provided by The Dugout Club, I believe March 31 is the deadline.  Here are the details.

And if you just want to get tickets to the game, here is the link

Minnesota, Ohio State and Indiana will all be representing the Big Ten in the Regionals in 2009 and as an Illinois fan, I am glad.  They are not us but they were our formidable opponents all season.  Now that Illinois’ season is over, the best I can do is to root for the teams that they fought and won (or lost) against. 

Good luck Big Ten!

And speaking of the Illini, their season has now officially come to an end Monday afternoon.  After watching the bracket announcements, they were either going begin practicing or have an exit meeting.  As we pretty much figured, it turned out to be the latter. 

So the non-graduates will eventually be making their way to their summer league assignments.  The graduates will be getting on with their post-college life.  A few of the Illini who have the talent, drive (and yes, maybe a little bit of luck) will wait till June 9-10 to see what the MLB First-Year Player Draft brings them. 

For those Illini graduates, I wish them all the best of luck!!!

And to every player, thanks for an awesome 2009 season!

Day and night.  That’s how I’d describe the difference between Minnesota on Thursday and Minnesota on Friday.  And unfortunately, Illinois had to play them Friday.

The same Gopher team that couldn’t buy a hit against Indiana the day before and had its pitching pounded by their offense, came out a changed team Friday.  They first played Purdue in Game 1 on Friday.  Purdue had shown some offense against MSU scoring 12 runs on Thursday so I was expecting some fireworks.  That we got but the fireworks were from Minnesota who simply crushed Purdue who’s offense was pretty limp compared to the day before.  Final score: 12-3 Minnesota.  Photos from the Minnesota-Purdue game on the Photo Gallery.

The Illini were waiting in the wings to play the winner of the Purdue-Minnesota matchup.  With Minnesota essentially playing the second game of a double header while Illinois hopefully rested, I wondered if that was going to be a factor.  Then again, there was something to be said for momentum of a 12-3 win.

I’ll be honest, it’ll be hard to write about to write about a 13-4 thrashing by a very good Gopher team on a mission and make it look pretty.  Starter Ben Reeser’s (above) back problems just prevented him from doing his job and he only lasted an inning.  Bryan Roberts, who relieved him, came in with an automatic three run deficit and it just didn’t’ get any better.  With Nick O’Shea cracking two dingers and Michael Kvasnicka hitting his second of the day, there was no stopping the Gopher offense.

Things went from bad to worse as our guys were getting banged up.  Aaron Johnson was injured where apparently signals were crossed between him  and Nick Chmielewski and he took a pitch on the arm.  Johnson left the game with a hairline fracture.

That said, there were a couple positive things worth mentioning.  Brandon Wikoff for starters.  In the first inning, Wikoff had an 0-2 count then worked it to 2-2 before fouling a ball off his knee in a bad way.  He was on the ground for a good minute.  I’m sure every Illini parent (especially Brandon’s) were holding their breath.

However, once back up, Wikoff battled and fouled off another pitch (at this point it was the 7th pitch of the at-bat) then rapped a base hit to center.  Not only that, he followed that up with another single in his next at-bat to drive in a run.

In the fourth inning, Willie Argo gave the rest of the Big Ten a show and blasted a solo shot over the left field bleachers that was really a sight to see.  With the homer, Argo is tied for second with Sean Mulligan for homeruns by a freshman with 12.

Matt Dittman takes a cut

Pete Cappetta tripled in Matt Dittman (above) in the seventh.  He later scored that inning.  I haven’t compiled his Tournament stats but for my money, I’d put him on the All Tournament Team somewhere.  I’m really looking forward to seeing both Cappetta and Argo next year, no doubt.

Box Score

So Illinois is out of the tournament.  Word has it the team is coming back to Champaign today.  Are they finished for the season?  That’s still up in the air.  There’s a remote chance that Illinois will be chosen to represent the Big Ten in the NCAA Regionals.  The scoop is that if Indiana wins the Big Ten Tournament and gets an automatic bid, Illinois’ chances go from slim to pretty much nil.

I posted plenty of pre-game practice and game photos from Friday on the photo gallery.

I’ll post a Tournament wrap-up article tomorrow.

Indiana cruised to its second tournament victory against second seed Minnesota in the tournament behind the pitching of Matt Bashore who pitched seven shutout innings. Bashore who didn’t allow a hit till the fourth inning, was practically untouchable. allowing only two for the game.  Indiana won 12-3. 

Boy, Indiana sure can hit! Eighteen hits against Minnesota pitching including eight doubles.  Even their outs are hard hit.  Six Indiana batters had two or more hits on Thursday.  Brian Lambert had a big game going 3 for 6 with two ribbies and 2 runs scored and a double.

For the tournament, Indiana has outscored their opponent 21-4.  Now that they’ve gone through their two best starters, we’ll see what happens.  Either way, that lineup will still be there.

Photos from the game are at the Photo Gallery.

Will Strack had things in hand though for the most part as he threw 6 1/3 innings allowing three runs for his sixth win with no losses for the season.  When things got a little tough in the seventh, Lee Zerrusen came in and induced a double play.  In all, Big Z pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the save. 

Most importantly, he got Dan Black. 

With the score 6-3, with two outs and Black, the Boilermakers’ biggest, bestest slugger up, he worked him up to a full count, then struck him out.  Even watching over GameTracker, I was feeling the excitement. 

Aaron Johnson took a day off from starting so that meant moving Willie Argo up to the #5 spot in the lineup.  And boy, he really responded!  He went 3 for 4 with 4 rbis.  Oh yeah, in case any of you hadn’t noticed by now, Argo can run too.  He stole his 10th base of the season. 

One reason Argo had 4 rbis??  Dom Altobelli was on base.  Altobelli went 4 for 5 for the game.  He rapped two doubles and scored two runs with a stolen base.  With Saturday’s performance, he has a team leading .378 batting average. 

Fortunately, Johnson was healthy enough to pick up a bat.  He came in to pinch hit in a key bases loaded situation in the 7th inning.  He hit into a fielder’s choice so nothing exciting… I’m just glad to see him with a bat in his hands.

Box Score

At game’s end, the Fighting Illini still had a fighting chance to win the Big Ten championship.  Unfortunately, with Minnesota’s 4-2 win over Penn State last night, any chances of that are gone.  Illinois still has much incentive to beat Purdue on Saturday… they could improve their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament. 

Saturday’s game is at noon.  Bryan Roberts is going for us.  Roberts has been real tough against Big Ten teams (Ohio State excepted). 

Go Illini!

This gentleman had the right idea during the break but a sweep was not in the cards for the Illini

Illinois was oh so close to a sweep of Minnesota this weekend.  After a major comeback on Friday, they did the same for the first game on Saturday coming back from a 4-0 deficit to win 10-7.

In Game Two, Illinois battled and battled.  They came from behind not once but twice but that wasn’t enough.  The Golden Gophers offense scored four runs in the 7th and four more in the ninth to put the game out of reach.  Final score 12-8.

Minnesota’s Game One’s starter Tom Buske ended up allowing four runs on six hits.  Truth was he had a no-hitter going through the first four innings.  Finally, in the fifth, Aaron Johnson’s basehit which scored Dom Altobelli was the initial hit for the Illini.  Once that happened, the hits kept coming.

Casey McMurray comes into score during Illinois’ six-run 7th.  He was 5 for 10 for the day.

The sixth inning was the real offensive point for Illinois in Game 1.  The hits just seemed to fly off Illinois’ bats.  Six runs, six hits, not to mention and odd play at the plate where Joe Bonadonna was awarded first on catcher’s interference.

Aaron Martin got the job done for the final inning for his 3rd save of the year albeit not without a little excitement.  He allowed no hits or runs but a walk, a hit by pitch and a wild pitch.

Guys with juicy stats from Game 1:

Bonadonna 2 for 3, 3 runs, double, SB

Casey McMurray 2 for 5, 2 rbis, 2 runs

Aaron Johnson 2 for 4, 2 rbis, 1 run

Dom Altobelli 1 for 3, 2 runs, 1 rbi

Matt Ditttman 1 for 2, 1 run, 1 rbi

Pete Cappetta 1 for 4, 2 rbis

(yeah, most of the lineup)

Final Score: Illinois 10 Minnesota 7

Box Score

In a lot of ways, game two was more of the same… Minnesota getting the lead then Illinois catching up.  Unfortunately, we ran out of gas (both pitching and hitting) toward the end.

The Illini managed to tie the game 2-2 in the 4th fueled by Aaron Johnson’s triple.  Down again by two the next inning, Illinois responded by scoring three runs thanks to Bonadonna’s double, two singles by McMurray and Altobelli and two errors by Gophers.  By the seventh, Minnesota had scored four and and the Illini could only respond with one in the eighth.  By that time is was 8-6 and anyone’s game.

Aaron Johnson hit his 6th homer of the year in Game 2

But when the Gophers came back with four again in the ninth making it 12-6, a chance for a third comeback win this weekend seemed pretty remote.  Nobody told Aaron Johnson… he hit a two-run homerun giving the fans something to cheer about.  Unfortunately, that was it for Illinois offense and Minnesota won the last game 12-8.

Again, a lot of good offensive performances in Game 2:

McMurray 3 for 5 1 run, 1 rbi

Altobelli 2 for 4, 2 runs, rbi, 2 SB

Matt Dittman 2 for 4, triple, 2 runs,1 rbi

Cappetta 2 for 4, double, 1 rbi

Johnson 1 for 4, homerun, 1 run, 2 rbis

Bonadonna 1 for 5, double, 1 run, 1 rbi,

Box Score

Photos from Saturday are on the Photo Gallery

Notes and Comments on the Weekend:

I find it interesting that when the two teams with the best pitching and the best defense in the Big Ten get together and play a 3-game series, they end up playing a series like this.  Both teams scored 62 runs for three games.  You will certainly see ERAs go up on both teams.

Minnesota, who had the best defense in the conference coming into the weekend (if fielding average is any indication), committed nine errors for the weekend.  If you’re wondering, Illinois did ok… they had one.

No, you didn’t see Ben Reeser start on Saturday.  I didn’t think we would with his back problem.  Will Strack came in and *all things considered* he did okay.  Yes, he gave up 12 hits in six innings but they translated into only 5 runs thanks in part to him allowing no walks.

It would have been nice to sweep Minnesota but winning two made a statement to the then first-place Gophers and keeps us in the running.  Ohio State swept Purdue over the weekend showing us who is the team to beat.  Fortunately, we play them here at Illinois Field.

Conference-wise, we have Penn State and Northwestern coming up both away.

Brandon Wikoff trots around the bases after hitting his 3rd homerun of the season

It was the best game of the season in my opinion.  For those that missed it, it’s too bad.  You missed a heckuva battle between the Illini and the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.

A couple facts about this game:

• Both teams got 17 hits
• Both starters gave up at least 8 runs
• Every Illini starter got at least one hit and at least run or rbi
• Three homers for the Illini!  (Aaron Johnson, Brandon Wikoff, and Dom Altobelli)

Tonight’s game was a game of tides.  With the score tied at one, the Gophers scored five unanswered runs.  Then it was the Illini’s turn.  Through the 4th, 5th and 6th, they scored 10 also unanswered runs to take the lead 11-6.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Minnesota........... 011 400 400 - 10 17  2
Illinois............ 010 253 40X - 15 17  0
-------------------------------------------

Dom Altobelli was 3 for 5 with 5 rbis, 3 runs a double and a homerun

Minnesota took the momentum back and made the game a little interesting.  In the seventh, they scored four to bring the score to 11-10.  Illinois sealed the game in bottom of the inning by scoring four of their own thanks in part to Dominick Altobelli’s 3-run homerun to left.  Altobelli had a great night going 3 for 5 with 5 rbis and 3 runs with a double and the homerun, his 3rd of the year.

Final Score 15-10  Box Score

Joe Bonadonna fist bumps a youth while Pete Cappetta watches on

Speaking of great nights, centerfielder Joe Bonadonna did all right.  He was 4 for 5 with two runs.  Much has been made in the press about Bonadonna’s slow start and how he’s starting to turning it around.  Well, he’s still at it.   These four hits will help that average (for those wondering it’s above the .250 mark at .256).

Starter Phil Haig takes some practice on the sideline during a break in the action

Phil Haig probably wins the prize for most earned runs given up while getting a win.  He gave up 10 in 6 1/3.

I kid Phil.  Let me say this about him.  I love seeing how much he’s in the game even after he’s taken out.  He’s the first to welcome the defensive crew back into dugout after they’ve gotten the opposition out, encouraging the team.

Lee Zerrusen kept Minnesota scoreless for the final 2 1/3 innings

Finally, I want to say “nice job, Lee Zerrusen!!!”  For 2 1/3 innings, he kept Minnesota at bay, allowing only two hits getting the save (his first).

One down two to go.  Tomorrow’s game is scheduled at 3:05.

Oh, more photos (a whole bunch, actually) at the Photo Gallery

Go Illini!!

Update:  Sunday’s game has been moved up as part of a doubleheader today.  Gametime is 1pm.