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 | 1 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! »

I stopped by practice again today after work.  I’m glad I did because I ran into my friend John Santas from the Dugout Club.  John always makes watching baseball that much more fun. There was a special visitor at today’s practice at Illinois Field.  Josh Parr, who was drafted just this summer by the Arizona [...]

Filed under: Off Season Happenings on September 13th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Well, the Illini gave St John’s a good fight.  It was pretty much the story of two games within one.  The first one where the Illini had them strung up in the first five innings, winning 4-0.  It was indeed the 3-run fifth inning when Illinois did most of the damage keyed by a 2-run [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on March 1st, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

Fightingillini.com came out with their Illinois Baseball Pitchers Preview for 2010 today.  Nothing too earth-shattering about it nor should it have been.  The outlook with the pitching staff was relatively predictable.  Sophomores Will Strack and Bryan Roberts, who both looked real good last year and virtually unhittable at some points, will be the Friday and [...]

Filed under: Analysis on February 17th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

College summer leagues have already begun their seasons and Illinois players are among those playing.  The University of Illinois baseball program has sent 21 players throughout the the country to 13 teams in nine different summer leagues. The Northwoods League, always a big client of the U of I, will see eight players from Illinois [...]

Filed under: Summer League on June 1st, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

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 [...]

Filed under: 2009 Big Ten Tournament, Game Recaps on May 23rd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The Illini defeated the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Illinois Field by the score of 7-1 thanks in much part to the bat of thirdbaseman Dominic Altobelli (below left). Altobelli slammed 2 homeruns (one to left-center, the other to right) for rbis.  His 3 for 4 night extended his hitting streak to 16 games.  More amazing, [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 5th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

The difference was night and day for the Illini.  Compared to Friday night’s game against the Indiana, our pitchers pitched well, we had good defense and we kept Josh Phegley at bay (1 for 9, 1 rbi, 1 run). Ben Reeser was one strike from a shutout Unfortunately, we only managed to win one game [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on April 4th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

Snowy day We got started early today at 11am because of the re-scheduled game from yesterday’s rained out affair.  So today instead of rain, we got snow.  Granted it wasn’t a blizzard or anything but dang, it was cold.  Towards the end of Game One, the snow stopped.  The sun even popped out for a [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps, Uncategorized on March 29th, 2009 | 1 Comment »