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 down 4-1 in eighth inning, I told my friend, “just wait, they’ll come back”.  And so they did winning 5-4 over the Ohio State Buckeyes. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We need to address the matter of Kevin Johnson.  Johnson (left) in my opinion, was pitching one of the best games of the his season.  He was painting the outside corners like a French Impressionist.  I’m used to watching the games from the left field lines and not from the pitcher’s angle, that’s new to me, does he pitch like that ALL the time?  Aside from a solo shot to Buckeye Brian DeLucia, Johnson was practically unhittable.

That is, until the eighth inning when a ball hit in front of Willie Argo missed his glove and Argo slipped on the wet turf going after it. When all was said and done,  Greg Solomon had cleared the bases with a inside the park homerun.  Chris Pack came in to relieve after one more single but couldn’t stop a run-scoring double.  The score after 8 innings:  4-1.  My thought when Pack came in, there goes any chance for a win for Johnson no matter how much he deserves it.

But Pack was fantastic in the top of ninth.  After a leadoff walk, he retired the OSU batters three in a row.

Now what I saying about a comeback walk-off win?  Oh yeah!   The Buckeyes had uber-star firstbaseman/closer Josh Desze on the mound.  From what I can gather, Desze is the real thing (he has already been drafted by the Yankees out of high school).  Not only can he hit (42 rbis) but he can throw the ball hard.  His velocity on pitches last night hovered around 92-96 mph.  But there is a downfall to this freshman.  He tends to be a little wild.  He already game two walks in the 8th inning.  Why is that important?  It brought the top of the Illini lineup for the 9th inning.

Pete Cappetta lined a full count double into left center to lead the inning off.  He advanced to third on a Desze wild pitch and then scored on a Justin Parr base hit.  An out and another wild pitch later, Parr was on third, down by 2.  A base hit by Brandon Hohl drove home Parr making it 4-3.

By now, I was nodding my head and saying, ‘See? See?’ to my friend. ‘They’re going to come back!

Pat Sheehan ran for Hohl at first.  An out later, Matt Dittman walked putting runners on first and second.  Willie Argo (‘eager to atone’ claim the broadcasters) banged out a game tying single which in my opinion could have easily had gotten Sheehan out at the plate if the throw would have been on line.  Fortunately, it wasn’t.  Tie game.

Finally, Davis Hendrickson, hero of last Saturday’s game against Indiana, was once again the go-to guy.  Hendrickson (left) hit the first pitch up the middle for a single scoring Matt Dittman and winning the game 5-4.

Here is a link to the video press conference after the game with Coach Hartleb, Davis Hendrickson and Willie Argo

A couple notes on the game:

This was reliever Chris Pack’s 7th win of the year.  He now leads all Illini in wins for the season.

Pete Cappetta and Justin Parr came into the game leading  the Big Ten in hitting in conference play.  For the night, they both had three hits.

Willie Argo didn’t look pretty on that Solomon inside the park homerun but let’s face it.  We’ve seen four of five instances of outfielders slipping and sliding out there.  Knowing Willie, he was hustling and his feet were just ahead of his body

Heard an interesting stat last night:  Illinois has outscored their opponents in the ninth inning or later by a 40-10 margin.  Somehow I’m not surprised by that stat.

In other news and looking ahead

Earlier Thursday, Michigan State had no trouble with Purdue beating them 7-1 behind the pitching of Kurt Wunderlich.

And even before that, Minnesota sent Penn State packing for home defeating them 8-2.

With Illinois’ win, they will face they only other undefeated team in the tourney, Michigan State.  As long as the weather cooperates, game time is set for 6pm CT.  An advantage for the Illini?  They won’t have to face Pitcher of the Year Wunderlich who pitched yesterday.

and this just in as I’m typing this:  Today, Minnesota knocks Ohio State out of the tournament winning 9-4.

Last bit o’ commentary

I can’t emphasize how important tonight’s game will be.  These two teams are the only two undefeated teams left.  Is it the precursor to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game?  Maybe.  I will say the winning team comes out of tonight’s game in a very good spot.  The ultimate goal after all is to not lose two games and both MSU and Illinois have done their best to avoid that.

Minnesota fans have to be happy with the Golden Gophers, though.  After their initial loss to Ohio State in the very first game of the Tournament, they have struck back to win two in a row including a revenge win against the Buckeyes.  Keep your eye on them.

Big Ten Network Schedule and Results

Updated Tournament Bracket

press conference

Looking at the box score, it appears like it was all Illinois as they defeated Ohio State 11-5 for the series.  It was the third 2-1 weekend in a row for the Illini and puts them at 10-8 in the Big Ten.  That puts them in a three way tie for third place with Ohio State and Purdue.  Right now, Michigan State (13-5)and Minnesota (11-7) are the teams to beat.

Corey Kimes (right) pitched a great game on Sunday.  Not to take anything away from anyone else but he was the only starter this weekend to get off relatively unscathed.  Kimes pitched a full seven frames and allowed only five hits and three runs.  Chris Pack got some more work in and finished the game off and while gave up two runs, none were earned.

As for the offense, where do you start?  Six of the nine starters had multi-hit games and two (Justin Parr and Davis Hendrickson) hit safely 3 times.  Willie Argo drove home four runs.  Casey McMurray scored twice without even getting a hit.

According to the fightingillini.com recap, this weekend’s totals of 31 runs and 43 hits by the Illini offense were season’s highs.

Random Ramblings

It looks like former Illini hurler Phil Haig will be playing with (and against) some of our guys this summer.  He’ll be joining the Rochester Honkers of the Northwest League.

Looking forward, keep in mind that the last series of the season will be a bit different schedule-wise.  The Indiana home series will start on a Thursday (May 19th) and will continue till Saturday.

Next up

Right now, there are no midweek games on the schedule.  That means we’re looking at Purdue this coming weekend at West Lafayette.  Friday’s game time is 3:05pm.

Davis Hendrickson takes a cut in Illinois’ 12-7 loss on Saturday

Illinois took a while to get their offense going on Saturday… too long it seems, as they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes 12-7.

It almost looked liked Buckeye hurler Brett McKinney, who came into the game with just one win, was unhittable, literally.  McKinney had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning when Justin Parr laced a single into center field.  Parr was immediately erased on a double play but Casey McMurray followed that up with a double.  Any thought of a Buckeye shutout was gone when Matt Dittman doubled home McMurray.

Meanwhile, starter John Anderson (above, left) had troubles with the Ohio State lineup.  He got through the first inning in short order but the Buckeyes scored three runs apiece in the second and third innings giving them a quick 6-0 lead.  When they scored another in the fifth, Coach Hartleb brought in Lee Zerrusen (above, right).  Lee’s line doesn’t look good for the game (5 ER in 3 2/3 IP) but he actually stopped the bleeding and kept Ohio State scoreless until the eighth when they rallied for five more runs.  Bill Barrett came in for the last inning and a third and kept the Bucks from crossing the plate.

Down 12-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Illinois wasn’t about to give up.  Two doubles by McMurray and Pat Sheehan plus a single by Pete Cappetta made things interesting.  Add in a few walks plus a hit by pitch and wild pitch and the Illini managed to score five runs in the ninth to make the final score 12-7.

More of my photos from today are here.

Random Ramblings

Ok, we didn’t win the game but I think the ninth inning, five run explosion will do wonders for our momentum and outlook for Sunday’s game.

I hope everyone braved the rainstorm ok.  As a person who walks to the park, I actually left in the eighth inning (and missed the five run rally, darn).  I got hit by the drenching downpour while walking through Mt Hope Cemetery.  Fortunately, my office is on the other side of the cemetery and wouldn’t you know it, I had a spare shirt there.

Before I left though, I got a chance to talk to Craig Lutes (right) who was hanging out with former teammate Mike Giller.  Lutes is doing well and is an assistant coach at Normal High School.  Normal High is in town playing Centennial and Craig thought he’d watch a few of his old ‘mates.

Brandon Hohl was out of the lineup today due to being hit on the hand in yesterday’s game.  Near as I can tell, he’ll be out Sunday too.  Hohl’s bat will certainly be missed but we’re lucky to have capable replacements.  Thomas Lindauer (above) spelled Hohl at third base today and did some fancy glovework in the field.

Next up

Sunday is the last game against Ohio State.  Gametime is 1:05pm.

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 famed Michigan State game of 2007 (if you ever want to read up on that just do a search on this site using the keyword “Woo hoo”).

When Ohio State scored four run in the top of the first inning, it looked like it might be one those games.  But when the Illini came back in the bottom of the first and scored three of their own, it looked more like it would be one of THOSE games.  And you know what I mean.

Adam Davis beats the throw to home and scores in the second inning.

It wasn’t until the top of the fourth inning when a team held the other scoreless.  By then, Ohio State had the lead, 9-7.  Each time Ohio State managed to put runs on the board, Illinois followed suit, keeping close enough.  The irony of it was that from Kevin Johnson’s perspective, he was getting rocked hard but the offense was really coming through for him.

Four Innings

Johnson was done after 2 2/3 innings and Will Strack (above) took over for him.  There are many heroes for this game but Will is a big one.  After the Buckeyes scored 9 runs in three innings, we didn’t know what was in store.  Will Strack came in for four innings and shut down the Buckeyes on two hits.  Those nine runs would be all that the Buckeyes would score for the game.  Chris Pack and Wes Braun finished off the game with a combined 2 1/3 innings of scoreless and hitless ball.

Four Runs

Pete Cappetta drives home two runs in the sixth inning.

Before the game, I shook Pete Cappetta’s hand and told him “You’re going to win this game”.  All he said was “Yes we will, sir”.  It’s almost like he took it as a direct order.  It was his two-run basehit that put Illinois up for good in the key sixth inning.  The Fighting Illini scored four runs that inning off of new Buckeyes pitcher Jared Strayer who relieved starter Drew Rucinski.  Strayer began the inning by hitting Adam Davis then giving up a double to Brandon Hohl.  Casey McMurray and Willie Argo both singled.  Argo’s single tied game.  Josh Parr walk which set up Cappetta’s two-run single.

Every starter in the lineup had at least one hit and at least one rbi or run scored.  Justin Parr, Brandon Hohl and Casey McMurray all had three hits apiece. Parr and McMurray drove in three and Adam Davis scored three.

The Illini faithful stand for the last out.

There were 2019 people in attendance last night.  It’s by far the largest crowd this year but I don’t think it surpasses the crowd we had two years ago.

There are lots more of my photos here.

Oh one more photo… I particularly enjoy this one.

Here, Davis Hendrickson is running out an infield hit.  What makes it for me is the fan in the background calling him safe.  He’s right, of course.

Next up:

Weather-permitting, Illinois takes on the Buckeyes again today at 3:05 at Illinois Field.

In case you haven’t heard, this Friday is the 3rd annual Bleacher Bum Barbeque.  In addition to a great Illinois-Ohio State baseball matchup, there will be free food, inflatable games for the kids,  fireworks and presumably a lot of people.  If you want to get in on the free grub, come by Illinois Field around 5pm.  The baseball action will start around 6pm.

Of course, two more games are scheduled against the Buckeyes this weekend.  So if you can’t make it out for the BB BBQ, you have a couple more options to show your support for the team.  It’s a big weekend for the Illini so if you can, come on out for a game or two.

Ohio State entered the Big Ten schedule with a 8-10 record but we all know that conference play is another beast.  The Buckeyes have buckled down and since then have put up a 9-6 conference record which is good for third place all by themselves.

The good news for the Illini??  Ohio State hasn’t done so well away from Columbus.  As of today, they have a pretty nasty 3-9 record when they don’t play at home.

I’ll give the Buckeyes some credit.  They win when it counts.  Overall, they’ve been outscored by their opponents (just barely at 224 vs 229).  Conference stats show a different picture though with a 100-84 margin.

In any dimension, expect a fight from Ohio State.

Random Ramblings

This series is big if that hasn’t been said before.  The fightingillini.com preview calls this weekend ‘piviotal’ and that about sums it up.  At 8-7, Illinois is one game below Ohio State.  This is the time of the season where teams fluctuate up and down so easily with just one three-game series.

A two win weekend would really put Illinois in a good spot right now.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Josh Parr had improved in the field since 2010 but I didn’t realize how much till the Illini preview pointed it out.  He’s got only 5 errors so far in 2011 compared to 26 all last year.

See you at the Barbeque and let’s go Illini!

Long story short, I didn’t know about Illinois’ 2-1 series win till I got back to Champaign-Urbana.  Mom, Happy Mother’s Day!  I was more than happy to do it for you. 

That said, on any other weekend, I wish I could have been at Bill Davis Stadium during those games.  Looks like Kevin Johnson (right), who seems to be getting stronger as the season wears on, pitched a humdinger.  It’s his fourth win of the season. 

Friday’s game must have been the most exciting.  A three-run ninth inning rally to put the good guys up for good.  Not sure if anyone noticed but the Bucks got 12 hits that game but could only score three runs. 

Sunday, they couldn’t quite pull it off and lost 8-4.  Willie Argo managed to get three hits in the process, though.

Here are the current standings in the Big Ten:

I’ve never seen such a tight race in Big Ten baseball before.  A four-way tie for first, a two-way tie for fifth and a four-way tie for last… and only two games separating everyone.

This is true every year but so much more this year;  the last couple weekends will be VERY important. 

Stat Stuff

Willie Argo continues to steal bases and is within reach of breaking the Illinois single season record.  With three thefts on Sunday, Argo is at 37.  The record is held by Kyle Hudson (left) with 40.  No doubt, that will be broken. 

Bryan Roberts is cruising as Illinois’ closer.  He racked up two more saves against Ohio State giving him nine for 2010. 

And I’m not sure what to make of this but… Illinois has outscored their opponents 298-293 but trails in rbis 269-262. 

Next up

No midweek games this week.  I don’t know if that helps us or not.  I can’t help but think that the 19-0 win over Butler influenced Illinois’ outlook going into Ohio State.  It certainly didn’t hurt.

Our next game will be against the Purdue Boilermakers this coming weekend.  It will be our last home conference series.  Friday’s game is at 6:05pm.

Great job, Illini!

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 to Columbus to play the Buckeyes. 

The Bucks currently reside in second place (they’re actually in a three way tie for second in the Big Ten’s very tight standings).  They have a 26-17 overall record (third best in the conference).

Ohio State Buckeyes
May 7, 2010			5:35 pm ct
May 8, 2010			12:05 pm ct
May 9, 2010			12:05 pm ct
Bill Davis Stadium			Columbus, OH
Program website link			Record	26-17 (Big Ten 8-7)
Head Coach:	Bob Todd		Key player:	Michael Stephens

Cleanup hitter Michael Stephens is having a nice season for the Bucks.  He’s leading the Buckeyes’ potent offense in rbis and homers while hitting .374.

That said, catcher Dan Burkhart is on a roll.  In the Buckeyes’ last game (in their loss against Louisville), he went 5 for 5 with a homerun. 

Yes, they lost against Louisville.  The Illini can take heart that the  Buckeyes CAN be beat (again, looking on the positive side, here).  Not only that, they’ve had some 2010 losses against some mediocre teams so any mystique of the Buckeye formula can stop now. 

We won’t be seeing Ohio State’s superstar pitcher Alex Wimmers.  Unfortunately for Wimmers, he suffered a hamstring injury before the Michigan series.  That will really impact their pitching strength as he is leading the conference in ERA and strikeouts. 

And I don’t know what impact this will have on this weekend’s series, if any, but it’s worth mentioning.  Ohio State’s head coach, Bob Todd, recently announced that he will retire at the end of this year. 

Speaking of The Buckeye Nine’s Chris Webb, he conducted an interview of our own Coach Hartleb.  You can listen to it here. 

So how many games does Illinois have to win to stay alive in the Big Ten Tournament race?  A sweep would nice obviously but even a 2-1 win would begin help our comeback.  I haven’t done the standings math this early in the season yet but a 1-2 or god forbid a OSU sweep starts putting us in the “stay at home” category”.  Do or die?  Maybe that’s a stretch.  But a good showing is a must in order to keep the Big Ten Tournament in sight. 

Oh and let me leave you with this photo… for those who were there last year, you remember this?

Good luck, Illini!!

we can thank Purdue’s surprisingly slow start for keeping us out of the cellar. 

For those who follow RPI ratings, Larry Fall posted the Big Ten standings by RPI on his Penn State baseball blog, Happy Valley Hardball.  We’ve played some good teams but we still place pretty low (take a look at Penn State, though). 

Ohio State’s Zach Hurley’s 5 for 5 performance on Sunday helped him garner the Big Ten Player of the Week award.  Northwestern’s Francis Brooke pitched eight shutout innings to get the Pitcher of the Week. 

Stats ‘n Stuff

Speaking of Ohio State, just how dominant are the Buckeyes statistically so far this early in the season?  As a team, they lead the conference in EVERY major offensive category except homeruns and steals.  Michigan leads in homeruns with 8 and Indiana leads in steals with 20.  If you’re wondering, traditionally speedy Illinois has 15 stolen bases so far this season.  Not bad if you consider they missed their first weekend of play.

Illinois can at least take pride in our shining star, Matt Dittman (left).  Ditt is the conference batting leader with a batting average of .526.  He also leads the Big Ten in OBP with a .640 mark.  Brandon Hohl checks in at #8 in the Big Ten with a .409 batting average.

Our pitching staff has had a rough time of it so far this season but the stat boards do show one positive aspect of our hurlers… walks allowed.  Brian de la Torriente (0), Will Strack (1) and Kevin Johnson (2) have all proven they don’t easily give up the free pass.

Random Rumors

Looks like former Illini hurler Ben Reeser (right)  has got some work this season.  You’ll find his name on the roster of the Schaumburg Flyers.  The Flyers are in the independent Northern League.  Reeser graduated from the U of I and pitched his last year in 2009. 

Thanks to Josh Jones from Cardinals Best News for passing this news on about Ben. 

Good luck, Ben!!

Frustrating though because the Bigten.org and Big Ten Network standings don’t even match.  Add to that some BTN baseball scores are wrong.  Sorry, I’m grumpy.

Michigan State’s Jonathan Roof was Big Ten Player of the Week and Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers is Big Ten Pitcher of the Week.  Here is the Big Ten press release on the Players of the Week.  By the way, some of you know Jonathan as former Illini Shawn Roof’s brother.

Finally, in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s poll, Ohio State ranked 13th in the country.  They are lone Big Ten team in the top 30.  Also, aptly named Coley Crank from Michigan was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week based on his 3-homer and 7 rbi performance on opening day.  For the weekend, he was 7 for 15 with 4 homers.

A well written article despite the perhaps sad outcome for Illinois fans. 

I mentioned to Chris Webb who is the fantastic blogger of not only Buckeye State Baseball but of The Buckeye Nine, Ohio State Buckeyes’ primary baseball blog, that if Illinois Baseball Report did a similar Top 10 moments list for Illinois, our first game with the Buckeyes would have to be pretty high on our list.