I’m back and so is Illinois’ offense

I took a five day hiatus from the blog and the sports world in general as the family and I went to Chicago for an extended weekend.  The only remotely sports related things I encountered was breezing by the Friendly Confines countless times on the Red Line and seeing a couple Chicago Blackhawks who were [...]

Illinois Baseball News Tidbits

A quiet news week on the Illini front since they weren’t able to find anyone to play ball with last weekend due to the weather in Dallas.  That said, there are a couple tidbits worth passing along. Assumption (Davenport, IA) High School star Willie Argo seems to be ready to play for the Illini when [...]

Illinois lose tough pitching duel with Texas State

Texas State 2 Illinois 1 Today’s game was a mirror image of yesterday’s.  Friday Illinois scratched out runs out of nothing.  Today, the hits were there but runs were scarce. Illini starting pitcher Mike Stankiewicz pitched a six inning gem allowing six hits and one run.  Unfortunately, the Illinois offense didn’t back him up and [...]

Illini Win Season Opener!

It’s hard to believe with a heavy snowstorm upon us here in Illinois, that I would be following a baseball game today.  With the help of CSTV’s Gametracker, that’s exactly what I did as I saw the University of Illinois win their season opener against Sam Houston State at the Al Ogletree Tournament in Edinburgh, [...]

Illini’s Orange and Blue Series

Ben Reeser coming off a lights-out summer, started for the Orange team. I stopped by the first game of University of Illinois’ Orange and Blue series.  Stop by The Baseball Zealot photo gallery and see the photos I took. 2B Ryan Hastings takes third on a fly ball. If you want to see the Illini in action [...]

Crunch time for Illini in the Summer Leagues

Don’t look now but Illini pitchers Aaron Martin and Ben Reeser are 1-2 in victories in the Coastal Plain League. It’s playoff time in college summer leagues and ten Illini will be enjoying the fruits of postseason play.   Check out the details at the Fighting Illini website. Looks like Joe Bonadonna is two steals away [...]

2B Hastings decides to return to Illini

Illini 2B Ryan Hastings signing autographs for the kiddos during the 07 season In the past, secondbaseman Ryan Hastings had intimated that 07 would be his last year for the Illini. Well, everyone has the right to change their mind. Since he was red-shirted two years ago, he has one more year left of eligibility [...]

Penn State rally in 8th ends Illini’s season

The Penn State Nittany Lions had just come off a 10th inning victory off Michigan. One half hour later they played Illinois for another elimination game. That’s the thing about losing your first game in the Big Ten Tournament… every game you play, you’re playing for your tournament life. Scott Shaw allowed only 3 hits [...]

Things I see and people I meet at the Big Ten Tournament

Ray Fisher stadium, home of the University of Michigan baseball team, seems like a pretty decent facility. I (and at least one other person who I gave directions to) had a little problem finding the place partially because of all the construction going on and because I got some bad advice from a bus driver. [...]

Illini Fall to Mizzou

Tuesday night the Illini fell to the Missouri Tigers 12-5. For those scoring at home, this does not affect their Big Ten record and therefore their fight to make the Big Ten Tournament is unaffected, at least standings-wise. I’m sure the Illini would have liked to go into the last regular season series of the [...]