Illinois Baseball Report

Some fans passed on this photo of former Illini Shawn Roof.  They saw Shawn play on August 4th when he was playing for the single-A Lakeland (Fla) Flying Tigers. The good news is that Shawn has been promoted to Double-A since then.  After hitting .348 in 14 games for Lakeland, he’s swinging the bat once [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on August 17th, 2011 | Leave a Comment! »

Former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof, who played for the AAA Toledo Mudhens in 2010, left a Illini legacy that will not soon be forgotten.  Sure there are the on-the-field accomplishments.  In his senior year in 2007, he broke the team single season record for steals and hit by pitches.  By the end of his college [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on November 3rd, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Last night, I went with friends (thanks to all of you, I know you’ll read this) to see the Triple-A  Indianapolis Indians-Toledo Mudhens game.  A baseball game is always fun but when former Illini Shawn Roof is the starting thirdbaseman for one of the teams, it makes it awesome.  So it was. Let’s get this [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on August 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

As you may know, Shawn Roof is now playing for the AAA Toledo Mudhens and tonight and tomorrow night, he’s playing in Indianapolis.  This is as close as he’s gotten to Urbana in his minor league career.  Here’s my chance to see him in action.  So with the help of some friends, I’m heading to [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on August 26th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

It’s a busy week on campus.  All the University students are back and finding their way to their new classes.  Good luck to the players this semester.  I don’t need to remind them how important their studies are.  To their credit, Coach Hartleb and the rest of the coaching staff do a pretty good job [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on August 24th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

I just got back in to town from a well-deserved and very-much-enjoyed two week vacation.  Our family spent most of it in Wyoming.  I was a hop, skip and a jump away from Casper which made me think of Dom Altobelli who did a short stint with the single-A Ghosts last year. Speaking of short [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on August 17th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

There’s good news coming from former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof.  He’s now playing AAA baseball.  The Tigers’ affiliate Toledo Mudhens now have Shawn on the team and given his performance in his first game, they might be happy they do.  He went 2 for 4 in his AAA debut!  Nice going, Shawn! In case anyone [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on July 31st, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

Today, Illinois closed out the 2010 season with a 16-6 loss against Indiana.  It was a classic Hoosier victory with sixteen runs and seventeen hits (although only one homerun).  Senior Kevin Manson took the loss.  Indiana knocked Manson around pretty well.   They scored six runs (five earned) in three innings.  This evens Manson’s record at [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on May 22nd, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

Aaron Johnson slides in to score in Illinois’ big six-run first inning When I woke up today, I wasn’t sure we weren’t going to have a ballgame.  It was raining and I heard thunder every so often.  Thankfully, the clouds parted by about 2pm and we had about the most beautiful day possible for baseball.  [...]

Filed under: Game Recaps on April 3rd, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »

It’s Spring Break next week.  While most students here will be going on vacation and having fun, the Illini baseball team will be heading to West Haven, Florida, what used to be the spring training home of the Cleveland Indians.  West Haven’s Chain of Lakes will be put to good use next week as Illinois [...]

Filed under: Game Previews on March 17th, 2010 | Leave a Comment! »