Pat Sheehan gets congratulated by his teammates for having a good eye Wow, if the rest of Illinois baseball season is as exciting as today’s home opener, the EMTs are going to have to stock up on chest paddles. What a heart pounder! In the bottom of the ninth, Illini…
For the second time at the Bright House Invitational, the Illini had the lead past the fifth inning and lost the game. Today, Illinois grabbed a 2-1 lead thanks to a Willie Argo homerun in the top of the sixth inning. However, by the bottom of the sixth, two Stetson…
“Kevin Johnson pitched extremely well and deserved to win, but we were bad out of the bullpen,” -Coach Dan Hartleb on Friday’s game against Central Michigan That about sums it up. Illinois went into the top of the eighth inning ahead 5-0 in their first game of the Bright…
Tonight, the University of Illinois baseball team (1-2) will take on Florida Gulf Coast University (2-2) at Fort Myers. It will be the first in a three game series. FightingIllini.com has their weekend preview up. We’re looking at the same starters from last weekend: Johnson, Anderson and Kimes. The interview…
Hard core big league fans look forward to when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. I guess the closest that college baseball has is when players begin full team practice… and that happened for the first time yesterday. Players and coaches convened at the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility (complete…
If you’re a fan of Coach Hartleb (and if I’m a good judge, most of us are), rest assured. He has been told by athletic director Ron Guenther that he still has a job. The UI Athletic Department has said all year that it was going to wait till the…
It’s becoming crunch time in the Big Ten conference schedule and who better to play than Ohio State? 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…
Craig Lutes heads towards first after hitting the ball Friday night We’re winding down the season with six more home games left. We’re fortunate to have two midweek games at home this week though. And whenever Coach Hartleb’s alum comes to town, that gives the media another storyline to…
For this week’s two midweek games, we’re playing two state universities… Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois. Don’t look at their records. Both are tough in their own way. As for us, we’re even-steven. The Illini are 13-13 overall and 3-3 against the Big Ten. Let’s take a look at both…
Before the game, Pete Cappetta predicted two wins for the weekend This time it was the Illini who took some advantage of the 20-25 mph wind at Illinois Field. With four homers and a fantastic effort by the bullpen, Illinois closed out this past weekend’s series on a winning note. …