The Baseball Zealot

The University of Illinois baseball team is now in the throes of the Big Ten play and this weekend, they’ll be playing the University of Michigan.  Any time Illinois plays Michigan in any sport, it’s a big deal.  I can vouch that baseball is certainly no exception.

In anticipation of this weekend’s upcoming series, Michigan sports website, MGoBlog did a Q&A interview of me.  I did the same, interviewing their baseball expert and posting the results on Illinois Baseball Report. 

Illinois is a quite improved team.  After losing six of their first seven games, they have an overall record of 15-13. 

Go Illinois!!

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Last night I went down to St Louis to see the University of Illinois baseball team play at Busch Stadium.  They were playing the University of Missouri Tigers.  The game was billed as “The Battle at Busch”.

Despite a quick 4-1 lead after two innings, Illinois ended up losing 7-4.  The experience was fun though.  And I got to see an excellent example of a delayed double steal by the Illini.  Woo!

I posted a quick summary and a few photos at the Illinois Baseball Report.

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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The University of Illinois baseball season is underway.  All right, the season is over a month old but the Illini just had their home opener last night so I’m very excited. 

Illinois crushed Chicago State 18-2 for their first game at Illinois Field.  I have a wrap-up and photos of game over at Illinois Baseball Report.  Matt Milroy, who was chosen by the Red Sox in the 2009 MLB draft, got his first win for the Illini.

Interesting note:  Chicago State came in with a 13.57 ERA.  Illinois still managed to increase it significantly.

The one thing more fun than a home opener is the first Big Ten series at home.  Penn State comes to visit this weekend.  At IBR, I did an interview with Larry Fall who blogs about Penn State baseball at Happy Valley Hardball in anticipation of the big series. 

Go Illini!

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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John Olerud got an award named after him yesterday.

The College Baseball Foundation announced today the creation of the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award to be presented annually as part of the College Baseball Awards Show.

Olerud (right) who is now a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame, was a pitcher and first baseman, and a pretty good one at that, with Washington State University in the years 1987-1989.

Speaking of the College Baseball HOF, the 2010 inductees have been chosen.  Leading the way was former Met Dave Magadan who hit .525 as a senior for the Crimson Tide.  That was 1983, the year he was Baseball America’s Player of the Year.  

Also on the list:

Alan Bannister from Arizona State.  He was a .355 career hitter.

George Sisler (you might have heard of him):  He hit .445 his sophomore year and .451 his senior year for Michigan. 

B.J. Surhoff who played for North Carolina from 1983-1985.  Career BA of .392.

Others include:  Bob Bennett (Fresno State, coach 1977-2002), Eddy Furniss (LSU, 1995-1998), Don Heinkel (Wichita State, 1979-1982), Charles Teague (Wake Forest, 1947-1950) and Richard Wortham (Texas, 1973-1976).

The induction ceremony will take place on July 1.

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Bus Leagues Baseball has a nice piece on the Alaska Baseball League.  They interview Jesse Jack who covers the ABL on his site, 49th State Hardball.

Maybe it’s me but I’m getting the sense that the ABL is gaining in popularity among colleges to send their ballplayers in the summer.  Even our University of Illinois firstbaseman Matt Dittman, who was playing for the Lake Erie Monarchs last year, faced the Alaska Goldpanners as part of the 104th Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks.  The Libertyville Review had a feature on his trip.

And no, it doesn’t get THAT cold in the summer there.  We’re talking about Fairbanks here:

From the interview:

A “hot” day up here is in the neighborhood of 70-80 degrees, which is comfortable for almost everyone. The colder days can be a little chilly; down into the 50-degree range. In fact, at least one team has installed heaters in their grandstand! But it’s very rarely too cold or too hot to take in a ball game…

We could use that kind of weather here at UI games.

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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I talked on the phone with a friend today.  In a nutshell, he is a Cubs fan who lives in Chicago proper.  After going round and round about the Cubs woes, I mentioned I’ve been going to see the Illini baseball team practice a couple times this week. 

“Wow, you go and watch and watch them PRACTICE?”

He seemed a bit incredulous. 

And yeah, from his point of view, it does seem a little hard to believe.  Living in Chicago, a few hundred feet from the Red line and boom! you’re at Wrigley Field. 

But I’m not in Chicago (or for that matter, St Louis) and haven’t been all summer.  I need my dose of real live baseball even if it’s a loosely played split squad practice game with the coaches hitting fungoes to the infielders in between pitches. 

The fact that Illinois Field is one block away from my workplace doesn’t hurt either. 

Meanwhile, the way I hear it from my friend, you can’t give away Cubs or Sox tickets these days.  From his perspective, fans aren’t interested in either team this late in the season especially considering how they’re doing.  Now that’s harsh. 

I’m hoping the situation isn’t near as bad as my friend is portraying it.  Baseball is baseball whether it’s college kids taking fungoes or two teams on the downswing. 

Posted in: College Baseball, General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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I got a chance to see the University of Illinois baseball squad take full team practice today.  This was the first full team practice of the fall.

You can see the update and some photos I took over at the Illinois Baseball Report.

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Game one saw LSU overcome five Texas home runs, winning in the 11th inning when Mikie Mahtook singled home D.J. LeMahieu for a 7-6 win.  The Longhorns rebounded to win game 2 behind Taylor Jungmann, who pitched a complete game, allowing only 5 hits, & one run, as Texas won 5-1.  A five run LSU sixth inning busted open a close game as the Tigers cruised to an 11-4 victory, and the NCAA Baseball Championship.

LSU Tigers drafted were outfielder Jared Mitchell in the 1st round by the White Sox, D.J. LeMahieu a secondbaseman was drafted in the 2nd round by the Cubs, the 152nd player taken was righthanded pitcher Harold Coleman by the Royals, the Blue Jays selected outfielder Ryan Schimpf who was the 160th player taken, the Twins chose outfielder Michael Dean, and firstbaseman Sean Ochinko was taken by the Blue Jays.

Texas Longhorns drafted were Brandon Belt a firstbaseman taken by the Giants and lefthanded pitcher Austin Wood was selected by the Tigers.

Posted in: College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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A fine job by appropriately-named Texas reliever Austin Wood on Saturday.  In a 25 inning, 7 hour affair, Texas defeated Boston College 3-2 in the longest NCAA game on record.  

Wood pitched 13 innings of scoreless ball.  More impressively, he allowed no hits for 12 1/3 innings of it.  Wood struck out 14 and threw 169 pitches.

Here’s the box score from University of Texas’ web site.

And kudos to the 7000+ fans who stayed with the game for seven hours. 

Posted in: College Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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37-6, it sounds like a football score, but the Seminoles never scored that much in football, this was a regional game between Ohio State and Florida State. The Buckeyes trailed 32-0 after five innings of play, starting pitcher Jared Strayer was tagged for seven runs before getting an out, while their fifth hurler Andrew Armstrong allowed 11 runs in one third of an inning.

Florida State set NCAA postseason records with 37 runs, 38 hits, and 66 total bases. While Stephen Cardullo set a tournament record going seven for seven, including three of FSU’s 15 doubles, an NCAA record.

Some Buckeye fans were a little cocky when they defeated Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, perhaps they’re a little more humble now.

Posted in: College Baseball by Teddy Ballgame
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