Category: University of Illinois Baseball

With the Big Ten season coming to a close in a few weeks, a few of the University of Illinois players have made plans to play in leagues throughout the country.

Good luck to all of them!!

Cape Cod Baseball League
Chris Robinson, Hyannis

Alaska Baseball League
Ryan Hastings, Mat-Su Miners
Brandon Murphy, Mat-Su Miners

Central Illinois Collegiate League
Aaron Saving, East Peoria Scrappers
Matt Whitmore, East Peoria Scrappers

Coastal Plain League
Trevor Huisinga, Fayetteville SwampDogs
Shawn Roof, Fayetteville SwampDogs

Great Lakes League
Nick Stockwell, Lake Erie Monarchs

New England Collegiate Baseball League
James Morris, Torrington Twisters
Scott Shaw, Torrington Twisters

Northwoods League
Joe Bonadonna, Duluth Huskies
Jake Stewart, Eau Claire Express Ryan Rogowski, Madison Mallards
Mike Rohde, Madison Mallards
Jake Toohey, Rochester Honkers

The Illini barely won the first of a 4-game series against the Minnesota Gophers. Reliever Jake Toohey struck the last two batters with the bases loaded to close out the game.

Chris Robinson was 4 for 5 and Drew Davidson and Dusty Benkso both hit homers in the game.

The awards keep comin’ for Illini secondbaseman JR Kyes. For his efforts in the last week, Kyes has won the:

Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week (see bottom of page)
Co-Big Ten Player of the Week
NCBWA Pro-Line Caps National Hitter of the Week

For the week, Kyes went 9 for 17 with 4 homers, 2 doubles, and a triple. He drove in 13 runs and scored 9. He had a walk-off homerun on a game Saturday.

Nice going, JR!

For the first time this year, the University of Illinois made the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll. They are ranked 29th this week.

Congrats to the team!

Today I took the kids to the first game of the doubleheader between the Northwestern Wildcats and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini.

Last night’s game between the two was a laugher as Illinois won 21-4. Brian Blomquist pitched a complete game and Dusty Bensko hit a grand slam in their rout of the Wildcats.

Today looked like more of a battle as we settled in during the 4th inning and it was 2-0 in favor of the good guys. As soon as we sat down, the Wildcat 1B Mark Ori slammed one over the left field fence to make it 2-1. The guy next to us told me that we must be bad luck.

I think he was just kidding.

The Illini had nothing to worry about though. They scored a total of 9 runs and Northwestern could only muster one more. Illinois pitcher Jimmy Conroy pitched a complete game win.

Illinois 9 Northwestern 2

The cool thing about attending these games is how close we are to the action.

Starter Jimmy Conroy allowed only 2 runs in 7 innings.

Catcher Chris Robinson laced a pitch into right-center for a triple. The third base coach here is Head Coach Itch Jones.

High Fives all around after the win.

Update: Illinois won the second game 12-9 behind the hitting of J.R. Kyes who went 3 for 4 with a homer and 4 rbis.

Update: The Illini finished strong against the Wildcats winning 17-3. Illinois banged out 7 homers including 3 by Drew Davidson.

The four-game sweep cements Illinois in first place in the Big Ten.

Chalk up another victory for Illinois as they overcame Southern Illinois in extra innings 9-7. Aaron Saving (nice name for a reliever, eh?) got the win by pitching a 1-2-3 10th.

Toby Gardenhire doubled in the go-ahead run. In case you’re wondering, Toby is indeed the son of Ron Gardenhire.

The Illini remain in first place, 2 games up on Minnesota.

Big Ten standings here

Big four game set against Northwestern this weekend here in Champaign. Maybe I’ll catch a game or two.

A little catch-up work in regards to the Illini Baseball.

They had a four game series over the weekend with Penn State. Friday, Brian Blomquist pitched a complete game but it wasn’t enough as PSU came back to win 3-2.

Saturday was a different day as the Illini had their hitting shoes on. They won both games (6-3 and 6-4). Kudos to catcher Chris Robinson who had the game winning hit in both games.

Sunday, the Nittany Lions worked some revenge and managed a series tie by defeating the Illini 9-1. PSU starter Sean Stidfole pitched a complete game allowing only an unearned run.

Despite the series tie, Illinois remains in first in the Big Ten, two games ahead of the Minnesota Gophers.

Big Ten Standings

But I guess they’re all wild when it comes to college baseball. The Illini defeated Eastern Illinois 18-11 on Tuesday night.
Chris Robinson was the big hero as he went 4-4 with 2 homers and 7 rbis.

Illinois Sophomore DH Mike Rohde was named Big Ten Player of the Week.

Nice going, Mike!

On Saturday, the University of Illinois baseball team split with Indiana in a wild and wooly afternoon.

Start with the fact that it was snowy.

In the first game, down by three and in the top of the seventh, Illini Mike Rohde hit a two-out grand slam which proved to be the game winner.

In the second game, Illinois had leads of 7-2 and 8-6 but by the bottom of the seventh it was 13-10, Illinois. Here’s what happened in the seventh according to the article on fightingillini.com:

Indiana had a runner on first with two outs when IU clean-up hitter Ryan Parker hit a high pop fly to second base that looked like it would end the game, however, Illinois second baseman Shawn Roof, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement for Kyes, dropped the sure out and giving the Hoosiers new life.

At this point, things got really weird. With two on, the next hitter Zach Boswell hit a bullet down the first baseline that went all the way to the corner and disappeared under the bullpen chairs. Rightfielder Trevor Huisinga ran over, couldn’t find the ball and threw his hands in the air for a moment, signaling a lodged ball. Meanwhile Boswell continued to circle the bases, scoring behind Jay Brant and Parker on an apparent inside-the-park three-run home run. As Indiana cheered, the Illini protested and the umpires gathered to decide if the HR would be allowed or if it would be called a ground-rule double. After about five minutes of deliberation, it was declared a home run and the game was tied at 13-13 and heading to extra innings.

Indiana would later win the game in the bottom of the ninth on a one out single by Parker to salvage the split.

Gotta love college baseball.

Update: Illinois won the last game on Sunday 7-5 to take the series. Jake Stewart, in his first career start, got the win.