May 2, 2002

Closing out games in college baseball is quite a difficult task. Closing out games during Big Ten Conference games is even tougher. Yet through it all, the Illinois pitching staff seems to have found a man that can they can trust in the late innings with the dominance of junior Dave Mazurek.

While doubling his save total from three to six last week, Mazurek was named co-Big Ten Pitcher of the Week by the League office. Although he only pitched five innings last week, the results are the reasoning for his selection. Mazurek only gave up two hits and struck out four while maintaining his 0.00 ERA in Big Ten play. His ERA has been lowered to 0.61 on the year, which is the lowest on the team. Mazurek has posted five saves in Big Ten play, where he leads the league. His three saves for the week were all in tough situations and led the Illini to their first series victory in the Conference this season. Still, the selection came as quite a surprise to Mazurek.

"I was flattered with the recognition. The other guy that received the award (Michigan State's Bryan Gale) pitched nine shutout innings and I pitched five, but I feel very grateful for such a nice honor," he said.

The hardest game of the series seemed to be last Wednesday versus Illinois' I-57 rival, the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Mazurek held the Illini's one run lead for two innings to lead them to a 5-4 win.

"Those are the games that you absolutely need to win. Every game is important, but we have to beat the mid-week teams," Mazurek said.

Although Mazurek is looked to in the pen when Coach Jones wants to finish off a game, he wasn't always the answer. He came to Illinois as a walk-on from Lyons Township, red shirted his freshman season and pitched in middle relief roles for the past two years. Fighting his way on to the team for playing time was a challenge.

"It was a big adjustment in that in high school I had a lot of success, but here everyone was so much better. I had to work very hard to move up and compete," Mazurek said.

Mazurek's growth as a player has been clearly seen throughout this season, where he has been the most dependable player out of the bullpen. This transformation took a lot of hard work and improvement. Not only did he have to fix aspects of pitching, he also had to work on his philosophy for the game.

"Control is a huge thing, it used to be my biggest problem. I didn't make too many mechanical adjustments, but it was more of a mental thing to take one pitch at a time and start throwing more strikes," Mazurek said.

The main person that has helped Dave Mazurek through his three-year college career at Illinois has been Head Coach Itch Jones. His guidance is something that the pitcher is very grateful for.

"His experience is amazing, he knows more about the game than anyone else I've ever been around. If you ever have a question in any situation he always has the answer and wants to help," said Mazurek.

Having the faith that Coach Jones has for Mazurek is what is going to help the Illini through the rest of the season. This weekend against Northwestern will be just another test to show the powers of the Big Ten why he is the reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, if not the most dominant closer in the league. Tough games will be a lot easier to deal with later on in the season for the Illini if Mazurek can keep up his pace.