March 18, 2004
Champaign, Ill. -
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Quick Hits - Illinois Head Coach Itch Jones is 12 wins away from his 1,200th career coaching victory. He will be the 14th head coach in the history of Division I baseball to reach that plateau . . . Illinois plays 25 percent (14/56) of its games this season against teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 . . . Illinois has nine or more hits in eight of the nine games it has played so far . . . In 125 years of intercollegiate competition, Illinois has opened the season with a shutout win 14 times, including this year's 4-0 win over Western Kentucky on Feb. 27. The last time Illinois opened the season with a shutout was in 1984, when the Illini beat Indiana Southeastern 8-0 to open the season on Feb. 26.
Spring Break Preview - This is the first time in two years Illinois has not spent its Spring Break in Florida and only the second time in the last six. Illinois has traveled to Bradenton, Fla., the last two Spring Breaks, posting a 4-1 record there a year ago and a 5-0 record in 2002.
Last Week In Texas - Last weekend Illinois traveled to Round Rock, Texas for the Round Rock College Classic at the Double-A Dell Diamond. Scheduled to play three games, Illinois only got in two after constant rain in the area for three days forced the cancellation of Sunday's action. Illinois' first game saw the Illini fall, 4-1, to Texas Tech after collecting only four hits, the team's lowest hit output all season. The Illinois offense rebounded with nine hits Saturday against Texas State, but few came with runners in scoring position and the team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the bottom of the ninth.
Stellar Defense - With only eight errors in 324 total chances, Illinois is currently leading the Big Ten with a .976 fielding percentage. As a group, the starting infield has committed only two errors (a .988 fielding percentage) and the starting outfield has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. Not bad for a group that includes one new starter in the infield (Hastings at second) and one in a new position (Bensko at first) and an outfield that features a converted infielder (DiMaria in right) and a new starter (Huisinga in center).
Hastings Fitting Right In - Similar to each of the last five years, there is a freshman making an immediate impact in the Illinois line-up. Mattoon native Ryan Hastings has stepped in at second base, gamely making up for the loss of T.F. Meagher to graduation. Hastings is hitting .333 out of the second slot of the line-up, and provides a much-needed left-handed bat between lead-off man Vince DiMaria and the heart of the Illini order.
Impressive Trio - The Illini rotation of Joe Ziemba, Jimmy Conroy and Ted Rowe has been a solid one for Illinois thus far in the season. All three have flirted with shutouts into the late innings - Ziemba into the ninth against South Florida, Rowe through seventh against Western Kentucky and Conroy through eight against Western Kentucky and five against Texas State. The trio has a combined 5.08 ERA, but take away one bad early season inning from each (Ziemba 4 in the 1st - MSU; Conroy 4 in the 4th USF; Rowe 2 in the 1st USF) and their combined ERA drops to 3.16.
Ziemba Flirts With No-Hitter - Illini senior righthander Joe Ziemba flirted with a no-hitter in his start against South Florida March 7, tossing eight innings of no-hit ball before losing his bid to become the first Illini pitcher to throw a no-hitter since 1985 in the ninth inning. He allowed back-to-back doubles to open the inning before being pulled in favor of James Morris. Illinois went on to win the game 8-2 and Ziemba improved his record to 1-1 on the year. Ziemba's final pitching line was as follows: 8+ IP, 2 hits, 2 runs (earned), 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.
Rowe Named Big Ten Pitcher Of The Week - Illini senior righthander Ted Rowe earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors March 2 after throwing a no-hitter through five and a one-hitter through seven in Illinois' 4-0 Opening Day win over Western Kentucky. He struck out five and walked only one to earn his second career Big Ten weekly award.
Back To Back - Illinois posted back-to-back shutouts against Western Kentucky, 4-0 and 10-0, to open the 2004 campaign. The last time Illinois posted two-straight shutous was last year at the UTPA Al Ogletree Classic, when Illinois beat UTPA 4-0 and Prairie View 13-0 on consecutive days (March 15-16). The last time Illinois posted two-straight shutouts against the same team was April 4, 1998 when the Illini shutout Northwestern 8-0 on both sides of a doubleheader, and the last time the Illini opened the season with a pair of shutouts was in 1907, when Illinois beat Wabash 13-0 (4/17) and Chicago 10-0 (4/20).
Illini Debuts - Eight athletes made their debuts in Illinois uniforms at the Mississippi State Challenge, including freshman Ryan Hastings (2B) and sophomore Ryan Rogowski (CF), who each started three games. Besides those two, infielders Shawn Roof and J.R. Kyes, catchers Jeff Meyer and Jim Sharwarko and pitchers Brandon Murphy and Jonathan Smiley all saw their first action for the Orange and Blue.
Preseason Predictions - The national publications have weighed in, and Illinois is predicted to finish among the upper division of the Big Ten in 2004. Baseball America picked the Illini to finish fourth in the conference, behind Minnesota, Ohio State and Michigan. Two Illini, left fielder Drew Davidson and shortstop Eric Eymann, were named to the preseason All-Conference team by Baseball America, while the publication also tabbed Eymann as the league's best defensive shortstop. Sophomore Chris Robinson, despite not being eligible for the draft this year, was listed as the No. 8 prospect in the conference.
Summer Ball - University of Illinois baseball players compete in some of the most prestigious collegiate summer leagues every year and this coming summer will be no exception. Sixteen of Illinois' top underclassmen will suit up for various summer leagues across the country. Below is a tentative list of which players are going where.
Cape Cod Baseball League - Drew Davidson (Harwich), Eric Eymann (Harwich), Chris Robinson (Hyannis).
Central Illinois Collegiate League - Trevor Huisinga (Quincy), Jeff Meyer (Springfield), Shawn Roof (Quincy), Rob Sullivan (Twin Cities).
Coastal Plains League - Dusty Bensko (Wilmington).
Northwoods League - Emanuel Bishop (Mankato), Jimmy Conroy (Rochester), Chad Frk (Madison), Ryan Hastings (Waterloo), J.R. Kyes (LaCrosse), Brandon Murphy (Waterloo), Jeff Paarlberg (Rochester), Ryan Rogowski (Madison).
Illini Ink Four In Early Signing Period - The University of Illinois Baseball team signed four student-athletes to national letters of intent during the fall signing period. Illinois welcomes a class that includes three high school seniors and a junior college sophomore, all of whom will join the Illini program next fall. The group is made up of three pitchers and one infielder.
The class includes infielder Joe Bonadonna (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson), lefthander Blake Hopkins (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), righthander Scott Shaw (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) and righthander Matt Whitmore (Evansville, Ind./Central/John A. Logan C.C.).
Six Years Of Pitching Dominance- In five of the last six years, Illinois Baseball has had a pitcher earn All-American accolates, and Illinois has won three of the last six Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Awards. Those All-Americans (Brett Weber '98, Jimmy Journell '99, Jason Anderson '00 and Andy Dickinson '01, '02 have raised the bar in defining what it takes to be an Illinois ace. In the years this group won the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year award (Weber '98, Anderson '00, Dickinson '01), the three posted a 16-3 combined record in game one of the BigTen series' they pitched in. In addition, they led Illinois to two NCAARegional appearances and posted a 4-1 combined record in the postseason during the year they were named the Pitcher of the Year.
Illini In Pro Ball - Thirteen former Illini are on the rosters of professional teams heading into Spring Training this year. They are: Jason Anderson(New York Mets), Patrick Arlis (Florida Marlins minor league), Chris Basak (New York Mets minor league), Brandon Cashman (Texas Rangers minor league), Andy Dickinson (Oakland A's minor league), Jimmy Journell(St.Louis Cardinals), Dave Mazurek (Texas Rangers minor league), Justin Olson (Minnesota Twins minor league), Sean Patrick (Baltimore Orioles minor league), Andy Schutzenhofer (St. Louis Cardinals minor leaue), Scott Spiezio(Seattle Mariners), Matt Vorwald (Minnesota Twins minor league) and Mitch Walk (San Francisco Giants minor league).
This Is Illinois Baseball - Illinois Baseball has 23 All-Americans in the last 12 years - including 2003 Freshman All-American Eric Eymann . . . The 2004 Illini squad features two former Freshman All-American: Eymann and outfielder Drew Davidson (2002) . . . Illinois Baseball's 2,165 all-time wins rank 12th in NCAA Division I Baseball history . . . Illinois Baseball has hit over .300 as a team in five of the past six years . . . Illinois Baseball has had three Big Ten Players of the Year and three Big Ten Pitchers of the Year in the 1990s . . . Illinois Baseball has 91 Academic All-BigTenselections over the last 12 years . . . Illinois Baseball has 27 Big Ten Championships in the program's history.
