April 10, 2007

Illinois-Bradley Game Notes in PDF Format
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Game 24// Bradley
April 10 // 6:05 p.m.
Illinois Field // Champaign, Ill.

Series Insider
Bradley (14-2) at Illinois (11-12)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Radio: WDWS AM-1400; Live streaming on fightingillini.com
Series: Illinois leads 38-17-1
Last Year: Bradley won, 8-7
Streak: L4

Pitching Probables
Illinois: Bobby Barrett (RHP, 1-1, 6.59 ERA)
Bradley: Tyler Thornton (RHP, 2-0, 0.93 ERA)

Illini Line Drives
• Ryan Hastings earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors after going 6-for-7 in two games with Ohio State. The redshirt-junior scored four runs and drove in one in the double-dip. It is Illinois' second Player of the Week winner in the past three weeks, following Lars Davis' mention on March 26. Hastings now has three straight multiple-hit games and has at least one hit in 12 of his last 13 games. Hastings currently holds the fifth-best batting average in Big Ten conference games.

• Lars Davis continues his torrid hitting, going 4-for-9 (.444) with three runs and a run RBI against Ohio State.. He currently has a career-best 16-game hitting streak and has gone hitless in just one game this season (3/9 at UT-Arlington). His .475 batting average was fourth nationally through Sunday's games. Official NCAA stats will be released for the first time this season on Wednesday.

• Ryan Snowden extended his hitting streak to 21 games with his 3-for-4 night against WMU. He knocked two doubles, drove in two and scored once. His hitting streak is the longest by an Illini since Andy Schutzenhofer had a 20-gamer in the 2000 season. The school record is 23 games, held by Tom Sinak.

• Nick Stockwell is yet another Illini hitter currently on fire at the plate. After going 1-for-1 with a run in the series finale at Purdue, Stockwell got a spot start in center against Western Michigan and went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and two runs. In the OSU doubleheader, all he did was go 3-for-7 with a double, two RBI and two runs. He's hitting .500 (6-for-12) in Illinois' last four games with five RBI, five runs, a double and a homer.

• Shawn Roof clearly likes the number four. Wearing No. 44, Roof was hit by a pitch four times in the second game against Ohio State, breaking the single-game school record. He also tied the single-game steals record on March 4 against Stephen F. Austin, swiping four bags.

• March 27's crowd of 1,060 Illini fans broke the Illinois Field record for a home opener, eclipsing last season's 1,012 fans at the home opener against Purdue on March 31, 2006.

• Through Monday's games, the Fighting Illini are second in the conference in hitting with a .335 team average in all games and third in conference games at .332. Ohio State's .341 mark leads the league. Illinois is first in the league in hits (280), second in runs scored (175), has the second-fewest strikeouts (107) and is second in steals with 48-of-61.

• Davis is second in the Big Ten in hitting in all games at .475 and Kyle Hudson's .423 mark ranks fourth. Davis also leads the league in hits (47), total bases (72), slugging percentage (.727), home runs (6) and runners caught stealing (11). He's second in runs (27), RBI (26) and triples (2) and fourth in on-base percentage (.495). Hudson is second in the Big Ten in on-base percentage (.506).

• Shawn Roof leads the Big Ten in stolen bases (18) steal attempts (22) and hit by pitch (8) in all games, Mike Rohde is tied for the conference lead in sacrifice flies (3) and tied for fifth in RBI (22) and doubles (9), and Ryan Snowden is tied for fourth in the league in hit by pitch (6) and fifth in runs (22).

• Davis leads Illinois with 14 multiple-hit games (8 two-hit, 1 three-hit, 5 four-hit) and his eight multiple-RBI games (5 two-RBI, 3 three-RBI) are best on the squad.

Illini Host Braves
Illinois hosts Bradley on Tuesday, looking to end its longest drought against the Braves in the history of the series. Bradley has won the last four meetings between the teams, dating back to 2002. Illinois' last win was an 8-7 victory in 1999, but the teams didn't play in 2000, 2001 or 2005. All-time, Illinois leads the series 38-17-1.

Tuesday's Promotions
Tuesday's game against Bradley will be the third $2 Tuesday promotion of the season, where fans can buy a $2 admission ticket and also enjoy a hot dog and small soda for $2 while supplies last. In addition, the first 50 University of Illinois students will receive a free T-shirt.

Last Year vs. Bradley
Illinois dropped a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to Bradley at O'Brien Field last season when the Braves scored a run in the bottom of the ninth. The Illini scored four runs in the first inning and took a 7-2 lead in the sixth. But a five-run seventh pulled Bradley back in the game and scored in the ninth to win. In the ninth, former Illini reliever Aaron Saving struck out the first batter before allowing a hit and hitting a batter (the eighth HBP of the game, two short of tying the NCAA single-game record). Mike Rohde fielded a grounder going to his left at third base and threw to Ryan Hastings to start the inning-ending double play, but Rohde's throw was high and allowed the runner from second to score the winning run.

Current Illini vs. Bradley
A handful of current Illini have fared well against Bradley, with Mike Rohde going 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run in 2006. Ryan Snowden singled, stole two bases and scored twice last season. Shawn Roof is 2-for-6 with an RBI in two games vs. BU, and Ryan Hastings is 2-for-8 with two RBI, a run and a steal in two games. Lars Davis also doubled last season, driving in a run and scoring a run.

Last Time Out: Ohio State
After two games of the series were lost because of the cold weather, Illinois and Ohio State managed to fit in a doubleheader on Sunday last week. The Illini jumped on top early in the first game, scoring a run in the first, three in the second and another in the third for a 5-0 lead. But OSU fought back with a five-run rally over the next three innings to tie the game 5-5. Illinois took advantage of a handful of Buckeye miscues in the eighth inning as Eric Best relieved OSU starter Cory Luebke. With one out, Ryan Hastings reached on a bunt single and Nick Stockwell was hit by a pitch. Kyle Hudson reached on an error to load the bases and Ryan Snowden was hit by a pitch, driving in Hastings, and Brandon Wikoff walked to drive in Stockwell. After a pitching change, Lars Davis finished the rally with a sacrifice fly, putting Illinois up 8-5. Jake Toohey used just nine pitches in the ninth inning to record his second save of the year.

In the nightcap, OSU pulled ahead early, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning and chasing Illini starter Scott Shaw. But Illinois scored three in the second and another in the third, cutting the margin to 5-4. The Buckeyes scored three in the fourth before the Illini scored once in the fourth and twice in the sixth to come within 8-7. But OSU scored twice in the seventh to salt away the 10-7 win.

Crowding In On Opening Day
With three teams yet to open their home-field gates in 2007, Illinois had the second-best crowd among Big Ten teams in home-openers so far this season. The Illini's opening-night attendance of 1,060 was behind only Minnesota, who drew 2,508 for a doubleheader with No. 16 Ole Miss in the Dairy Queen Classic on March 3. Below is a listing of all Big Ten teams' home-opening dates and crowds:

1. Minnesota	March 3	2,508
2. Illinois	March 27	1,060
3. Ohio State	March 28	891
4. Purdue	March 30	844
5. Penn State	March 23	762
6. Michigan	March 23	669
7. Iowa	March 23	444
8. Michigan State	March 24	323
9. Northwestern	March 30	307
10. Indiana	March 7	306

Do They Play Baseball in Switzerland
Illinois has a shocking record in road games versus neutral-site games. On opponents' fields, the Illini are 2-9, but they are 7-1 at neutral sites. Illinois is 1-1 this season at home.

Do They Play Baseball in Switzerland
Illinois has a shocking record in road games versus neutral-site games. On opponents' fields, the Illini are 2-9, but they are 7-1 at neutral sites. Illinois is 1-1 this season at home.

Just One, Please
After the season's first 23 games, 222 of 280 (79 percent) of Illinois' hits have been singles. Like last season, the Illini hit the power switch on Spring Trip, knocking 24 extra-base hits (28 percent of their total of 87 hits on the trip).

Joining the Hit Parade
Despite their seeming lack of power, Illinois ranks fourth in the Big Ten in home runs (13) and doubles (40). In order to score an average of 7.6 runs per game, the Illini have swung the bats well through much of the season, averaging 12.2 hits per game. Illinois has scored 10 or more runs six times so far, has 15 games with 10+ hits and seven with 15+ hits.

Three Down, One to Go
Illinois has had a high rate of success of driving in a runner from third with less than two outs so far this season. In that situation, the Illini have brought home the runner 74 percent of the time (64-for-87). Of those opportunities, Kyle Hudson (6-for-6) is perfect in the situation, while Daniel Webb (7-for-8), Mike Rohde (7-for-8) and Ryan Hastings (4-for-5) have executed all but one time.

Here We Go, Here We Go Again
A team that returned most of the 87 stolen bases from a year ago, the Illini have swiped 48-of-61 bags this season through 21 games. Illinois took 9-of-11 bases at the Al Ogletree Classic, followed that up with a 10-of-11 performance at UT-Arlington and stole 14-of-19 bags on Spring Trip. Once again, Shawn Roof is leading the charge at 18-of-22 thus far, Kyle Hudson is 10-of-11 and Ryan Snowden is 5-of-7.

Illini Take Opponents Two-by-Two
With 10 double plays on Spring Trip, Illinois is third in the Big Ten lead in the category with 26. The Illini had a pair of three-DP games in Bradenton, turning two three times against Dartmouth on March 19 and against UMass. First baseman Mike Rohde is second in the Big Ten with 22 fielding double plays.

The 'Pen Is Mightier
After a tough first three weeks, the Illini bullpen pulled it together over Spring Trip, giving up just four runs in 12 innings, not counting usual starter Scott Shaw's six-inning relief appearance after closer Jake Toohey started the March 23 game against Dartmouth. All of those runs came in the eighth inning of Illinois' 20-10 thrashing of Dartmouth. In those 11 scoreless innings of relief, Illini pitchers gave up just seven hits and two walks while striking out 10. Illinois is 5-3 when the bullpen gets the decision.

• Freshman Billy Barrett had great success on Spring Trip, tossing a scoreless inning against Yale and three perfect frames against Dartmouth on March 22.

• Senior Omar Kadir simply tossed four scoreless innings against Yale for the win, had a shutout inning of work against Indiana St. on March 27 and got the win against WMU with 2 1/3 shutout innings.

• Redshirt-sophomore Mike Stankiewicz got a relief win in the first game against Ohio State after making his first five appearances in a starting role. Stankiewicz worked two scoreless innings against the Buckeyes.

Snowden's Streak Among Illini Best
Leftfielder Ryan Snowden's 21-game hitting streak is the second-longest hitting streak in Illinois history. During the streak, the senior has notched nine multiple-hit games and has hit .407. Recently, he has heated up, going 17-for-33 (.515) in Illinois' last six games with four doubles, a homer, eight RBI and seven runs. Snowden now ranks behind only Tom Sinak on the all-time hitting streak chart:

	Player	Dates of Streak	# of Games
1.	Tom Sinak	4/17/94-3/5/95	23
2.	Ryan Snowden	2/25/07-present

Lars Davis, Canadian Hit Machine
Catcher Lars Davis has exploded at the plate in the past two weeks, raising his batting average 109 points from the end of the Jacksonville State game through the Western Michigan game, going 32-for-58 (.552) over that span with five homers, 16 RBI, 20 runs, three doubles, two steals and three walks. His 16-game hitting streak is the second-longest on the team behind Ryan Snowden's 21-gamer and his 0-for-5 opener at Texas-Arlington is the only thing keeping him from a 23-game hitting streak.

Roof At It Again
After finishing second in the Big Ten in steals in 2006, Shawn Roof hasn't wasted any time on the basepaths this season. Against Louisiana-Lafayette, he stole a pair of bases on the same trip around the infield, taking both second and third bases in the fourth inning of the Sunday game. Exactly one week later, Roof broke his career high and tied the school single-game record with four steals against Stephen F. Austin. Then, at UT-Arlington, Roof stole four bags, including two in the Saturday contest.

• He opened the season with 11 straight swipes and also stole six straight is currently on a streak of six-straight steals.

• After stealing two bags on Friday at Purdue, Roof now has five multiple-steal games on the season and nine in his career.