May 22, 2007

Complete Big Ten Tournament Notes in PDF Format
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Game 56 // Iowa // Big Ten Tournament

Iowa (31-21 // 17-13) vs. ILLINOIS (30-25 // 16-14)
Radio: WDWS AM-1400; Live streaming on fightingillini.com
(Dave Loane, play-by-play; Ben Taylor, analyst)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Series: Illinois leads 121-77-2 overall, 2-0 at neutral-sites
This Year: Iowa won, 3-1
Streak: L3

Pitching Probables
Game 1
Illinois: Tanner Roark (RHP, 7-2, 4.74 ERA)
Iowa: Steve Turnbull (RHP, 2-3, 4.86 ERA)

Game 2
Illinois: Mike Stankiewicz (RHP, 4-5, 6.68 ERA)
TBA: TBA

Game 3
Illinois: Scott Shaw (RHP, 5-4, 6.91 ERA)
TBA: TBA

Illini Line Drives
• For the second straight season, Illinois split the final series of the regular season against Michigan State to earn a berth in the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 5 seed. Unlike last season in which the Illini won the final two games, this year Illinois took games 1 and 4, dropping the doubleheader.

• Illinois has won six of its last nine games and is 10-5 in the month of May.

• Illinois' team batting average of .324 is one of the three best in the last 10 years, with the 1998 squad's .347 mark and the team's .338 average in 1999 coming in ahead of this season's. The Illini have hit .312 in each of the past two years and have hit over .300 as a team in seven of the last nine years.

• The Illini have boosted their power numbers lately, swatting seven homers in the last five games. Lars Davis has been responsible for four of those bombs, Mike Rohde has two in that span and Nick Stockwell went yard once. Oddly enough, four of those homers - 3 by Davis, 1 by Rohde - have come on 0-0 counts, and two have been on 2-2 pitches (Rohde, Stockwell).

• Illinois has become the Cardiac Kids lately, coming from behind in four of its last six wins. Both victories against Michigan State were comebacks, while the Illini's Friday night win over Indiana and the triumph in the second game of the doubleheader with the Hoosiers both were come-from-behind affairs.

• A handful of Illini continue to chase records: Lars Davis is currently second on the single-season hits chart, 15 behind Tim Richardson's record of 104 and tied with Brian McClure's 89. Shawn Roof has taken over the season and career hit-by-pitch, and season stolen base records. He also holds the Illinois records for steals and HBP in a Big Ten season. Jake Toohey tied the Big Ten season saves record last Friday and is third on the career saves list. He also is seventh on the career appearances list and tied for fifth on the Big Ten season appearances list. For more record updates, check out page 7.

• Davis had quite a powerful week last week, smacking four homers and a double in five games for a 1.267 slugging percentage. He drove in seven runs and scored seven on the week, hitting 6-for-15 (.400).

• The Indiana series was memorable for Shawn Roof, who broke both the single-season steals (38) and single-season HBP (20) records, and bettered his own Big Ten season steals (18) and HBP records (12). Last weekend against Michigan State, Roof broke Andy Small's career HBP record with his 45th plunking. His 19 steals in Big Ten play tied the record set last season by Michigan's Eric Rose.

• Daniel Webb has caught fire since moving to the No. 5 hole in the batting order in the third game at Northwestern, hitting .419 (39-for-93) with 19 RBI, eight runs, six doubles and a home run in those 27 games. Mike Rohde also has hit very well since switching with Webb into the No. 4 hole, hitting .355 with 28 RBI, 25 runs, nine doubles, three triples and three homers in that span.

• Ryan Snowden has been an incredible lead-off hitter for the Illini this season, hitting .388 with a .434 OBP when he leads-off the game. Snowden has 19 hits to start the game and eight first-inning doubles. As the lead-off batter in any inning, Snowden is reaching base at a .433 clip.

• Tanner Roark has been very strong on Fridays recently, allowing just 16 earned runs on 51 hits and 15 walks while striking out 30 in 42 2/3 innings for a 3.37 ERA in his last six starts. Roark struck out a career-high nine Northwestern hitters in seven innings on April 13 before fanning six Hawkeyes in seven innings on April 20. He finished his second Big Ten campaign 6-1 with a 4.61 ERA. He was tied for the wins lead in conference games, second in innings pitched (54 2/3) and tied for third in strikeouts (35).

• Jake Toohey had a stellar weekend against Michigan State, earning a save and a win, factoring in both Illini wins to reach the Big Ten Tournament. Toohey saved the Illinois win on Friday with a four-out performance, then tossed 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief on Sunday to allow the Illini to come back from a 7-0 fifth-inning deficit. Toohey currently leads the Illini with a 3.43 ERA.

• Lars Davis showed why he's a leading candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year and All-America honors last Sunday. With the Illini trailing 7-3 in the fifth inning and needing a win to make the Big Ten Tournament, Davis blasted a solo homer. One inning later, with Illinois still down, 7-6, Davis ripped a two-run bomb down the right-field line to provide the winning 8-7 margin.

• Davis has had an incredible season, hitting .416 for the year and putting together a career-best 19-game hitting streak from March 10-April 14. Davis bounced back from his streak-busting oh-fer in the doubleheader nightcap at Northwestern by going 4-for-5 in the series finale, then hitting an inside-the-park home run at Illinois State, the first Illini to do so since Brady Ballard circled them all at Indiana in 2000.

• Through Sunday's games, the Fighting Illini are third in the conference in hitting with a .324 team average in all games. Illinois leads the league in hits (611) and steals (107-of-140), and is third in the league lead in runs scored (391). The Illini also have the second-fewest strikeouts (221) in the Big Ten.

• Davis is second in the Big Ten in hitting in all games at .416 and also second in hits (89) and RBI (56). Davis leads the league in slugging (.673), total bases (144) and home runs (13) and runners caught stealing (23). He's fourth in on-base percentage (.473) and tied for fifth with three triples.

• Roof leads the Big Ten in stolen bases (39), steal attempts (46) and hit by pitch (22) in all games, Mike Rohde leads the league in fielding double plays (53) and is tied for second in doubles (20) and triples (4). He also is fifth in RBI with 51. Ryan Snowden is fourth in the league in doubles (19).

• Davis leads Illinois with 25 multiple-hit games (16 two-hit, 3 three-hit, 6 four-hit) and his 16 multiple-RBI games (8 two-RBI, 8 three-RBI) are tops on the squad. For comparison's sake, Illinois had only nine four-hit games as a team in 2006.

• On May 10, Ryan Hastings and Ryan Snowden were named first team Academic All-District for District 5 by ESPN the Magazine. Hastings, who graduated with a degree in sport management last Saturday, has a 3.46 GPA, and Snowden, who also earned a degree in community health on May 12, holds a 3.39 GPA. Both now move on to Academic All-America balloting, which began on Tuesday, May 15.

• Before taking off the week between the Michigan and Indiana series for final exams, Illinois had played an incredible stretch of 22 games in 24 days (4/13-5/6). With no mid-week game following the Michigan series because of final exams, the Illini got a break before finishing the regular season with nine games in 10 days.

• Illinois earned an academic honor on April 26 when it was awarded the NCAA's Public Recognition award for recording a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in the top 10 percent of all Division-I baseball teams. The Illini had a multi-year APR score of 981, which was in the 90th-100th percentile of all D-I baseball teams.

• The Orange and Blue continue to bring large crowds to Illinois Field, with 4,100 fans watching the Illini's series with Minnesota, the seventh-largest series crowd in school history. That total also included a total of 2,166 fans on Saturday, the seventh-best crowd in school history. Illinois opened the season strong, as 1,060 fans came to the Illini's first home game, against Indiana State on March 27. Illinois is averaging 710 fans over 11 home dates.

Illini Open Tournament Play Against Iowa
No. 5 seed Illinois gets a rare second chance, facing fourth-seeded Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. (CT) at Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Illini are looking for redemption following a series loss in Iowa City earlier this season. Starting with their three straight wins over Illinois to finish that series, the Hawkeyes reeled off 12 straight wins, 10 in conference (3 vs. Illinois, 4 vs. Northwestern, 3 vs. Indiana in a shortened series). Iowa has lost four of its last five games, however. Meanwhile, Illinois went 9-7 over the last half of the conference season, going 13-8 overall after the Iowa series.

This Season vs. Iowa
Illinois dropped three of four games in Iowa City earlier this season, winning on Friday before losing the final three games. Tanner Roark was superb in the opener, giving up just one run on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in seven innings. Both teams committed four errors and Nick Stockwell went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI to lead the Illini to a 6-2 win.

Saturday spelled disaster for Illinois, however, as Iowa took advantage of a stiff wind blowing out to left field, launching four homers - three by Jason White, including a walk-off blast that bounced off the top of the fence - in the opener to take a 10-9 victory. In the nightcap, the Hawkeyes scored seven runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 10-4 win.

On Sunday, both teams came out fighting, with Iowa taking an 11-4 lead after three innings, but the Illini using a six-run fifth inning to grab a 12-11 advantage. The lead was short-lived, though, as Iowa scored two in the bottom of the fifth and four in the seventh to seal a wild 17-12 win in which each side used six pitchers.

This Season vs. the Field
Not surprisingly for a team seeded fifth, the Illini have a record below .500 against squads in the Big Ten Tournament. Overall, Illinois is 5-9 against the field, having not played Penn State. Below is a breakdown of how the Illini fared in each series against tournament qualifiers this season:

Date Opponent Result 4/8 Ohio State Split, 1-1 4/20-22 at Iowa Lost series, 1-3 4/27-29 Minnesota Lost series, 1-3 5/4-6 at Michigan Split, 2-2

Individually vs. Iowa
A handful of Illini had good series at Iowa earlier this year, with Shawn Roof's .500 average, three doubles, five runs and 6-of-7 steals leading the way. Lars Davis drove in a team-high five runs and Kyle Hudson hit .455 with a pair of swipes. On the mound, Tanner Roark held a 1.29 ERA in his Friday win, while Jonathan Smiley gave the Illini 4 1/3 solid innings of relief, posting a 2.08 ERA and a .143 opponent batting average.

Last Time Out: Michigan State
In a series that lived up to its billing as deciding at least one Big Ten Tournament qualifier, the teams split, meaning Illinois took the tournament's No. 5 seed and Michigan State's season ended. Illinois landed the first blow, winning 6-5 in comeback fashion on Friday after MSU had taken an early 4-0 lead. Tanner Roark settled down after two rough innings to start the game and ended up getting the win.

Saturday was all Michigan State as the Spartans launched eight home runs in 14 innings, taking game one 7-3 and game two 16-4.

With the Illini needing a win to clinch a tournament berth after Ohio State had won its regular-season finale, MSU took a 7-0 lead after 4 1/2 innings. But Nick Stockwell got Illinois back in the game with a three-run, two-out homer off the scoreboard, cutting the margin to 7-3. After Jake Toohey kept the Spartans off the board in the sixth - the first scoreless inning by an Illini pitcher to that point - Lars Davis homered and Illinois got another run to get within 7-5. After a seventh-inning sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 7-6, Brandon Wikoff tripled and Davis blasted his second homer in as many innings, giving Illinois an 8-7 lead, its first of the day. Toohey made it hold up, pitching out of trouble in the eighth to get the win.

*Complete game notes available in the above PDF file.