June 1, 2007
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -
Fourteen University of Illinois student-athletes are playing for summer collegiate league teams this year, with the bulk of them in the highly regarded Northwoods League. The group of Illini is spread out over eight teams in three different leagues - Northwoods, Coastal Plain and Chicago Suburban.
As usual, Fighting Illini will highlight a number of Northwoods League rosters, with Big Ten Player of the Year Lars Davis headlining the group as he and Illinois teammate Joe Bonadonna compete for the Duluth Huskies. Third-team All-Big Ten designated hitter Daniel Webb and Brandon Wikoff will team up in Madison as they try to help the Mallards to their second league title in the last four years. Meanwhile, Scott Shaw and Mike Giller are with the Waterloo Bucks and Craig Lutes continues the Illinois tradition of having a player with the Rochester Honkers. Former Illini Jake Toohey, Dusty Bensko and Toby Gardenhire all played for the Honkers.
The NWL season started Thursday, with Shaw, Davis and Bonadonna starring in their respective teams' openers. Shaw picked up where he left off in the Big Ten Tournament, striking out 10 in six innings while allowing two hits and a walk for his first win of the summer, defeating Green Bay, 3-0. Farther north, Davis was 2-for-5 with three RBI, two runs and a steal, while Bonadonna went 2-for-4 with two runs and a steal to lead the Huskies to a 10-2 win over St. Cloud on Thursday.
Out east, Dominic Altobelli and Aaron Martin return to Fayetteville for their second season with the Coastal Plain League's Swampdogs, bringing with them Illinois teammate Ben Reeser. Martin and Reeser both had strong outings in the Swampdogs' second game, Martin going seven innings, allowing three unearned runs on six hits with three strikeouts to help defeat the Wilson Tobs 11-6. Reeser pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings to finish the game, striking out a pair.
Closer to home, four Illini will compete in the Chicago Suburban Baseball League. Nick Stockwell and Matt Dittman will play for the Lombard Orioles, Mike Stankiewicz will pitch for the Crystal Lake Cardinals and Kevin Manson will toe the rubber for the Crestwood Panthers.
Check FightingIllini.com throughout the summer for periodic updates on Illinois players in collegiate summer leagues, or stay up on their progress by visiting the summer league page, which lists every Illini playing summer ball. There also will be a summer version of the Diamond Notes blog, as Illini who are competing in the summer will keep fans up-to-date with their teams and summer seasons with updates as often as twice-weekly.
