Fall Diamond Notes #2
October 21, 2008 | Baseball
Oct. 21, 2008
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Well Illini fans, we're approaching the end of October, which means the start of the season is just four short months away. Illinois Field is quiet now, as we wrapped up fall practice a couple of weeks ago and are now in the middle of offseason weightlifting and agility workouts. The guys might not like pumping iron and working on footwork as much as taking batting practice and fly balls, but this is the time where our team can get an edge over the rest of the conference before even taking the field in the spring.
One thing that I have noticed about this edition of Fighting Illini Baseball is that each and every guy likes to compete. Whether it's working to get good swings against a pitcher in batting practice or simply trying to outrun the guy in front of him during conditioning, these guys are all about competition. It's pretty entertaining to see how worked up some of the players get if they lose or come close to losing. It bodes well for the season in my opinion.
Coach Westray and the pitching staff took it one step further this fall, actually putting numbers to the competition to see who would come out on top. During each time on the mound, the pitcher would earn or lose points based on how he did. For example, getting an out on four pitches or less might be worth one point, while walking a batter or giving up an earned run might lose a point or two. It was interesting to see who scored well during these sessions, and I imagine it spiced things up for the Illini hurlers when they took the mound each day.
That's all to report for now. I'm already off to a less-than-stellar start with the "weekly" Diamond Notes, so this may be the last one until we come back from Christmas Break and get right into the chase for a Big Ten Championship. Maybe I'll sneak another one in here before then so my loyal readers aren't hitting the refresh button on fightingillini.com in vain.
Go Illini!
Michael Schroeder
