Feb. 15, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois' baseball season begins next Friday against Sam Houston State at the Al Ogletree Classic in Edinburg, Texas, and the Fighting Illini pitching staff looks to use the experience many of its members gained in 2007 as a springboard for the 2008 campaign. Weekend starters Scott Shaw and Mike Stankiewicz return after starting 23 games, including 14 Big Ten starts, a season ago, and four other pitchers with starting experience are vying for the other two spots in the weekend rotation. Here's a detailed look at the Illini pitching staff, the 2008 schedule and the FieldTurf installation at Illinois Field.

Starting Pitchers
Who's Back: Illinois returns pitchers who accounted for 59 percent of the team's starts a year ago, including veterans Scott Shaw and Mike Stankiewicz. Both hurlers shined at times in 2007, with Shaw tossing two complete games and being named to the Al Ogletree Classic All-Tournament team, and Stankiewicz firing three complete games and earning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors after one-hitting Northwestern. Both starters also honed their craft over the summer, with Shaw pitching for the Waterloo Bucks and Stankiewicz toeing the rubber for the Crystal Lake Cardinals of the Chicago Suburban Baseball League. Shaw was a midseason all-star in the NWL and finished the season with 67 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings, and an opponent batting average of just .225.

"Those two guys logged a lot of innings for us last year and gave us some quality starts," Hartleb said. "We'll be looking for some consistency from them, and they're very capable of that because they have very good arms and very good off-speed pitches."

Junior Aaron Martin also returns after starting eight games in 2007, including an exceptional eight-inning outing against Massachusetts on Spring Trip in which he shut out the Minutemen.

"Aaron has the most experience as a starter out of the rest of the pitchers," Hartleb said. "He's made some major mechanical adjustments that will really help him and help us as a team. I'm really pleased with his progress."

Three other potential starters are sophomore Billy Barrett and Kevin Manson, and junior Ben Reeser. Barrett and Manson both logged most of their starts in 2007 during midweek games, but each one got a taste of life as a starter in the Big Ten.

Reeser spent most of last season coming out of the bullpen after starting a number of games during his freshman year. He had a bang-up summer playing with the Fayetteville SwampDogs of the Coastal Plain League, where he was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year after going 8-0 with a 1.61 ERA.

"We threw Barrett and Manson into the fire a few times last year, so now they know what to expect," Hartleb said. "We also have Reeser back, who has a lot of experience and hopefully he can continue to move forward."

Who's Not: Tanner Roark, a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2007, is no longer with the team because of academic reasons. Roark was 8-2 with a 4.55 ERA last season.

Who's New: No one.

Bullpen
Who's Back: Junior Blake Hopkins, sophomore Mike Sterk and redshirt-freshman Blake Fairchild and Lee Zerrusen are the Illini's returners in the bullpen. Hopkins and Zerrusen are back after injuries kept them off the mound last year, and Sterk returns after seeing a few innings of action in his first season with the Illini. Fairchild gives Illinois another left-handed arm out of the pen.

Who's Not: Jake Toohey, the Illini saves leader in Big Ten play, graduated after the 2007 season, as did bullpen arms Brian Long, Jonathan Smiley, Omar Kadir, Luke Obukowicz and Aaron Ifft. Those six combined for 84 appearances, with Toohey, Long and Kadir accounting for 61. Long was a quality innings eater during his career, especially in 2006, Smiley proved to be a solid lefthander out of the pen in 2007 and Kadir had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than one during his two-year career.

Who's New: Sophomore Wes Braun and freshman Nick Chmielewski both may see large roles in the Illini bullpen this season. Braun, a walk-on who joined the team in the fall, has impressed with his work ethic and command. Chmielewski comes more highly touted, as the No. 85 recruit in the country according to Baseball America, and the No. 8 player in the state of Illinois according to Prep Baseball Report. In addition, freshman Phil Haig, a quarterback on the Fighting Illini football team, joins the team and could provide a solid left-handed arm as a rookie. Haig was a five-sport star at Henry Sibley H.S. in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., earning 10 all-conference honors including three in baseball.

"We probably have more good arms than in the past that have the ability to be role players and to help us be very successful," Hartleb said. "In the past, we've been somewhat limited in our options out of the bullpen, but this year we should be much deeper."

Schedule
The Fighting Illini will once again have to be road warriors to start the season, as they play their first 23 games, and 28 of the first 29, away from Illinois Field. In addition, the Orange and Blue will face six teams that qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament, including a four-game series against super regional participant Michigan.

Illinois opens by going to the Al Ogletree Classic in Edinburg, Texas, where it will face 2007 NCAA qualifier Sam Houston State, Texas State and Lamar. The next weekend, the Illini will square off against 2007 NCAA qualifiers Baylor and Illinois-Chicago, as well as Stephen F. Austin, at the Quala-T Imprints Baylor Classic. Following a four-game series at Texas Tech, Illinois will take its annual Spring Trip to Bradenton, Fla., where it will play seven games in eight days.

The Illini open Big Ten play with consecutive road series at Michigan State and Indiana before returning home to face 2007 NCAA Super Regional qualifier Michigan. After a trip to 2007 NCAA qualifier Minnesota, Illinois returns home for 10 straight home games, including series against Penn State and Northwestern. A trip to Ohio State follows, then the Illini wrap up the Big Ten season with a home series against Purdue.

FieldTurf Installation
The other newcomer to the Illini program is the playing surface at Illinois Field. In the offseason, FieldTurf was installed on the entire field, with the exception of the pitching mound. Where there used to be dirt is now terra cotta-colored turf.

"It's going to give us a lot of opportunities to play games when other people aren't playing," Hartleb said. "It's going to be a great opportunity, once it's finished, for us to get out earlier in the year, get some ground balls and fly balls, maybe even some batting practice.

"It's going to give us a very clean, consistent playing surface and something that's unique. There aren't a lot of schools that have it, but I think it's the playing surface of the future in the North."