Feb. 18, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Well Illini fans, they've handed me free reign over the keyboard to bring you updates on another baseball season. Actually it's not quite free reign, but like last season I'm going to try to bring you some interesting behind-the-scenes information and stories about this edition of Fighting Illini baseball. I'm hoping to make weekly posts, but if you know my track record from last season it might be a little more sporadic...

Pre-season practice is winding down and we're getting ready to head down to Edinburg, Texas, for our first weekend of baseball. Lately in practice, the pitchers have been throwing live to our hitters, which makes for some spirited competition as everybody is trying to get into game shape. The pitchers are gradually throwing more innings each outing so they can be ready to take the mound once the season starts.

Hitters have been taking a lot of swings off the live pitching and the coaches have been working to correct any kinks that might develop. At this point, I think everybody is just ready to get outside for games.

With the new universal start date this year, every team in the nation (except for Hawaii and Hawaii-Hilo, who started last week) will be starting games this coming weekend, which should put everybody on more of an equal footing. It should be an exciting year.

I'll be checking in from Edinburg, so look for that this weekend. You can follow along with our games on GameTracker right here on fightingillini.com.

Go Illini!
Michael Schroeder