April 20, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - Hey Illini Fans!

I just wanted to check in from the Land of 10,000 Lakes during our weekend series against Minnesota. Unlike two years ago when we played Minnesota in the Metrodome, this series is outside at Minnesota's on-campus field - and the weather caused some problems. Our game on Friday was rained out so we played a doubleheader today and we have a doubleheader tomorrow.

It was nice to get back on the winning track with the two wins today. Even though we had lost five in a row, the attitude at practice last week was very positive because everybody knew what they had to work on to help the team get better. The guys never hung their heads or felt sorry for themselves, but instead remained confident that if they just played their game things would turn around.

In other news off of the field, Ryan Hastings is one of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. This award honors a player who is a leader on the field as well as a contributor to the community. Ryan is definitely deserving of this award. The fans make up a portion of the award voting, so visit http://baseball.seniorclassaward.com/public/men/vote.aspx to cast your vote for Ryan. And because of this mention in the widely-read Diamond Notes, I fully expect my readers to help Ryan run away with this award.

After we get back from Minnesota tomorrow we can finally unpack our bags for a while and enjoy back-to-back home Big Ten series and a few home midweek games. It will be nice to see the Illini Faithful out in force at Illinois Field.

That's it from Minnesota.

Go Illini!
Michael Schroeder