April 8, 2014
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Illinois baseball junior John Kravetz was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career, announced the conference office Tuesday. Kravetz tossed a career-high eight scoreless innings, equaled a career-high seven strikeouts and did not issue a walk in Illinois' 1-0 victory that completed the sweep at Northwestern on Sunday.
Kravetz led the Illini to their first 1-0 victory since Feb. 24, 2008, against Lamar at the Al Ogletree Classic. The Lansing, Ill., native scattered four hits against the Wildcats and improved to 3-1 on the season. He becomes the second Illini honored with the award this season, joining sophomore Kevin Duchene (March 3). College Sports Madness also named Kravetz its Big Ten Player of the Week for his performance in Evanston.
Illinois' pitching staff only allowed two runs in 28 innings for a 0.64 ERA in the Northwestern sweep, which included two shutouts. UI hurlers recorded 30 strikeouts and only two walks on the weekend. In the latest NCAA stat rankings, Illinois ranks seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (2.23), 13th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.05) and 29th in ERA (2.80), which is the second-best earned run average in the Big Ten.
