UIC Baseball's Brian Evak Named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week

University of Illinois Chicago's Brian Evak was named the Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week on March 12th.

Evak earned the honors by throwing five scoreless innings against Northwestern allowing 4 hits and striking out six.  Brian is a Freshman from Plainfield North HS and lives in Plainfield Illinois.

Tyler Deetjen Named Pitcher of the Week in Horizon League Baseball

Left handed pitcher Tyler Deetjen from Valparaiso University was named Horizon League Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the period ending February 19, 2012.

Deetjen pitched seven scoreless innings in Valpo's season opening win against Murray State.  Deetjen, who left the game in the with a 2-0 lead and finished with no decision, gave up four hits striking out four and walking one. 

Tyler is a senior from St. Charles Illinois and attended St. Charles East HS.

Illinois Baseball Players in Horizon League Preview for 2012

Below are the Illinois baseball players mentioned by responding coaches for the Horizon League preview.

Voted as the most underated pitcher in the Horizon League is Tyler Deetjen from Valparaiso.  Deetjen is a 6'3" LHP from St. Charles East HS and lives in St. Charles Illinois.  Tyler threw 103 innings last season going 4-7 with a 4.19 ERA.

Voted with the best outfield arm is UIC junior Nick Addison.  Nick attened Fremd HS and lives in Barrington Illinois.

Illinois Baseball Players to Watch in the Horizon League in 2012

The 2012 Illinois baseball players to watch this year in the Horizon League.  The list is based on how the conference coaches voted in their pre-season polls in the Horizon League.

LHP Tyler Deetjen, Valparaiso, Tyler is from St. Charles East HS and lives in St. Charles Illinois.

3B Patrick Guinane, Butler, Patrick is from Glenbrook South HS and lives in Glenview, Illinois.

OF Mike Hoscheit, Butler, Mike is from St. Charles East HS and lives in St. Charles Illinois.

UIC Baseball Voted Best Recruiting Class in Horizon League

Baseball America voted the University of Illinois Chicago as the top recruiting class in the Horizon League.  UIC brought in left-handed pitcher Ryan Hinchley from York High School who is 87-90 mph, junior college transfer and pitcher Mike Mckinley 87-89 mph,  from Heartland Community College.  The article also mentions infielders Andres Ortegano, Cody Dykema and outfielder Tyler Detmer, who the Flames hope to covert to a catcher.  

 

University of Illinois Chicago Baseball Shares Horizon League Regular Season Title

With the University of Illinois Chicago baseball team sweep of a doubleheader against Youngstown State and with Wright State's loss to Butler,  the Flames fight back to share the 2011 Horizon League regular season championship with Wright State. 

UIC earned the Horizon League tournament number 2 seed and will play on Thursday May 26th at 3:05 pm eastern time.  The Flames opponent will be determined by the highest seed winner of the games played on May 25th.  This years Horizon League Baseball Tournament will be held at Nischwitz Stadium in Dayton Ohio.

ga

Gaedele Earns Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week

Valparaiso Junior outfielder Kyle Gaedele (Rolling Meadows Illinois) was named the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the week ending April 23rd.

Gaedele, who is the great-nephew of Eddie Gaedel - the shortest player ever used in a Major League Baseball game, went 3-5 with a homer and 3 rbi's in the opener against the University of Hawaii and 2-3 with a triple in the final game against Hawaii.  Kyle had a .619 on base percentage and a .786 slugging percentage.  Gaedele was also walked four times and two were intentional. 

Nick Addison from Illinois Chicago Baseball Earns Horizon League Player of the Week

Sophomore outfielder Nick Addison from the University of Illinois Chicago earned the Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week reported on April 18th.

Nick collected a career high five rbi's in game one of a double header against Wright State and a career high four hits in game two.  Nick hit .667 on the week with six rbi's and four runs as UIC swept Wright State and defeated Northwestern last week.

Nick is from Fremd High School and lives in Barrington Illinois.

Horizon League Baseball Top Illinois Baseball Performances of the Week

Top baseball performances of the week from Illinois players in the Horizon League from February 21 through February 27.

Freshman outfielder Jon Ryan from UIC went 5-12 at the plate with a triple, a walk and scored twice in 3 games for the Flames.  Jon is from Richards High School.

Senior pitcher Eric Wyman from UIC had one apperance, 2 innings pitched and 4 strikouts last week.  Eric is from West Chicago High School.

Junior pitcher Tyler Deetjen from Valparaiso threw 7 innings, gave up 4 hits and had 3 strikeouts.  Tyler is from St. Charles East High School.

Senior pitcher Max Friedman from Wright State threw 6 innings, gave up 5 hits and had one strikeout.  Max is from Whitney Young High School.

2011 Horizon League Top Baseball Players to Watch from Illinois

Listed below are the top baseball players and players to watch in the Horizon League who live in Illinois or on an Illinois team.  The list is based on how the conference coaches voted in a special pre-season poll.

Projected Player of the Year:

Outfielder Kyle Gaedele, Valparaiso University, .373 batting average, 19 doubles, 7 home runs, 63 rbi's and 17 stolen bases.  Kyle is from Rolling Meadows High School and lives in Arlington Heights IL.

Other Top Players to Watch in 2011:

Outfielder Steve McGuiggan, University of Illinois Chicago, .355 batting average, 6 home runs, 19 doubles, 19 stolen bases.  Steve lives in Apple Valley MN.

2B Matt Serna, University of Illinois Chicago, .379 batting average, 2 home runs, 17 doubles, 49 rbi's.  Matt attended Lincoln College, went to Rolling Meadows High School and lives in Arlington Heights IL.

3B Jason Ganek, University of Illinois Chicago, .342 batting average, 5 home runs, 16 doubles and 45 rbi's.  Jason is from Hersey High School and lives in Mt. Prospect IL.

3B Grant Fillipitch, Butler University, .322 batting average, 6 home runs, 40 rbi's.  Grant attended Lyons Township High School and lives in LaGrange Park IL.

Outfielder Cory Moylan, Butler University, .369 batting average, 15 doubles, 37 rbi's.  Cory is a transfer from Vermont, (which dropped their baseball program) attended Glenbrook South High School and lives in Glenview IL.

2010 University of Illinois Chicago Easton Baseball Preview

Baseball in Illinoiis News
courtesy Easton's Collegebaseballtoday.com

The Flames of Illinois-Chicago have burned through the Horizon the last two years. But we all know this is one of those “whoever gets hot at the tournament” propositions here. Too bad too. This conference has some wicked regular season title chases.


2009 in a Paragraph:


UI-C won its second straight Horizon title last season, but once again couldn’t seal the deal in the conference tournament, succumbing to Wright State. But don’t give too much props to the Raiders as they were a team that seemed to underachieve most of the season before getting hot at the right time.

2010 in a Paragraph:



We’ll give the Raiders the slight edge in the favorites department, but when it comes down to it, WSU, UI-C and UWM could be pretty closely matched and will make for one hell of a title chase in the Horizon. The biggest question is will THIS be the year that the HL guys spring some big upsets over the BCS conferences (like I predicted for last year, only to be disappointed). Keep close tabs on Valpo, who is pitching heavy but extremely hitting light. The Crusaders will play a big role in deciding things here.

Favorite: Wright State

Contenders: Illinois-Chicago, Wisc.-Milwaukee

Darkhorse: Valparaiso

Can’t-Miss Series of the Year: UI-C at/vs. WSU, Apr. 16-17 and 24th.

Best Non-Conference Series: Creighton at Illinois-Chicago, March 19-21

Hot Coach: Mike Dee, Illinois-Chicago

Hot Seat Coach: Steve Farley, Butler

The “You Gotta See” Player: OF Casey McGrew, Wright State

ILLINOIS-CHICAGO (29-23, 17-6)

2009 RPI: 134
Starters Returning: 5
Weekend Starters: 1
Mid-Week Starters: 1
Key Relievers (20+inns.): 3

All Conference Candidates:
C Nate Orf (.429)
LHP Michael Heesch (5-0, 4.02, .266OBA)
LHP Chris Kovacevich (7-4, 3.69)
SS Andy Leonard (.294)
3B Jason Ganek (.333)

The Good News:


Curtis Granderson U. has gone 17-6 in each the last two Horizon seasons, winning a pair of regular season titles along the way. Part-timers Orf (who showed flashes of brilliance), OF John Rosinki (.360) and OF Chris Rutta (.333-6-30) will be relied upon more this season. Kovacevich and Heesch are winners on the hill and should get some support from relievers RHP Matt Salemi (1-0, 4.56) and LHP Eric Wyman (0-2, 5.61). The defense was 2nd-best in the Horizon last season (at .968) but should be even better this year with Leonard and Ganek on the left side and the return of Rafael Garcia (injury-shortened ‘09, but hit .277 in 52 starts as a frosh in ‘08), who will move from SS to 1B, bringing a great glove to the right side.

The Bad News:

UI-C had its troubles, going just 5-7 in games with contenders Wisc-Milwaukee and Wright State, ultimately costing the Flames the Horizon tourney title last May. And this year they’ll have to take them on without four of the top six pitchers from ‘09, including Horizon Pitcher of the Year Adam Worthington and closer Derrick Miramontes. More speed too please. UIC only swiped 52 bases last year, the 2nd lowest total in the league.

Schedule Note:


Tough schedule. Tough Dee.


Coach Mike Dee is a tough-as-nails kind of coach and he expects his team to be that way too. All you have to do is look at their early-season schedule. Last year the Flames opened the season at Texas - the eventual national runner-up. This year, weekends 2-thru-5 will see his Flames travel to Alabama, Western Kentucky, Baylor and Creighton. That’s a pretty tall order and could keep UIC from reaching the 30-win plateau once again.

Horizon League Baseball 2010 Pre-Season Projections

From Baseball in Illinois News Sources

Below is the 2010 pre-season projected order of finish based on how the coaches voted in the Horizon League:
Horizon League projected order of finish:
1. Wright State
2. Illinois-Chicago
3. Valparaiso
4. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
5. Cleveland State
6. Youngstown State
7. Butler

Top Players to watch from Illinois

RHP - Max Friedman - Wright State - Whitney Young High School, lives in Chicago, Illinois

RF - Chris Rutta - University of Illinois-Chicago

C - Nathan Orf - University of Illinois-Chicago

SS - Andy Leonard - University of Illinois-Chicago, Stagg High School, lives in Palos Heights, Illlinois

OF - Steve McGuiggan - University of Illinois-Chicago

LHP - Chris Kovacevich - University of Illinois-Chicago

RHP - Austen Siwiec - Valparaiso University, Marmion Academy, lives in Aurora, Illinois