Illinois Baseball Announces 2013 Letter of Intent Signees

The University of Illinois head baseball coach Dan Hartleb announce the signing of six student-athletes for the 2013 signing class on the first day of the early signing period.

Below are the six who were signed on the first day:

Anthony Drago, 1B/OF from Lake Zurich HS

Alex Greer, OF from Iowa Western Community College

Matthew James, RHP/SS from Normal West HS

Ryne Roper, RHP/SS from Harrisburg HS

Dan Rowbottom, OF from St. Ignatius HS in Ohio

Cody Sedlock, RHP from Alleman HS

Illinois Alum Matt Milroy Suspended for 50 Games on Drug Violation

Illinois alum Matt Milroy was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for the use of a banned substance, Methylhexeanamine.

Milroy was drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 11th round out of the University of Illinois in 2012.  Milroy was 2-3 with a 4.11 era with the Jamestown Jammers, Miami's short season Class A this season.

Matt was 5-10 with a 5.72 era in three seasons at the University of Illinois.

Illinois Baseball's Roper and Milroy earn Big Ten Player of the Week Awards

University of Illinois baseball's Reid Roper and Matt Milroy earn Big Ten Baseball Players of the Week awards.

Matt Milroy earned the Co-Pitcher of the week award striking out 10 helping Illinois to defeat Indiana.  The junior pitcher earned his first Player of the week award along with his first win of the season.  Matt attended Marmion Academy and lives in Batavia Illinois.

RHP/2B Reid Roper earned the Co-Freshman of the Week award hitting .455 with 2 rbi's and scoring two runs along with pitching a scoreless ninth inning against Indiana last week.  Reid attended Harrisburg HS and lives in Harrisburg Illinois.

Bucciferro and Kraveta Named Big Ten Baseball Players of the Week

Two baseball players from the state of Illinois have been named Big Ten Players of the Week for the first week of the 2012 Division I baseball season.

Pitcher Tony Bucciferro from Michigan State earned Co-Pitcher of the Week honors throwing six scoreless innings beating nationally ranked St. John's last Friday.  Tony retired the first 13 batters in a row, allowed only one hit and struck out six.  Bucciferro is from Minooka HS and lives in Joliet Illinois.

Illinois pitcher John Kravetz shared Co-Freshman of the Week honors by throwing 6 2/3rd's shutout innings against St. John's to lead Illinois to a win in their final game in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge.  Kravetz allowed two hits and struck out six.  Kravetz attended Mt. Carmel HS and lives in Lansing Illinois.

Northwestern's outfielder Luke Dauch shared Co-Freshman of the Week honors

by hitting safely in all three games at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge.  Luke hit .714 with a double and a triple.

University of Illinois Baseball Sign Eight to National Letters of Intent

The University of Illinois baseball program announced the signing of eight players to national letters of intent yesterday.

RHP Nick Blackburn from Nequa Valley, lives in Naperville, Illinois. 

RHP Ryan Castellanos from Davie Florida.

LHP Kevin Duchene from Joliet Catholic High School, lives in Joliet Illinois.

Catcher Jason Goldstein from Highland Park HS, lives in Highland Park Illinois.

LHP Tyler Jay from Lemont High School, lives in Lemont Illinois.

OF/IF Ryan Nagle from Streator High School, lives in Streator Illinois.

LHP J.D. Nielsen from Winterset Iowa.

IF Adam Walton from Stevenson High School, lives in Buffalo Grove Illinois.

Former University of Illinois Baseball Player Kyle Hudson Called up by Orioles

Kyle Hudson was called up to the Major Leagues with the Orioles on September 1st after hitting .296 this season in the minors.

Kyle is a former University of Illinois baseball alum who was selected in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB Draft.  Klye is from Mattoon Illinois.

Jason Anderson Joins University of Illinois Baseball Staff

Former Major Leaguer and Illini pitcher Jason Anderson joins the fighting Illini coaching staff as a volunteer coach.  Jason will team up with Drew Dickinson who was named Pitching Coach on August 3rd as Illinois will carry two pitching coaches.

Anderson retired from professional baseball on July 19th.  Anderson also ranks third in wins at Illinois with 29 and holds the single season record for victories with 14.

Drew Dickinson was named Pitching Coach after a seven year professional career and spending two years as a volunteer assistant coach at Illinois.  Drew was 30-7 in his career at Illinois.

University of Illinois Baseball's Chris Pack Signs with the Marlins

Senior Chris Pack from the University of Illinois has signed a free-agent contract with the Florida Marlins.  Chris is the third fighting Illini player to sign a professional contract this summer.  Pack joins shortstop Chris Parr (signed by the Diamondbacks) and pitcher Corey Kimes (signed by the Twins).

Chris was contacted by the Marlins on his way to a tryout with the Phillies by Marlins area scout Kevin Ibach who asked if Chris was interested in a closer position in the Gulf Coast League.  Pack begins his first season in the Marlins rookie-league affiliate in the Gulf Coast League this summer.

Illinois Wins Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament

The University of Illinois baseball defeated Michigan State 9-1 tonight to capture the 2011 Big Ten Baseball Tournament title.

Illinois was up 8-0 in the fifth before Michigan State scored their only run of the game.  Corey Kimes (Ottawa Illinois) went the distance striking out 7 and walking none.  Matt Dittman (Libertyville Illinois) hit a grand slam in the third putting the Illini up 5-0. 

Pete Cappetta (Illinois) Named Big Ten Baseball Player of the Week

University of Illinois Senior Pete Cappetta was named Big Ten Baseball Co-Player of the Week on May 3rd.

Cappetta hit .667 in a three game series against Northwestern with a double, a homer, drove in three and scored five times.  Cappetta went 3-3 with runners in scoring position and had a slugging percentage of 1.000.  The Big Ten Player of the Week Award was the first for Pete. 

Pete is from Montini High School and lives in Lisle Illinois.

Southern Illinois Saluki Baseball Shuts out Illini Again

The Southern Illinois Saluki baseball team shut out the University of Illinois for the second time this season with a 9-0 victory Tuesday night at the fourth annual Interstate Baseball Classic at Rent One Park. 

Senior RHP Andrew Bever, a transfer from Kankakee Community College, threw 6 scoreless innings allowing only three hits.  Bever also threw eight scoreless innings against the Illini on April 13th has now thrown 14 scoreless innings against Illinois.

Jordan Silversten (Carmel Catholic, Richmond Illinois) went 3-4 at the plate with a double and 2 rbi's, Brock Harding (Rochester Illinois) was 3-5 including a double and 3 rbi's for Southern Illinois. 

Illinois was held to six hits over nine innings, Davis Hendrickson (Macomb Illinois) had two of them.  Pat Sheehan (Springfield Illinois) had the only extra base hit, a double.

Eastern Illinois Baseball downs Illinois

The Eastern Illinois University baseball won the battle of Illinois teams as the Panthers defeated the University of Illinois 10-2.

DH Ben Thoma, Columbia Illinois, went 4-5 with three doubles, three rbi's and scored twice.  First baseman T.J. McManus, Parkland College, Glenview Illinois went 2-4 with a double, 2 rbi's and 3 runs scored.

Sophomore right handed pitcher Troy Barton, Libertyville Illinois, pitched 2 and 1/3rd innings of scoreless relief and got his third win of the season.

Illinois DH Josh Parr, Chillicothe Illinois, had two of the five hits for the Illini.

Eastern ups their record to 13-21 on the season as Illinois drops to 12-20.

Nick Brown and Thomas Lindauer Named Big Ten Baseball Players of the Week

Nick Brown

Iowa junior right handed pitcher Nick Brown (Wheaton Illinois) earns the Big Ten Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors leading Iowa to an 11-2 victory over Notre Dame last week.  Nick pitched seven scoreless innings, did not give up a walk and allowed only four hits.  Nick is from Wheaton Warrenville High School.

Thomas Lindauer

Illinois freshman infielder Thomas Lindauer (Moline Illinois) was named the Big Ten Baseball Co-Freshman of the Week hitting .429 last week.  Lindauer had the game winning hit with a two run single in the 12th inning in the Illini victory over Southern Illinois.  Lindauer went 3-7 with 2 rbi's and 3 runs scored to earn the weekly honors.

Northern Illinois Baseball wins Battle of Illinois Teams

The Northern Illinois (3-10) baseball Huskies won the battle of Illinois teams shutting out the University of Illinois 3-0 today at  Rent One Park in Marion Illinois.

Senior Zach Oates (Wheaton North High School) went all nine innings for the Huskies giving up 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.  Alex Jones (Kansas City KS) and Alex Beckman (Batavia High School) both tripled for the Huskies and Joe Etcheverry (Bakersfield CA) went 2-3 with two rbi's.

Shortstop Josh Parr (Illinois Valley Central High School) had two of the three hits for the Illini(4-9).

Illinois Baseball Players of the Day for Saturday 2/26/11

Yesterday's players of the day from Illinois baseball teams. 

The pitcher of the day goes to Chris Pack from the University of Illinois.  Chris entered the game in the sixth inning down 2-1 and held Florida Gulf Coast scoreless the rest of the way.  Illinois scored one in the eighth and five in the ninth to earn Chris his first victory of the season.  Pack went 4 innings, gave up 4 hits, two walks and struck out four.  Chris is from Benet Academy and lives in Darien IL. 

Jared McIntosh

Hitter of the day was close but the player of the day is Jared McIntosh from Augustana after going 2-4 with two triples, 4 rbi's, scored 3 times and walked once in the Vikings 16-5 victory over Rochester Institute in Winter Haven FL.
Jared lives in Davenport IA.

Other notable performances included a grand slam from Tyler McNeely of Illinois State University, a 5-5 day from Jeremy Juhl of Augustana College and a 3-3 day from Ty Wiesemyer of Illinois State.

University of Illinois Baseball Signs Six

The University of Illinois baseball program announced the signing of six student-athletes to national letters of intent on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday the signing class includes the following:

RHP - Josh Ferry - Lemont High School, Lemont, IL

IF - Michael Hurwitz - Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, Springfield, IL

RHP - John Kravetz - Mount Carmel High School, Lansing, IL

RHP - Charlie Naso - St. Laurence High School, Orland Park, IL

IF/OF - Jordan Parr - Parkland College, Illinois Valley Central High School, Chillicothe, IL

OF - Charlie Tilson - New Trier High School, Wilmette, IL

Corey Kimes Named to Baseball America Top Prospect List

University of Illinois left handed pitcher Corey Kimes was named to Baseball America's list of top ten Prospect in the Prospect League.

Kimes, a junior, was named the #9 prospect by going 5-1 with a 2.64 era for the Springfield Sliders this summer.

 

2010 Fighting Illini Baseball Coaches Clinic September 11th

The University of Illinois will hold a baseball coaches clinic on Saturday September 11th, 2010 from 11:00 am to 3:15 pm at Illinois Field on the U of I campus. 

For more info please follow the link below

Illini Baseball Coaches Clinic

 

Kane County Cougars - Players from Illinois

Local Illinois baseball players and coaches on the Kane County Cougar Roster for 2010:

Field Manger Aaron Nieckula was drafted by Oakland in the 22nd round of the 1998 June draft, attended the University of Illinois and resides in Aurora.

Pitcher Ian Krol was drafted in the 7th round of the 2009 draft, attended Neuqua Valley High School and resides in Naperville. 

Matt Dittman From Illinois Named Big Ten Baseball Player of the Week

Matt Dittman from the University of Illinois picks up his second career Player of the Week honor after batting .615 as the Illini went 2-2 at the Caravelle Resort Classic last week. The first-baseman slugged 1.000 and reached base at a .722 clip, combining for an OPS of 1.722. Dittman also scored seven runs and drove in five over the weekend, recording two multi-hit games to raise his batting average to a conference-leading .563. The junior’s best game came on Friday in Illinois’ 11-10 win over No. 10 Coastal Carolina. He went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, scoring three runs and driving in two, also picking up a stolen base. In the Illini’s win over Ball State on Sunday, Dittman went 2-for-2 with two runs, three RBI, a home run and a stolen base, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances.