Illini Baseball 2025

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#4      
OrangeBlue98
#7      
champaignchris
Saw the first 5 innings of the game against Western last night. Had to leave when the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

Missed the Illini blowing the 4-1 lead in the 7th. Then missed them scoring 7 in the 8th.

Did see the wind - which was screaming in from the north - keep at least 3 balls in the park, 2 for the Illini and 1 for the ‘Necks.

$2 Tuesdays are the best kept secret in Champaign, now featuring Yuengling, among other assorted frosty golden beverages. Look forward to going to more games this season.
 
#8      
champaignchris
The box score from last night is wild.

The Illini scored 11 runs on 7 hits, only 2 of which were XBHs. Western had 3 errors, walked 7 guys and hit 3 batters.
 
#12      
MustangWally
Final score from St. Louis in the baseball Bragging Rights game:

Miznoz 11
Illini 9
:(
 
#13      
steelmen72
Illinois pitching is horrible and they have no quality pitching depth. That is why they under Hartleb have never been to the NCAA TOURNAMENT IN BACK-TO-BACK YEARS. I'm ready to move on from Hartleb but he won the conference last year.
 
#14      
Red77sng
steelmen72 said:
Illinois pitching is horrible and they have no quality pitching depth. That is why they under Hartleb have never been to the NCAA TOURNAMENT IN BACK-TO-BACK YEARS. I'm ready to move on from Hartleb but he won the conference last year.
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I think he just signed a new contract
 
#15      
GatorMcKlusky
To be fired in a non-revenue sport by Josh you have to have back-to-back-to-back-to-back absolutely horrific years. I think he's fired one coach (Track and Field) and "retired" three others (women's basketball, soccer, and swimming)
 
#16      
champaignchris
steelmen72 said:
Illinois pitching is horrible and they have no quality pitching depth. That is why they under Hartleb have never been to the NCAA TOURNAMENT IN BACK-TO-BACK YEARS. I'm ready to move on from Hartleb but he won the conference last year.
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Illinois has finished .500 or better in the Big 10 15 of Hartleib’s 19 seasons. They’ve finished .500 or better overall in 18 of 19.

Illinois has consistently been an above average to very good Big 10 baseball program. Illinois has the 2nd most Big 10 titles behind only Michigan and has won 3 since Michigan’s last.

It’s just that the Big 10 is essentially a mid-major baseball conference. Or at least it was until the additions of Nebraska and the 4 Pac schools. We’ll see if the Big 10 “old guard” ups their games with the new guys coming in.
 
#17      
JKR
steelmen72 said:
Illinois pitching is horrible and they have no quality pitching depth. That is why they under Hartleb have never been to the NCAA TOURNAMENT IN BACK-TO-BACK YEARS. I'm ready to move on from Hartleb but he won the conference last year.
Click to expand...
Team era of 7 to date.
 
#18      
Red77sng
I love baseball but I just don’t see how they can compete against the big boys
 
#22      
EyeoftheIllini
Not about current team, but rather a former player. Saw this write up and thought geared toward dynasty league fantasy baseball, some good info that I found interesting.

Jack Wenninger, RHP, New York Mets, 23, AA

I picked Wenninger as my offseason Mets’ sleeper prospect, but man, I did not believe he was going to take this kind of jump. Wenninger was the Mets’ sixth-round pick in 2023 out of the University of Illinois, and he took a big step forward in 2024. After some struggles on the surface in Single-A, having a 5.02 ERA, Wenninger posted a 3.12 ERA in High-A. In Single-A, the xFIP sat at 3.02, which suggests a lot of bad luck.

He appears to be taking another step forward as a pitcher, and we have to give the Mets' pitching development a lot of credit here, as they have done great work with some arms. Wenninger has made strong start after strong start this year, but Wednesday was his best. He tossed five scoreless innings with four hits and one walk, striking out ten batters. Wenninger generated just 12 whiffs, but added 21 called strikes while posting a 67 percent strike rate.

His fastball has continued to trend up from where it was in college, sitting 93-95 mph and touching 96. Wenninger throws two variations in a four-seam and two-seam, with the four-seam having 17 inches of IVB from his high 6’5” release height. The sinker has relatively high IVB as well, but has 14 inches of arm-side run versus just ten on the four-seam.

The changeup is Wenninger’s best secondary, sitting in the low-to-mid 80s with a nice depth and fading action. The curveball is an 11-5 shape with a heavy vertical drop. It sits in the upper-70s and misses bats at a high clip.
I mean it, when I say it, not enough people are talking about Jack Wenninger. He is just three percent rostered on Fantrax and looks like a legit arm.
 
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