Scouting the Field: Illinois

Photo Courtesy The Illinois Baseball Report

In continuing the series of scouting the field, recapping and previewing the six competing Big Ten Tournament teams, the next time up is the 4th seeded Illinois Illini. For those that do not know, the Illini have a presence of the internet wit a blog dedicated to their program. Thomas Nelshoppen does an icredible job with the Illinois Baseball Report, any Big Ten or regular college baseball fan should pay the IBR a visit and make it a favorite.

With Nelshoppen having more knowledge on Illinois baseball than I, I turned over this scouting the field edition to him to let him provide insight on his Illlini. Thanks and much appreciation to Thomas and his efforts.

Season Overview:
Overall, the Fighting Illini exceeded most people’s expectations for the 2009 season. Coming off their 2008 campaign when they snuck into the Big Ten Tournament, Illinois were big players in the conference this year.

The first real indication of Illinois’ winning ways was their trip south to LSU when they took two of three from the #1 team of the nation. Illinois used their focus on speed, fielding and pitching to win. A Big Ten home opener sweep against Michigan State started the Illini’s conference season out on the right foot.

A month later, they swept Penn State and Northwestern in consecutive weeks, the first time they had two consecutive Big Ten sweeps in ten years. By then, they had established themselves as the team to beat in the conference.

Everyone was paying attention when Ohio State paid Illinois a visit the next weekend. Both teams were ranked nationally and both were contending for the Big Ten championship. In front of over 5000 fans, Illinois fashioned a remarkable comeback to win 5-4. Unfortunately for Illinois, the Buckeyes’ offense was too great for the last two games.

Going into the last weekend, Illinois was one of the four teams in contention for the conference title. Playing Purdue, Illinois was only able to win one contest and sunk to fourth place.

Offense:

In 2009, Illinois perfected their version of the “slap and dash” offense. With a combination of speed (tied for lead in SB with 78) and hitting (.319, good for third in the conference), the team scored 379 runs only outdone by Ohio State. While not known as a slugging team, they weren’t slouches with the long ball either. They hit 40 dingers putting them in the middle of the pack.

The Illini fielded a team that was productive up and down and each had the potential to be the offensive hero of the game. Indeed, six players were named Big Ten Player of the Week.

A look at Illinois will show a good balance between veterans and youth. Senior 3B Dominic Altobelli, the cleanup hitter, led the team in hitting (.379) and really came on towards the of year. He had a hit streak of 16 games as well as a streak of 12 multi-hit games. Shortstop Brandon Wikoff, who seems to have gotten on every list possible, quietly had an excellent year. Playing in every game, he led the conference in hits and triples, hit .375 and played flawless defense. Joe Bonadonna, who had a rough early season, really hit his groove just in time for the Big Ten opponents. As for catcher Aaron Johnson, well, he loves base runners… both to throw out and to drive in when he’s up to bat.

Illinois has a good crop of youngsters on the team too. Pete Cappetta, who is often compared to pro Mark DeRosa for his ability to play just about any position, ended the season hitting .364. Casey McMurray has deceptive speed on the bases and plays excellent defense in left. We will be seeing a lot more of #9 hitter Josh Parr in coming seasons. A freshman, Parr looks like our future leadoff hitter (.402 OBA, 13 SB). Finally, fellow freshman Willie Argo probably has the most raw talent of them all. Argo made headlines when he homered in his first 3 career at-bats in LSU. While Argo has power (team-leading 11 homeruns, he’s got speed too (10 SB).

Pitching:

Illinois pitching began the season simply lights out with an ERA that was for a while a half point to a point lower than any other team. They eventually came down to earth but still did a good job keeping the team in the game. With some injuries/tiredness affecting the staff, Illinois was fortunate to have a deep rotation bolstered by incoming freshmen.

Phil Haig, our Friday starter had an excellent start to the season. Like the Illini he started out super-human but a mid-season injury stilted his overall season (3-3, 6.52 ERA). Senior Ben Reeser, who led the team in ERA (2.92, 3-0) had been affected with a bad back and missed a few games. Illinois was lucky to have two freshmen in our rotation who really came through them. Will Strack was 6-0 with a 3.48 ERA and Bryan Roberts was 5-4 with a deceptively high 6.34 ERA. Roberts had two shutouts in 2009.

The relief corps had its ups and downs throughout 2009 but senior Aaron Martin (3-2, 3.19) could usually be counted on out of the pen. Lee Zerrusen put in a lot of quality innings as a long reliever and spot starter.

Tournament Preview:
Going from first place to fourth in the final two weeks won’t help the Illini in the Tournament. There’s no doubt that Illini fans had real hopes of going in with a bye. If there is a silver lining, it’s that Illinois will be starting off against Michigan State. MSU is tough but Illinois swept them in 2009 and I’m sure the players haven’t forgotten that.

For most part, Illinois is going in healthy. Ben Reeser is questionable with his bad back. I’m not sure if we’re going to see him. But as I’ve said before, the Illini rotation is deep.

The only other question is Aaron Johnson who missed the last two starts of the regular season. Johnson was healthy enough to make an appearance as a pinch hitter so it’s very possible we’ll see him in some manner.

How will Illinois do in the Big Ten Tournament? I’m a bad person to ask because I’m incredibly biased. That said, I understand how competitive the Big Ten is especially having gone through the horse race we just finished. If they can win against the Spartans and gain some momentum, maybe they can go far into the Tourney.


Illinois will take the field in game 1 at Huntington Park to kick off the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan State, Wendesday at 12:05. The Illini will probably send Haig to the mound to square off against Spartan pitcher Nolan Moody.

Again the Buckeye Nine thanks Thomas for his time and dedication in covering the Illini, and providing us with great content.