May 17, 2007

Illinois-Michigan State Game Notes in PDF Format
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Michigan State (23-24 // 13-14) at ILLINOIS (28-23 // 14-12)
May 18 // 6:05 pm
May 19 // 1:05 pm
May 20 // 1:05 pm
Illinois Field // Champaign, Ill.

Radio: WDWS AM-1400; Live streaming on fightingillini.com
(Dave Loane, play-by-play; Eric Loy, analyst)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Series: Illinois leads 54-52 overall, 33-21 in Champaign
Last Year: Teams split series, 2-2
Streak: W2

Game 1 Probables
Illinois: Tanner Roark (RHP, 6-2, 4.70 ERA)
Michigan State: Craig Brookes (RHP, 4-5, 3.87 ERA)

Game 2 Probables
Illinois: Mike Stankiewicz (RHP, 4-4, 6.30 ERA)
Michigan State: TBA

Game 3 Probables
Illinois: Scott Shaw (RHP, 5-3, 5.68 ERA)
Michigan State: TBA

Game 4 Probables
Illinois: TBA
Michigan State: TBA

Illini Line Drives
• The Fighting Illini enter this weekend's series tied for fifth place in the Big Ten standings, just five games out of first with four games remaining. Illinois will clinch a berth in the Big Ten Tournament with at least two wins against Michigan State.

• The Illini have won four of their last five games, six of their last eight and eight of their last 11 games. After losing consecutive Big Ten series at Iowa and against Minnesota, Illinois split a series at No. 13 Michigan then swept Indiana at home.

• Illinois' team batting average of .326 is the best in nearly 10 years, with the 1998 squad's .347 mark and the team's .338 average in 1999 coming in ahead of this season's. The Illini have hit .312 in each of the past two years and have hit over .300 as a team in seven of the last nine years.

• Last weekend was memorable for Shawn Roof, who broke both the single-season steals (38) and single-season HBP (20) records, as well bettering his own Big Ten season steals (18) and HBP records (12). He now stands tied with Andy Small for the career HBP record (43). His 18 steals in Big Ten play are two from breaking that record, set last year by Michigan's Eric Rose.

• Webb has caught fire since moving to the No. 5 hole in the batting order in the third game at Northwestern, hitting .422 (35-for-83) with 18 RBI, eight runs, five doubles and a home run in those 24 games. Mike Rohde also has hit very well since switching with Webb into the No. 4 hole, hitting .337 with 21 RBI, 21 runs, eight doubles, three triples and three homers for a team-best .587 slugging percentage in that span.

• Ryan Snowden has been an incredible lead-off hitter for the Illini this season, hitting .378 with a .429 OBP when he leads-off the game. Snowden has 17 hits to start the game and seven first-inning doubles. As the lead-off batter in any inning, Snowden is reaching base at a .432 clip.

• Tanner Roark has been very strong on Fridays recently, allowing just 11 earned runs on 44 hits and 11 walks while striking out 26 in 35 2/3 innings for a 2.77 ERA in his last five starts. Roark struck out a career-high nine Northwestern hitters in seven innings on April 13 before fanning six Hawkeyes in seven innings on April 20. He is 5-1 in the Big Ten with a 4.53 ERA over 47 2/3 innings of work. He currently ranks fourth in innings pitched and sixth in strikeouts in Big Ten games.

• The Illinois pitching staff as a whole has picked it up in the last two weeks, putting together a staff ERA of 3.43 over 63 innings against Michigan and Indiana. Last weekend against the Hoosiers, Illinois pitchers combined for a 1.41 ERA, a season-best for a series. Indiana hit just .217 on the series.

• On May 10, Ryan Hastings and Ryan Snowden were named first team Academic All-District for District 5 by ESPN the Magazine. Hastings, who graduated with a degree in sport management last Saturday, has a 3.46 GPA, and Snowden, who also earned a degree in community health on May 12, holds a 3.39 GPA. Both now move on to Academic All-America balloting, which began on Tuesday, May 15.

• Before taking off the week between the Michigan and Indiana series for final exams, Illinois had played an incredible stretch of 22 games in 24 days (4/13-5/6). With no mid-week game following the Michigan series because of final exams, the Illini got a break before finishing the regular season with nine games in 10 days.

• Lars Davis has had an incredible season, hitting .419 for the year and putting together a career-best 19-game hitting streak from March 10-April 14. Davis bounced back from his streak-busting oh-fer in the doubleheader nightcap at Northwestern by going 4-for-5 in the series finale, then hitting an inside-the-park home run at Illinois State, the first Illini to do so since Brady Ballard circled them all at Indiana in 2000.

• Through Wednesday's games, the Fighting Illini are third in the conference in hitting with a .326 team average in all games.. Illinois leads the league in hits (575) and steals (105-of-136), and is third in the league lead in runs scored (370). The Illini also have the second-fewest strikeouts (206) in the Big Ten.

• Davis is second in the Big Ten in hitting in all games at .419. Davis leads the league in hits (85), total bases (131) and home runs (10). He's second in slugging (.645), RBI (51) and runners caught stealing (21) and fifth in runs (47).

• Roof leads the Big Ten in stolen bases (38), steal attempts (44), hit by pitch (20) and defensive assists (161) in all games, Mike Rohde leads the league in fielding double plays (51) and is second in doubles (19) and triples (4). Ryan Snowden is third in the league in doubles (17).

• Davis leads Illinois with 24 multiple-hit games (15 two-hit, 3 three-hit, 6 four-hit) and his 14 multiple-RBI games (7 two-RBI, 7 three-RBI) are tops on the squad. For comparison's sake, Illinois had only nine four-hit games as a team in 2006.

• Illinois earned an academic honor on April 26 when it was awarded the NCAA's Public Recognition award for recording a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in the top 10 percent of all Division-I baseball teams. The Illini had a multi-year APR score of 981, which was in the 90th-100th percentile of all D-I baseball teams.

• The Orange and Blue continue to bring large crowds to Illinois Field, with 4,100 fans watching the Illini's series with Minnesota, the seventh-largest series crowd in school history. That total also included a total of 2,166 fans on Saturday, the seventh-best crowd in school history. Illinois opened the season strong, as 1,060 fans came to the Illini's first home game, against Indiana State on March 27. Illinois is averaging 710 fans over 11 home dates.

Illini Finish Big Ten Slate by Hosting MSU
The Illini return home after a neutral-site mid-week game, finishing off the Big Ten season with a four-game set against Michigan State at Illinois Field. The Orange and Blue bring an 11-6 home record into the weekend and can clinch a berth in the Big Ten Tournament with at least a series split. Illinois has won the teams' last two meetings and seven of the last 12 dating back to 2004.

This Weekend's Promotions
Illinois baseball has a variety of promotions for fans this weekend. Senior class baseball cards, featuring such Illini starters as Mike Rohde and Shawn Roof, will be available while supplies last. Saturday is Jersey Day, meaning fans who wear any kind of jersey receive free admission. Plus, the first 100 fans on Saturday will receive a coupon for a free iced coffee at McDonalds, and new women's basketball coach Jolette Law will be throwing out the first pitch. In addition, a short awards ceremony will be held before the doubleheader to honor Shawn Roof and Ryan Snowden for the records they have broken thi sseason. On Sunday, Illinois will honor its nine seniors with a pre-game ceremony.

Last Year vs. Michigan State
Last season, Illinois was in a very similar position to where they currently stand as the Illini went into East Lansing for the final conference series of the year. Illinois came out with a series split, earning the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. After dropping the first two games of the series by a combined score of 22-7, the Illini fought back with a 4-3 win in the nightcap of the doubleheader. Illinois came from behind with a pair of runs in the sixth before giving Jake Toohey the ball to earn a two-inning save. In the series finale, Brian Blomquist pitched the Illini into the Big Ten Tournament with eight shutout innings, and Dave Schultz homered twice for a 10-2 win.

Last Time Out: Indiana, #17 Missouri
The Illini swept the four-game series with Indiana last weekend before dropping a 12-5 decision to No. 17 Missouri in a wood-bat game on Tuesday. Illinois notched a pair of come-from-behind wins in the series with the Hoosiers, starting with Friday's 6-5 victory. Trailing 3-2, the Illini used a four-run burst in the sixth inning to take the lead for good thanks to 7 2/3 solid innings by Tanner Roark. Jake Toohey worked the final 1 1/3 for his fifth save of the year. Daniel Webb continued his hot streak, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run.

On Saturday, Mike Stankiewicz was spectacular, tossing his second complete-game shutout of the season, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out one, giving the Illini a 3-0 win. Lars Davis went 2-for-2 with a double. In the nightcap, Scott Shaw threw six strong innings, giving up just two runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts as Illinois won 5-2 thanks to a four-run sixth inning. Joe Bonadonna went 3-for-3 with two steals and a run.

The Illini won its first series finale on Sunday, scoring three runs in the first and cruising from there thanks to a career-best relief outing from Brian Long. Long tossed five shutout innings of one-hit ball, walking one and striking out one while using just 44 pitchese. Davis was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

On Tuesday, the Illini withstood a 61-minute, first-inning rain delay against No. 17 Missouri, but the Tigers used a pair of four-run innings and a three-run frame to batter Illinois 12-5. Davis went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBI, and Ryan Hastings was 3-for-4. Brandon Wikoff went 2-for-2 with three runs.

Illini in National Stat Rankings
In the official NCAA statistical rankings released Wednesday and taking stats through Sunday's games, Illinois ranks 11th in the nation in batting average (.327), 13th in stolen bases per game (2.1), fifth in double plays per game (1.18) and 36th in scoring (7.3 runs/gm). Below are where Illinois players rank nationwide:

Batting Avg.
17. Lars Davis .417

Doubles per Game
40. Mike Rohde 0.4

Stolen Bases/game
5. Shawn Roof 0.76

Toughest to Strike Out (AB/K)
15. Daniel Webb 17.2
29. Shawn Roof 15.5
46. Ryan Snowden 14.2

Hit By Pitch per Game
16. Shawn Roof 0.4

Lars Davis, Canadian Hitting Machine
Catcher Lars Davis is having an All-American-caliber season with his .419 average along with 51 RBI, 47 runs, a .645 slugging percentage and a .469 on-base percentage. Earlier this season, he had a 19-game hitting streak, which ranks fourth-best in Illinois history, snapped at Northwestern, but he responded by going 4-for-5 with a double and two runs in the next game. The game after that, at Illinois State, Davis hit his first career inside-the-park home run, his seventh dinger of the year.

• Davis is aiming at becoming the first Illinois hitter to finish a season over .400 since Craig Marquie and Josh Klimek both accomplished the feat in 1996.

Roof at it Again
Shawn Roof continues to be a thorn in the side of opponents, owning a .389 on-base percentage thanks to 11 walks and a school-record 20 HBP. He also leads the team with 38-of-44 stolen bases, having broken Todd Schmitke's single-season steals record against Indiana. He is now tied with Andy Small's 15-year-old record of 43 HBP in a career and recently broke Small's single-season record of 19. His 63 career steals place him second all-time at Illinois behind Schmitke's 83. Roof currently leads the Big Ten in steals and HBP.

• On April 8, Roof was hit by a pitch four times in the second game against Ohio State, breaking the single-game school record. He also tied the single-game steals record on March 4 against Stephen F. Austin by swiping four bags.

• Roof opened the season with 11 straight swipes and also has two streaks of seven consecutive steals and a six-steal streak.

• Roof now has nine multiple-steal games on the season and 13 in his career. His back-to-back multiple-steal games against Illinois State and Robert Morris mark the first time he has ever accomplished that feat.

• Taking after assistant coach Eric Snider on the basepaths, Roof is close to surpassing Snider's base-stealing accomplishments during his two years at Northern Iowa. Snider holds the top two single-season marks in Panther history with 33 steals in 1987 and 32 in 1986, which Roof has already topped, for a career mark of 65, which Roof still has a shot at also besting.

Webb Getting Untangled
Junior Daniel Webb has taken to the designated hitter slot of late. After moving to an offense-only role and moving to the No. 5 hole in the third game of the Northwestern series, Webb has hit .422 (35-for-83) with 18 RBI, eight runs, five doubles and a home run in those 24 games. He knocked his first career home run in the third game of the Michigan series and finished that four-game set by going 5-for-8 with two RBI, a run, a homer and a double in the last two contests. He had a career-best 17-game hitting streak snapped against Missouri on May 15 and has raised his batting average 87 points since the start of the Northwestern series.

Rohde's Hitting Not Cheesy
Fifth-year senior Mike Rohde also has benefitted from switching batting order spots with Daniel Webb. Since Rohde has moved up to the No. 4 slot he has hit .337 with 21 RBI, 21 runs, eight doubles, three triples and three homers for a .587 slugging percentage. He also has picked it up on the basepaths, stealing 6-of-6 bases in 25 games.

Tanner Takes Charge
With the Illini pitching staff needing a pick-me-up in recent weeks, No. 1 starter Tanner Roark has provided just that with 28 2/3 innings over four starts in which he has allowed just 11 earned runs on 44 hits and 11 walks while striking out 26.

• Roark struck out a career-high nine Northwestern hitters on April 13 and his two seven-inning outings the past two Fridays have been career-long appearances.

• Roark is now 5-1 in Big Ten play, tied for the wins lead in conference games. He also ranks fourth in innings pitched in Big Ten contests.

*Complete game notes available in the above PDF file.