Aug. 7, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ten Fighting Illini baseball players are either preparing for postseason play or are currently in the middle of season-ending tournaments as the collegiate summer season comes to a close. The Petitt Cup, the championship series in the Coastal Plain League, starts Friday, Aug. 10, while the Northwoods League divisional playoffs begin Monday, Aug. 13. Three of the four Illini playing in the Chicago Suburban Baseball League are continuing in postseason events.

The Fayetteville SwampDogs, led by Ben Reeser, Aaron Martin, Dominic Altobelli and John Schlichter, clinched the franchise's fourth-straight half-season championship on Monday, while Joe Bonadonna's Duluth Huskies and the Madison Mallards, featuring Daniel Webb and Brandon Wikoff, are fighting for berths to the Northwoods League Divisional Playoffs by clinching a second-half championship.

In addition, Kevin Manson has led the Crestwood Panthers into the National Baseball Congress World Series, where the Panthers are currently 3-0 in the tournament being held in Wichita, Kan. Manson tossed eight superb innings on Saturday, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out three. Nick Stockwell and Matt Dittman also have lifted the Lombard Orioles into the Stan Musial North Central Regional tournament after winning their regional qualifier, and Mike Stankiewicz's Crystal Lake Cardinals recently completed a trip to Puerto Rico.

The SwampDogs' victory Monday night clinched the Coastal Plain League second-half South Division championship after their 23-5 record in the first half of the season earned that title. The victory also was the team's 40th, breaking the CPL record for wins in a season. Reeser pitched the first three innings of that triumph, pushing his record to 8-0 with a 1.61 ERA on the summer. Martin stayed perfect on the summer last week, moving to 8-0 record with a 2.03 ERA. Altobelli has cooled off a bit recently but is still hitting a solid .263 with a team-high 10 doubles.

Bonadonna is currently sitting on 42 stolen bases, two shy of tying former Illini Ryan Rogowski's single-season Northwoods League record of 44. His 46 walks also tie him for seventh on the single-season NWL walks chart, with Ryan Hastings' total of 57 walks from the summer of 2004 sitting atop the list.

Wikoff has been hot lately, hitting .408 (29-for-71) since July 15 and .436 (17-for-39) since moving to shortstop on July 23. He currently stands fifth in batting average in the NWL and second on the Mallards at .336. He put together a 15-game hitting streak from July 15-30, raising his batting average 86 points in 16 games from July 14-29, where it topped out at .347. Wikoff has 24 runs, nine RBI, two doubles, 6-of-8 stolen bases and just two errors in 20 games since July 15 and since moving to short, he has not committed an error in 12 games. Webb is hitting .296 with a team-high 13 doubles.

In other Northwoods action, Scott Shaw is 3-4 with a 3.90 ERA in 11 starts for the Waterloo Bucks, tossing 62 1/3 innings while allowing opponents to hit .246. Mike Giller is hitting .230 for the Bucks, playing mostly in the outfield. Craig Lutes, with the Rochester Honkers, is hitting .186 in 154 at bats, but his 26 runs are third on the team and his 27 walks are fourth.

A trio of future Illini are continuing in the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M., this week, as incoming freshmen Nick Chmielewski, Casey McMurray and Pete Cappetta are playing with the Top Tier squad from Highland Park, Ill. Top Tier won its first game, 9-4, over the host Farmington Storm, before dropping a 13-10 heartbreaker to the East Cobb Yankees, a perennial contender for the CMWS crown. Top Tier held a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but East Cobb posted a seven-run frame and shut down the Top Tier offense in the seventh for the victory. Top Tier now faces the Florida Legends in its quest to bounce back from the elimination bracket Tuesday at 1 p.m. (CT).