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Illini Baseball Travels to Keith LeClair Classic
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Junior Pete Cappetta went 3-for-9 with three RBIs in Illinois' first weekend at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge.
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March 4, 2010
Illinois Notes for Keith LeClair Classic 
Illinois at Keith LeClair Classic
Clark-LeClair Stadium // Greenville, N.C.
March 5 // #19 East Carolina // 4 p.m.
March 6 // Western Carolina // 10 a.m.
March 7 // West Virginia // 9 a.m.
Tournament Insider
#19 East Carolina (4-3) vs. ILLINOIS (1-2)
ILL Probable: Will Strack (RHP, 1-0, 1.50 ERA)
ECU Probable: Kevin Brandt (LHP, 1-0, 2.03 ERA)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Series: First meeting
Western Carolina (6-1) vs. ILLINOIS (1-2)
ILL Probable: Brian de la Torriente (RHP, 0-1, 5.06 ERA)
WCU Probable: Kyle Stewart (RHP, 0-0, 6.97 ERA)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Series: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: Western Carolina won 14-13 (2/26/06)
Streak: L1
West Virginia (2-5) vs. ILLINOIS (1-2)
ILL Probable: Kevin Johnson (RHP, 0-0, 7.71 ERA)
WVU Probable: TBA
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Series: Illinois leads 6-0
Last Meeting: Illinois won 17-10 (2/22/09)
Streak: W6
Illini Travel to Keith LeClair Classic
Illinois heads to Greenville, N.C., for its second weekend of action at the seventh-annual Keith LeClair Classic hosted by East Carolina. The tournament is named for the former ECU coach who passed away in 2006 after battling ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
The No. 19 Pirates are just 4-3 but have played two of the top teams in the nation, losing two of three to No. 2 Virginia on the season's first weekend before winning a series against No. 10 South Carolina last weekend. Western Carolina has started strong, sweeping Gardner-Webb, taking a game from Charlotte and winning two of three against Eastern Kentucky.
West Virginia has had a rough start to the year, holding a 2-5 record after losing to No. 12 Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech in Coastal's season-opening tournament and splitting four games against Indiana (L), Iowa (W), Michigan State (L) and Purdue (W) last weekend.
Illinois Against the Field
The Fighting Illini don't have much experience against any of the teams in the LeClair Classic, never having faced East Carolina, holding a 1-1 all-time mark against Western Carolina and owning a 6-0 record against West Virginia. Illinois defeated WCU 15-14 on March 27, 1986, but the Catamounts evened the all-time series with a 14-13 win in the final game of the 2006 Stetson Invitational. Illinois took a 17-10 win over the Mountaineers in the teams' final game of the 2009 BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge, the first meeting between the schools since 2001.
Dittman Starts 2010 with Hot Bat
Junior first baseman Matt Dittman enjoyed his move up to the clean-up spot in the Illini batting order to start 2010, hitting .667 (6-for-9) with a team high-tying three RBIs and four runs at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge last weekend. Dittman started the season with a 3-for-4 outing against Notre Dame that included two runs, then went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs against South Florida. He finished the tournament with a 1-for-2 effort that included two runs, a walk, a steal and being hit by a pitch. He led the team with a .750 on-base percentage and a .778 slugging percentage.
Strack Shuts Down Golden Domers
Sophomore pitcher Will Strack had one of the finest outings of his young career in the season-opener against Notre Dame, giving up just one run on five hits in six innings of work. He struck out a career-high six hitters and didn't allow a walk in picking up his first win of 2010. To put those strikeout numbers in perspective, Strack whiffed a mere 18 batters in 68 innings last season. He only allowed one leadoff man to reach base and held left-handed hitters to a 1-for-6 (.167) effort.
Sterk, Anderson Provide Bullpen Support
Senior Mike Sterk and junior John Anderson both pitched well in relief on the season's first weekend, as Sterk recorded a save with three shutout innings against Notre Dame and Anderson kept the Illini in the game against St. John's with two shutout frames. Sterk gave up three hits and a walk while striking out one batter, and Anderson didn't give up a hit but walked two with a strikeout in his two innings of work.
*Complete series notes available in above PDF
