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Diamond Notes #3: Review, Preview and Coach Westray's Baseball Card
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Illinois' resident blogger, junior pitcher Lee Zerrusen, returns with another edition of Diamond Notes.
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March 11, 2010
Hey Illini Fans,
Lee Zerrusen checking in with this week's Diamond Notes. Last weekend, we traveled to North Carolina to play in the Keith LeClair Classic. We didn't perform up to our expectations, going 0-3 on the weekend. This week we travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to play four games. On the schedule for the weekend are games against Lipscomb and Coastal Carolina on Friday, Coastal Carolina again on Saturday and Ball State on Sunday. Baseball America ranks Coastal Carolina at No. 8 in the country, so we will need to play up to our potential to have a successful weekend.
This week, we have been able to have entire practices outside, which is a change of pace from our routine up to this point. Usually we do some drills outdoors then head over to the Irwin Indoor Facility to finish up. It was refreshing as a pitcher to be able to throw off a dirt mound and see where batted balls actually ended up. Hopefully this time outdoors will translate to better results this weekend.
An interesting/humorous note from Tuesday's practice. Pitcher John Anderson was able to get his hands on an autographed 2000 Batavia Muckdogs baseball card of our very own Coach Ken Westray. In the picture on the front, you can see the intensity and competitiveness in his eyes as he throws batting practice. But I think his front shoulder was flying open a little bit too much!
During last Saturday's game against Western Carolina, Darrell Handlesman, head coach and owner of the Fayetteville Swampdogs was in attendance. Darrell and Coach Snider have a good relationship and we usually send three or four (the maximum from a college team to play on a summer league team) of our players to play summer ball there. I played there last year and will be returning with Matt Milroy, Christian Cummins and Brandon Hohl this year. My host family from last summer also made the trip to see us play on Sunday. It was nice to get to see everyone from my summer home and good for those three guys to meet the guy they will be playing for this summer.
That's it for this week's edition. As always, Go Illini!
Lee Zerrusen #18
