March 29, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -

Illinois-Purdue Game Notes in PDF Format
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Games 17-20 // Purdue
March 30 // 3 pm
March 31 (DH) // Noon
April 1 // Noon
Lambert Field // West Lafayette, Ind.

Illinois (7-9) at Purdue (10-8)
Live Stats: Gametracker on fightingillini.com
Radio: WDWS AM-1400 (Fri: tape delayed; all others live);
Live streaming on fightingillini.com (all games)
(Dave Loane, play-by-play; Ben Taylor, analyst)
Series: Illinois leads 147-66-1 in overall series
Illinois leads 63-33-1 in games at Purdue
Last Year: Purdue won series, 3-2
Streak: L3

Game 1 Probables
Illinois: Tanner Roark (RHP, 1-1, 5.12 ERA)
Purdue: Josh Lindblom (RHP, 2-2, 2.56 ERA)

Game 2 Probables
Illinois: Scott Shaw (RHP, 2-1, 6.14 ERA)
Purdue: Ricky Heines (RHP, 3-2, 3.62 ERA)

Game 3 Probables
Illinois: Mike Stankiewicz (RHP, 1-2, 8.61 ERA)
Purdue: Dan Sattler (RHP, 1-0, 3.52 ERA)

Game 4 Probables
Illinois: Aaron Martin (RHP, 1-1, 4.30 ERA)
Purdue: Tony Sedlmeyer (RHP, 2-2, 2.78 ERA)

Illini Line Drives
• Lars Davis was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday after hitting 12-for-14 (.857) in Illinois' final three games of Spring Trip with three homers, five RBI and five runs. It was Illinois' first Big Ten Player of the Week since J.R. Kyes won the award on May 10, 2005.

• Davis is eighth in the country (through Tuesday's games) in average with a .478 mark.

• Tuesday's crowd of 1,060 Illini fans broke the Illinois Field record for a home opener, eclipsing last season's 1,012 fans at the home opener against Purdue on March 31, 2006.

• Through Wednesday's games, the Fighting Illini are tied with Ohio State for the Big Ten lead in hitting with a .331 team average. Illinois is third in the league in runs scored with 119, fourth in hits, is tied for the fewest strikeouts (71) and is second in the league in steals with 37-of-45. Indiana has stolen seven more bases in two more games.

• Davis is second in the Big Ten in hitting at .478 and Kyle Hudson is third in the conference at .462. Davis also leads the league in total bases (52), slugging percentage (.776), home runs (5) and triples (2), and is second in hits (32), third in runs (17) and RBI (19) and fifth in on-base percentage (.514). Hudson is third the Big Ten in batting average (.462) and on-base percentage (.533).

• Shawn Roof leads the Big Ten in stolen bases and steal attempts (14-of-16), Mike Rohde is tied for the conference lead in sacrifice flies (3), and Roof and Ryan Snowden are tied for third in the league in hit by pitch (4).

• Snowden increased his career-best hitting streak to 14 games on Tuesday, making in the longest string by an Illini hitter since J.R. Kyes hit safely in 16 straight games from March 21-April 13, 2005. Three other Illini have significant streaks: Davis (career-high 9), Rohde (6) and Ryan Hastings (6; career high is 7).

• Hudson leads Illinois with 10 multiple-hit games (8 two-hit, 1 four-hit, 1 five-hit), while Davis' six multiple-RBI games (4 two-RBI, 2 three-RBI) are best on the squad.

• Davis' nine runners caught stealing leads the Big Ten and Rohde leads the league with 21 fielding double plays.

Illini Begin Big Ten Action
Illinois opens the Big Ten season with a road trip to Purdue for a four-game series. Sophomore Tanner Roark will start Friday's game with a 3 p.m. (CT) first pitch, while redshirt-sophomore Scott Shaw will take the ball to start Saturday's noon doubleheader. Redshirt-sophomore Mike Stankiewicz will start the second game of the double-dip, with sophomore Aaron Martin toeing the rubber in Sunday's noon finale. Purdue has been heating up of late, winning three straight and six of its last eight games.

Last Year vs. Purdue
Illinois has lost three straight to the Boilers after taking the first two games in last year's series. Purdue fought back to split the series and won the teams' meeting in the Big Ten Tournament. All-time, Illinois leads the series 147-66-1 and holds a 63-33-1 advantage in games played in West Lafayette.

Last Time Out: Indiana State
Illinois saw its five-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Indiana State and crafty lefthander Josh Varno, falling 4-0. Varno used an assortment of offspeed and breaking pitches in his 7 2/3-inning shutout performance, allowing eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Illini leftfielder Ryan Snowden went 3-for-4 but his potential three-run home run that was robbed in the third inning changed the momentum of the game in the Sycamores' favor and Illinois never could scratch across a run. Sophomore starter Aaron Martin had his second consecutive strong outing, allowing two earned runs on five hits and a walk in six innings, striking out three. Omar Kadir pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

Crowding in on Opening Day
With three teams yet to open their home-field gates in 2007, Illinois had the second-best crowd among Big Ten teams in home-openers so far this season. The Illini's opening-night attendance of 1,060 was behind only Minnesota, who drew 2,508 for a doubleheader with No. 16 Ole Miss in the Dairy Queen Classic on March 3. Purdue and Northwestern both open their home slates this weekend. Below is a listing of all Big Ten teams' home-opening dates and crowds to this point:

1. Minnesota	March 3	2,508
2. Illinois	March 27	1,060
3. Ohio State	March 28	891
4. Penn State	March 23	762
5. Michigan	March 23	669
6. Iowa	March 23	444
7. Michigan State	March 24	323
8. Indiana	March 7	306

Do They Play Baseball in Switzerland?
Illinois has a shocking record in true road games versus neutral-site games. On opponents' fields, the Illini are 0-7, but they are 7-1 at neutral sites. Roughly one-third of the way through the season, Illinois now gets to try its hand at home games with Tuesday's home opener against Indiana State.

Just One, Please
After the season's first 16 games, 157 of 198 (79 percent) of Illinois' hits have been singles. Like last season, the Illini hit the power switch on Spring Trip, knocking 24 extra-base hits (28 percent of their total, 87). Despite the lack of power, the Illini have found ways to bunch hits together, registering more than 10 hits in all but six games, and notching at least seven hits in those six contests. Illinois is averaging 12.4 hits per game.

Three Down, One to Go
Illinois has had a high rate of success of driving in a runner from third with less than two outs so far this season. In that situation, the Illini have brought home the runner 78 percent of the time (47-for-60). Of those opportunities, Kyle Hudson (6-for-6), Daniel Webb (4-for-4) and Mike Rohde (4-for-4) are perfect in the situation.

Here We Go, Here We go Again
A team that returned most of the 87 stolen bases from a year ago, the Illini have already swiped 37-of-45 bags this season. Illinois took 9-of-11 bases at the Al Ogletree Classic, followed that up with a 10-of-11 performance at UT-Arlington and stole 14-of-19 bags on Spring Trip. Once again, Shawn Roof is leading the charge at 14-of-16 thus far, Kyle Hudson is 6-of-7 and Ryan Snowden is 5-of-6.

Illini Take Opponents Two-by-Two
With 10 double plays on Spring Trip, Illinois has pulled into the Big Ten lead in the category with 23 (as of 3/26). The Illini had a pair of three-DP games in Bradenton, turning two three times against Dartmouth on March 19 and against UMass. First baseman Mike Rohde leads the Big Ten with 21 fielding double plays and shortstop Shawn Roof is tied for third with 15. Interestingly, six of Roof's DPs have come on straight 6-3 turns, avoiding the middle-man altogether.

Mound Turnaround
Following three rough weekends to open the season, the Illini pitching staff has turned it around in the past four games. Over that span, Illinois has compiled a 2.00 ERA, allowing just 37 hits in 36 innings while striking out 26 and walking only eight hitters. Opponents have hit .280 in that time-frame. Aaron Martin has been the star, giving up just two earned runs on 13 hits and three walks in 14 innings with seven strikeouts and a .265 opponent batting average. Billy Barrett, Omar Kadir and Ben Reeser have combined for five shutout innings out of the bullpen.

The 'Pen is Mightier
After a tough first three weeks, the Illini bullpen pulled it together over Spring Trip, giving up just four runs in 12 innings, not counting usual starter Scott Shaw's six-inning relief appearance after closer Jake Toohey started the March 23 game against Dartmouth. All of those runs came in the eighth inning of Illinois' 20-10 thrashing of Dartmouth. In those 11 scoreless innings of relief, Illini pitchers gave up just seven hits and two walks while striking out 10. Freshman Billy Barrett and senior Omar Kadir had great success on Spring Trip, with Barrett tossing a scoreless inning against Yale and three perfect frames against Dartmouth on March 22. Kadir simply tossed four scoreless innings against the Bulldogs, allowing two hits and two walks with two K's for the win, then had a shutout inning of work against Indiana State on March 27.

Lars Davis, Canadian Catching Machine
Catcher Lars Davis has exploded at the plate in the past week, raising his batting average 126 points from the end of the Jacksonville State game to the end of Spring Trip, going 16-for-22 (.727) over that span with four homers, nine RBI, 10 runs, a double, a steal and three walks. He also kept opponents off the basepaths, throwing out 3-of-6 would-be base-stealers on the trip. In fact, since Louisiana-Lafayette stole 5-of-5 bases on the season's first weekend, Davis has gunned down 9-of-24, a solid .375 rate. Before allowing two steals against Indiana State, Davis had thrown out 4-of-5. He now has caught six of the last 11 runners who attempted to steal dating back to March 11.

Martin Buffaloes Minutemen
Sophomre Aaron Martin hearkened back to his high-school days with the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Buffaloes when he stymied Massachusetts on Spring Trip, tossing eight shutout innings of eight-hit ball with two walks and four strikeouts. The right-hander threw 21 of 30 (70 percent) first-pitch strikes and needed just 97 pitches in his eight-inning outing. It was a career-long stint for Martin, who likely will pitch on Sundays.

*Complete game notes in the attached PDF file.