May 6, 2009

LUBBOCK, Texas - Illinois junior shortstop Brandon Wikoff (Peoria, Ill.) was named to the College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup, the CBF announced Wednesday. Wikoff hit a blistering .692 in Illinois' series sweep at Northwestern, giving the Illini sole possession of first place in the Big Ten and collecting back-to-back Big Ten sweeps for the first time since 1999. It is the third time this season an Illinois player has been honored by the CBF, as second baseman Josh Parr earned the award on March 4 and pitcher Ben Reeser was named to the list on March 11.

Wikoff had multiple hits and scored multiple runs in each of Illinois' three wins at Northwestern over the weekend. He also added two hits, four runs, three RBIs, two doubles, a triple and a homer in a pair of mid-week games against Southern Illinois and Indiana State, hitting .636 with a 1.091 slugging percentage in Illinois' five games. For the week, he totaled 10 RBIs, 10 runs and seven extra-base hits while collecting 14 hits, nearly three per game, to raise his average 34 points.

Wikoff slugged .923 on the weekend with multiple hits and multiple runs in each game over the weekend. He was 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs in Illinois' 10-2 win on Friday, and went 3-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and two runs in the Illini's 15-12 victory Saturday. Wikoff finished the series by going 4-for-5 with his fifth double in four games, three RBIs and two runs as Illinois shut out the Wildcats, 9-0.

The No. 25 Fighting Illini face Evansville Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. at Illinois Field before opening a key three-game weekend series against No. 27 Ohio State. The conference series begins Friday at 6:05 p.m. with the Bleacher Bum Barbecue, featuring free admission, free food for the first 1,000 fans, ticket giveaways to Cubs and Cardinals games and postgame fireworks.