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Joe Bonadonna was named the second-team All-Big Ten second baseman on Tuesday.
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May 20, 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Hey Illini Fans!
Just wanted to check in from Ann Arbor on the eve of the opening round of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament. The regular season finished up last weekend and the six seeds in the tournament were finally sorted out. As the conference winner, Michigan gets to host the tournament. We earned the No. 4 seed, which means we will match up against fifth-seeded Ohio State in the first game of the tournament tomorrow at 11:05 a.m. (CT). We just faced the Buckeyes a couple of weekends ago, but only played three games because of a rainout on the last day of the series. So this game can serve as the fourth game of the series. Kevin Manson will take the hill for us tomorrow. Let's hope he can pitch as well tomorrow as he did against Ohio State when he started against them.
We got to Ann Arbor yesterday, which meant we had one day more than usual before our first game. We headed over to the newly renovated Ray Fisher Stadium around noon for a practice. Each team gets a time slot where they can come over and practice. Since it was the day before a game, practice wasn't too intense, but the players definitely got some good work in. Later tonight, all six teams are heading over to a dinner banquet where the season award winners will be honored and the tournament will officially kick off.
I think any one of the teams is capable of winning this tournament and getting the automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. You can follow all our games on GameTracker and on the WDWS AM-1400 or live on the Internet, and the Big Ten Network will be broadcasting all of the tournament games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary.
Go Illini!
Michael Schroeder
