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Illini Send 21 Players to Summer Leagues
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Phil Haig is one of eight Illini who will be playing in the Northwoods League this summer. He and Aaron Johnson start their summer with the Rochester Honkers on Thursday.
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May 27, 2009
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Twenty-one University of Illinois baseball players will play on teams from coast to coast this summer, including nine Illini playing in the Northwoods League and four competing in the Prospect League, which includes teams from the former Central Illinois Collegiate League. In all, Illinois will have players on 13 teams in nine different leagues from California to New York. The action begins Wednesday night when the Madison Mallards face the Swedish National Team in an exhibition and the Fayetteville SwampDogs face off with the Wilson Tobs in a Coastal Plain League regular-season game. To follow Fighting Illini players throughout the summer, go here.
Starting in one of the premier summer collegiate leagues, eight Illini will play in the Northwoods League. Third-team All-Big Ten outfielder Willie Argo (Davenport, Iowa), first baseman Mike Giller (Chicago, Ill.) and left-handed pitcher Corey Kimes (Ottawa, Ill.) will spend their summer with the Waterloo Bucks in Waterloo, Iowa, while first-team All-Big Ten shortstop Brandon Wikoff (Peoria, Ill.) and right-handed pitcher Nick Chmielewski (Orland Park, Ill.) will play in front of the best crowd in the NWL with the Madison Mallards in Madison, Wis. Three more Illini will play in Minnesota, with third-team All-Big Ten catcher Aaron Johnson (Sussex Corner, New Brunswick) and left-handed pitcher Phil Haig (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) playing for the Rochester Honkers, and second-team All-Big Ten outfielder Pete Cappetta (Lisle, Ill.) suiting up for the Duluth Huskies. The NWL kicks off the 2009 season on Thursday, May 28.
In another one of the top summer leagues, outfielder Casey McMurray (Willow Springs, Ill.) will be playing for the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League, who he helped to a 2008 National Baseball Congress World Series title. The Foresters begin their season on June 6.
On the other side of the country, first baseman Matt Dittman (Libertyville, Ill.) and outfielder Doug Schumacher (Oak Lawn, Ill.) will be playing for the Lake Erie Monarchs in the Great Lakes League, and they will get to take part in the Midnight Sun Game in Alaska as part of a 12-game Alaskan tour. The Midnight Sun Game is played on June 21 this year, the day of the summer solstice, when there are 22 hours of daylight. The game will be played in Fairbanks, Alaska, just 160 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and will begin at 10:30 p.m. local time. Lake Erie starts its season on June 11 in Alaska and plays its first game in the Lower 48 on June 24.
Also in the East, right-handed pitcher Wes Braun (Deerfield, Ill.) will toe the rubber for the Albany Dutchmen of the New York Collegiate Baseball League, starting June 4.
Closer to home, four Illini who recently finished their first season in the Orange and Blue will be playing in the Prospect League, which is comprised of six teams from the former Central Illinois Collegiate League and five expansion teams in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Third-team All-Big Ten pitcher Will Strack (Sycamore, Ill.), pitcher Bryan Roberts (Lisle, Ill.) and catcher Adam Davis (Bloomingdale, Ill.) all will be playing for the DuPage Dragons while second baseman Josh Parr (Chillicothe, Ill.) will suit up for the Springfield Sliders. The Prospect League begins play on June 4 and Springfield first faces DuPage on June 9.
Also in Illinois, third baseman Bill Charvat (Elk Grove Village, Ill.), who redshirted in 2009, will be playing for the Crystal Lake Cardinals of the Chicago Suburban Baseball League and Kevin Manson (Park Ridge, Ill.) will pitch for the Crestwood Panthers in the CSBL, with the season starting on May 31. Outfielder/first baseman Craig Lutes (Normal, Ill.) will play for the Lexington Snipes of the Eastern Illinois Baseball League along with former teammate Ben Reeser (Bloomington, Ill.). The E.I. League season already is underway.
Heading south, right-hander Lee Zerrusen (Teutopolis, Ill.) will take the mound for the Fayetteville SwampDogs of the Coastal Plain League, continuing a long tradition of Illini playing in Fayetteville. The Dogs will open play Wednesday night against the Wilson Tobs. Also, outfielder Daniel Parker (Lawrence, Kansas) will play for the Nevada (Mo.) Griffons of the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas (M.I.N.K.) League, beginning on May 31.
