UI baseball veterans armed for new season

   CHAMPAIGN  When we last saw the University of Illinois baseball team, the expressions were serious, the mood somber.

   As the Illini walked off Beaver Field in State College, Pa., on May 19, 1996, it was with the realization they had fallen one victory short of a Big Ten Conference playoff title. One day later, their worst suspicions were confirmed: Failing to win the playoffs also meant no invitation to the NCAA tournament.

   That may have been the last impression of the 1996 Illini, but it would seem a shame if it were a lasting impression. As tough as the ending was to take, Illinois also can look back on:

    Thirty-seven victories, most by the Illini since 1990 and sixth-most in school history.

    Seventeen Big Ten wins, most since the beginning of the decade and tied for the second most all-time.

    A consensus All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year in shortstop Josh Klimek.

    Four All-Big Ten first-teamers, more than any other team in the conference.

   Now, nine months later, it''s time for a veteran Illini team to look ahead. Opening day is five days away. Time, too, for a veteran coach to wonder if ''96 was the start of something big.

   "This is a year I look to find out if we''ve turned the corner," seventh-year UI coach Itch Jones said.

   Jones'' Illini have approached the intersection before. In 1992, his second season, Illinois won 36 games and placed third in the Big Ten tournament.

   One year later, the Illini fell to eighth in the Big Ten, starting a postseason drought that lasted until last season.

   There are reasons for Jones to believe 1996 wasn''t merely a tease, that the Illini this time can sustain their success.

   The foremost building block for any winning baseball season  pitching  returns largely intact. The current staff, led by All-Big Ten first-teamer Brett Weber, accounted for 23 of Illinois'' 37 victories in ''96.

   "For the first time since we''ve been here, this year we feel like we have pitching depth," Jones said.

   The projected lineup includes seven returning starters  five of whom are at their same positions as in ''96. The only nonveteran in the field is freshman shortstop Joe Sprengard.

   "Last year we had many more untried spots," Jones said. "Really, only shortstop, second base and center field had experienced players then."

   Jones'' own experience in his first six seasons at the UI has been a baffling one. Before accepting the Illini job, the Herrin native built Southern Illinois into one of the strongest programs in the nation and earned the national coach of the year award three times.

   During 21 seasons at SIU, Jones'' teams reached the College World Series three times, qualified for the NCAA tournament 10 times, earned six Missouri Valley Conference titles and won more than 68 percent of their games. His last Saluki team went 49-14 and came within one win of going to the CWS.

   Working the same magic at Illinois, though, so far has proved elusive for the 13th-winningest baseball coach in NCAA history.

   Why? The issue of recruiting undoubtedly is central to any answer. Even the best of coaches only can do so much if the talent isn''t available.

   From the very beginning, Jones and assistant Dan Hartleb say, there were recruiting obstacles to overcome at the UI.

   First, Jones and his staff had to develop contacts with high school coaches in areas of the state they hadn''t previously pursued vigorously, notably the Chicago area. Most of Jones'' recruiting ties at SIU were farther south, especially in the St. Louis area.

   "A lot of northern (Illinois) kids didn''t go to Southern," Hartleb said.

   At the same time, the new staff members said they ran into unexpected resentment toward UI baseball.

   Jones'' predecessor, Augie Garrido, initially used his California recruiting base to quickly build what turned out to be NCAA tournament teams in 1989 and ''90. Garrido, as he promised, shifted his recruiting emphasis in-state with his third class. But the image that the state''s own were abandoned by the UI lingered in the minds of some prep coaches.

   "Some bridges had been burned, and we spent the first few years trying to patch things," said Hartleb, Jones'' recruiting coordinator. "I don''t think we got the best players out of the state.

   "It''s taken a few years, but it has come along over the past three recruiting years now. I really feel like some people trust us."

   Phil Lawler, who directs the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association summer league in the Chicago area, said the current Illini staff has made strides in Chicagoland.

   "Dan is very visible," the Naperville Central assistant coach said. "Itch Jones has a tremendous reputation at the high school level.

   "I think it''s starting to happen there."

   When the Illini coaches began to make recruiting breakthroughs, they discovered they apparently had done too good a job of identifying and signing talent. In the last two years, seven UI recruits decided to sign professional contracts after being drafted.

   In 1995, pitcher Brett Herbison of Burlington Central High School was drafted in the second round by the New York Mets; infielder Corey Erickson of Springfield Lanphier went in the fourth round to the Mets; catcher Scott Chapman of Albany, Ohio, was selected by Houston in the sixth round; and pitcher Kyle Burchart of Tulsa, Okla., was a ninth-round pick of Toronto.

   The pros raided Illinois'' recruiting class again last year  pitcher-first baseman Dean Brueggeman of Belleville Area Community went in the sixth round to Colorado; infielder Chris Moore of Chicago Harlan to Florida in the seventh; and pitcher Steve Gagliano of Rolling Meadows to Florida in the 20th.

   "I think over the last few years we have signed the best players in the state," Hartleb said. "Now, whether we''ve ended up with them or not, I think that still sends a message to the types of players we''re going after."

   Illini coaches say such defections won''t lead to a lowering of standards in recruiting.

   "To get the program where we want to be over the long haul, you have to get the best players each year," Hartleb said.

   It''s not always obvious that a recruit will attract the interest of pro scouts, as the UI staff discovered with Herbison. When he signed with the UI in the fall of his senior year, Herbison''s fastball was about 82 mph. By the end of his high school career, Herbison was throwing 92 mph and being swarmed upon by pro scouts.

   "Those are the things you don''t know," Hartleb said.

   Another formidable source of recruiting competition is the warm-weather schools. Hartleb conceded Illinois has lost out on several prospects over the years to schools in the South, Southwest and West Coast.

   "Everybody does," said Hartleb, referring to colleges in the North. "Some players want to play in warmer weather. If the season is moved back, that would be a plus for us."

   Sentiment to start the collegiate season later and to extend it into the summer appears to be growing. But until that happens, if ever, the Illini and other northern schools figure to be at a disadvantage in recruiting and in those early season intersectional games.

   With some warm-weather schools beginning their seasons as early as mid-January, it''s common for such teams to have played 10-12 games by the time northern schools make the trek south to begin their seasons.

   "But that''s just something you understand when you coach in the North," Jones said.

   So, Jones said, don''t look for gaudy 45-50 win totals out of northern teams that you often see from the warm-weather powers. Do look, he said, at how the Illini fare against their conference peers.

   "I think we should probably be judged by how well we do in the Big Ten," Jones said "We''re basically all in the same situation."

   And should the Illini reach the NCAA tournament? Don''t sell Illinois  or any other northern team  short, Jones advised.

   "I think by the end of the season, we have a chance to compete with other people," he said. "I think when you go into regionals, by then you''re on even terms with everybody."

   Jones would love to prove it this season and in many more thereafter. Perhaps he will ... if the Illini have turned that proverbial corner.

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