Illini Insider

Brian Moline covers the UI sports scene. Read his blog here.

Ones to watch

SOFTBALL VS. NORTHWESTERN

Saturday-Sunday at Eichelberger Field

Terri Sullivan's Illini wrap up their home schedule with another in a recent stretch of challenging series. The Wildcats, ranked seventh in one national poll and 11th in another, share the Big Ten lead at 12-2 and boast the most potent attack in the conference.

Through Tuesday, Northwestern was hitting .302 with 63 home runs – both league bests by a wide margin.

Northwestern's heavy hitters include Big Ten Player of the Week Adrienne Monka. The freshman first baseman hit .765 (13 for 17) in five games last week while driving in 13 runs. During one stretch, Monka had base hits in eight consecutive at-bats.

Through Tuesday, three Wildcats ranked among the Big Ten's top four in home runs. Monka shared the lead with 15, while shortstop Tammy Williams was third with 12 and catcher Erin Dyer ranked fourth with 11. Williams, a senior, was one home run shy of the school career record of 55. She also led the Big Ten in hitting (.456), on-base percentage (.534) and total bases (97).

Fifth-place Illinois (7-6) is 2-4 in its last six conference games. The four losses came against Big Ten co-leader Ohio State and third-place Michigan.

Saturday's game starts at 5 p.m., and Sunday's first pitch is at 2 p.m.

Illini of the Week

Paul Ruggeri

Gymnastics

He's not yet a junior, but Ruggeri already is a three-time NCAA champion. The two most recent titles came last weekend at Minneapolis, when the Manlius, N.Y., native repeated as high bar champion and added a parallel bars crown. The latter came as a surprise to Ruggeri, even though he is the reigning Big Ten champion in the event. He entered the NCAA Championships ranked fifth in parallel bars.

"If you would have said, 'Could I be parallel bars champion?' absolutely not," Ruggeri said. "When I was younger, it was just one of my OK events."

In his rotation of events during the event finals, parallel bars came last. By then, Ruggeri knew what kind of score it would take to win. And he did, posting a 15.175 to eclipse a 15.075 by runner-up Kyle Brady of California.

"I knew if I was clean and hit my routine I would be able to put up that score," Ruggeri said.

If his parallel bar crown was unexpected, the same couldn't be said of Ruggeri's high bar title. As the defending champion, he was regarded as one of the favorites in the event. One year after scoring a 15.000 to win, Ruggeri raised the bar to 15.750. That was more than enough to fend off Big Ten Gymnast of the Year Thomas Kelley (15.275) of Michigan.

Ruggeri earned four All-America awards last weekend, raising his career total to seven. One of those honors came for finishing third in all-around.

The parallel bars title gives Ruggeri confidence he can elevate his entire repertoire of events.

"I just think of it as progress, and I can accomplish more if I keep working hard," Ruggeri said. "I've been putting in a lot of work to get better, and in future years if I'm able to make progress in some other events maybe I can rack up some more titles on other apparatus."

Eager for rematch

Michelle Dasso is eager to get another shot at No. 18 Michigan this weekend. If the Illinois women's tennis coach gets her wish, the Illini would be playing for a spot in the championship match of the Big Ten tournament.

"If we take care of business, that could happen," the third-year UI coach said.

The No. 34 Illini concluded their regular season Sunday with a 6-1 home loss to the Wolverines, a match that decided second place in the Big Ten standings. As a result, Michigan is seeded second and Illinois third in the conference tournament, which begins today at Madison, Wis.

Both teams, which received first-round byes, are in the same bracket and would square off in Saturday's semifinals if they survive the quarterfinals. Illinois will open at 2 p.m. Friday against the winner of Purdue vs. Michigan State.

If the Illini do face sixth-seeded Purdue, it would be a rematch of a hard-fought 4-3 victory at Purdue on March 8.

"I think they're a really talented team, and we just have to be prepared and ready to battle," Dasso said.

The first meeting between Illinois and Purdue was held indoors, and Dasso has her fingers crossed for good weather this weekend.

"I think our team is even stronger outside," she said. "We played quite a bit outside in January and February (on road trips to warm-weather sites), and in March we got a full week outdoors (in Hawaii). We've gotten outside more than any team in our conference. Hopefully, if there's no rain (this weekend), it will be to our advantage."

Dasso has her fingers crossed, too, on a potential rematch with Michigan. Although the final score was lopsided when the teams met in Urbana last weekend, the numerous close individual battles that day tell a different story.

Two singles matches went three sets and two others required tiebreakers, as did one doubles match.

"If you look at the scores, it really was a matter of a point or two," Dasso said. "That's the good news for us if, hopefully, we get another shot at them."

More good news: By finishing in the top three of the league standings, Illinois (17-6, 8-2 Big Ten) avoided being placed in the same bracket with the nation's No. 1 team: Northwestern. The Wildcats ran the table in the Big Ten and enter 21-1 overall.

"That was definitely one of the pluses of doing so well during the season, that we wouldn't have to meet them until the finals," Dasso said.

Green and growing

One of the youngest teams in women's collegiate golf continues its education this weekend, when Illinois travels to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Big Ten Championships. Of the six Illini entered in the tournament, four are freshmen and the others – senior Nancy Featherstone and sophomore Raquel Hopton – each have one conference meet in their background.

"It definitely has been challenging," UI coach Renee Slone said of what's been a learning-on-the-job season for most of her players.

Not surprisingly, the Illini have experienced growing pains. In 10 tournaments this school year, Illinois' highest finish was a tie for sixth place in the spring opener at Corpus Christi, Texas, in late February.

The fact that the Illini are coming off what Slone considers their best single-day performance of the season gives her hope Illinois can raise some eyebrows at Big Tens. Last Saturday, Illinois shot rounds of 313 and 308 at Ohio State's challenging Scarlet Golf Course before closing with a 320 the next day.

"On the Scarlet, those are very respectable scores," Slone said. "I know we had lower scores at Florida (in March), but the golf course and the level of challenge didn't compare. So Saturday really was our best golf this spring. Hopefully, we're peaking at the right time."

Illinois finished eighth in OSU's 15-team tournament, which attracted nine Big Ten schools. Four placed above the Illini and four below.

"That certainly gives us confidence going into Big Tens this weekend," Slone said.

Of the Illini newcomers, Samantha Sloan continues to make the strongest impression. The freshman tied for 20th last weekend to extend her streak of top-25 finishes to six. Sloan has been Illinois' top scorer in each of its last seven tournaments and is averaging a team-best 77.3 strokes per round for the school year.

"She has made the transition very quickly, seamlessly," Slone said. "She is an extremely hard worker and it's paying dividends. She's learning, as she goes, about the mental side of the game and how important that is. For her to take her game to the next level, she realizes that's the area she has to focus most on as well as the short game."

Milestone meet

Both Illini track and field teams will compete in the Drake Relays, which marks its 100th year this week. The UI men hold the meet record for event titles with 133, including 62 individual and 71 relay. Two Illini – Jeremy Stevens (5,000 meters) and Andrew Riley (110 hurdles and high jump) are entered in individual events, while Wayne Angel's team also will run in three relays. The Illini 1,600 relay, which ranks 11th nationally, should be in the mix for a title.

Former Illini Perdita Felicien, a three-time NCAA champion, is entered in the invitational 100 hurdles. Big Ten women's co-Track Athlete of the Week Angela Bizzarri will run on Illinois' 4 x 1,600 relay.

Diver commits

Tessa Adams, a senior diver at Plainwell (Mich.) High School, has orally committed to the Illini women's swimming and diving team. Adams placed second in the Michigan Division 3 state meet in November. Following her junior season, she was named a 2007-08 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association/Speedo Girls One-Meter Diving All-American.

Nine in minors

Nine former Illinois baseball players are listed on rosters of MLB-affiliated minor league teams this season. Two ex-Illini, both catchers, are in Class AAA. Chris Robinson is splitting duties behind the plate with former major leaguer Mark Johnson on the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines. Pat Arlis was an April 17 free agent signee with Nashville, a Brewers affiliate, and then placed on the temporary inactive list. The Brewers intend to use him on an as-needed basis throughout the season from Class A to AAA.

Pitcher Jason Anderson (Phillies) – a Danville native – and shortstop Toby Gardenhire (Twins) are in Class AA at Reading (Pa.) and New Britain (Conn.), respectively.

The Class A roll call includes catcher Lars Davis (Rockies) at Modesto (Calif.); pitcher Tanner Roark (Rangers) at Bakersfield (Calif.); shortstop Shawn Roof (Tigers) at Lakeland (Fla.); pitcher Scott Shaw (Mets) with St. Lucie in Port St. Lucie, Fla; and outfielder Kyle Hudson (Orioles) with Delmarva at Salisbury, Md.

No former Illini are currently in the major leagues. The last to play in MLB were Scott Spiezio and Chris Basak in 2007.

The list

Sophomore Matt McHugh moved up two places to second on the list of all-time Illini performers in the hammer throw with a personal-best toss of 186 feet, 6 inches Friday. McHugh won the event at the Morgan State Legacy track and field meet in Baltimore with an NCAA regional-qualifying distance. The top five:

NAME DISTANCE YEAR

Bob Carper 187-4 1979

Matt McHugh 186-6 2009

Rich Baader 186-4 1983

Jim Coxworth 184-5 1975

Brian Kueker 175-6 1978

The number

4

Visits to Penn State by the Illini baseball team since 1992, when the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in the sport. Illinois, which will return to State College, Pa., this weekend for a three-game series, is 6-10 in its four previous Big Ten series there.

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