To vote in our daily poll, click here.

CHAMPAIGN — For Casey McMurray, the 2010 baseball season was a big pain in the you know what.

And we're not talking figuratively.

The Illinois left fielder played his entire junior year with cysts in his tailbone area that made even sitting — much less running and sliding — at times excruciating.

"It was painful," McMurray said. "On a scale of 10, it would probably be a 12."

So painful, in fact, that on team plane flights, McMurray would stand as much as possible or roam the aisles just to avoid sitting. On bus rides, he would stretch out on the floor on his stomach "just to keep the pressure off it."

And before his condition slowly became common knowledge within the team, McMurray dreaded the congratulatory slaps on the backside from fellow Illini after he'd belted a key hit or made a slick defensive play.

"I kind of joked with my teammates ... I didn't like people hitting me on the butt when I did something good because I just didn't like it," he said. "But, really, it kind of really hurt when people did that."

Only surgery to remove the cysts would end the pain. But when McMurray was told in early 2010 by a doctor that an operation would sideline him for the season, the former Freshman All-American's passion for the sport won out over comfort. He delayed surgery until after the Illini's final game last May.

"I have great respect for his toughness and what he did last year," UI coach Dan Hartleb said. "He knew he was a key part of the team and wanted to do whatever he could to go out and try to help us win as many games as possible with all the (other injuries) we had last year. He was an absolute warrior."

A warrior who long suffered in silence, reluctant to reveal a problem in such a personally sensitive area of the body even to the closest people in his life.

"I didn't tell anybody, not even my family members," McMurray said. "I was kind of a little bit embarrassed about it."

McMurray is embarrassed no more. The fourth-year Illini starter has since learned that pilonidal cysts are not an extremely rare occurrence — particularly among athletes. And from this experience, the senior says he's learned it's OK to speak up and seek help for even the most personal of health issues.

"Since I kept it to myself, it just got progressively worse and worse," said McMurray, who agreed to publicly discuss his experience for the first time in an interview this week with The News-Gazette. "It was my fault for not saying anything, but now I learned my lesson from it. So whenever something's wrong with me, I'll definitely speak up."

****

McMurray first sensed something was wrong near the end of his first semester at the UI in 2008. Initially, he thought it might be hemorrhoids because of the symptoms.

"Literally, it was a pain in the butt," he said.

For two years, McMurray coped with what he considered tolerable pain and hoped for the best. But ...

"It just never went away."

Then, during winter break of his junior year, the pain suddenly ratcheted up and made workouts intolerable.

"I couldn't really run or lift weights," McMurray said, "so I felt like I had to say something to my parents."

McMurray was diagnosed with pilonidal cysts that had become seriously inflamed.

He learned such cysts typically form due to the presence of ingrown hair, skin debris and glandular secretions in the tailbone area. Some people may experience no symptoms, while others, like McMurray, develop infections of the cyst, with painful inflammation and even external bleeding.

At this point, McMurray felt compelled to reveal his condition to UI coaches.

"We just tried to do as many things as we could (in practices) to keep from irritating his condition," Hartleb said. "Just tried to work with him, tried to talk to him every day."

But McMurray remained reluctant, at least initially, to be as forthcoming with his teammates. When the team returned from winter break in January 2010, he was in no condition to participate in the conditioning test that traditionally opens spring practice. When McMurray was questioned by fellow Illini about sitting out the test, he made up a story about having hurt his knee during the break.

In the following weeks, however, the LaGrange Lyons High School graduate confided to a few teammates. Then a few more. Then a few more.

"We kept it within each other," McMurray said. "Not a lot of people knew about it. They were really supportive."

In opening up, he learned he wasn't alone in his medical condition. Others told him how they knew of a friend or an acquaintance or another athlete who had been treated for pilonidal cysts.

"That kind of helped me ... to know that other people have had this," McMurray said.

****

Those familiar with what McMurray endured daily last season are astounded he missed only one of 52 Illini games.

"It was amazing, the way he just went out and battled," Hartleb said. "He was miserable throughout the season. It was tough at times, but he still played."

The lone exception was a mid-April trip to Marion to face Southern Illinois. That day, McMurray could not endure the lengthy bus ride.

"It probably should have been a lot more (missed games)," Hartleb said. "He couldn't sit. Hurt to run. Hurt to slide. Everything he did really affected the way he felt."

For that reason, Hartleb gave McMurray the standing option to sit out any games or practices — or to limit his participation in drills — if the player felt he just wasn't up to it physically. McMurray's standing response on game days was to take the field.

"He wanted to play, and he wasn't going to do anything to keep himself out of the lineup," Hartleb said. "Mentalitywise, those are the kind of guys you need to be highly successful. Guys that will do anything they can do to make us successful as a team.

"I have great respect for him. I'm not sure many people could have done that."

A few days before the 2010 opener, he approached Hartleb and told him he was having trouble and didn't think he could practice. The UI coach urged him to go home.

As McMurray turned to walk away, Hartleb saw a large blood stain on the seat of the player's uniform pants.

"Probably 12 inches around," the Illini coach said. "It's kind of scary. It really is for a young person to go through what he did. I felt sorry for him every single day."

Said McMurray: "Sometimes it would just leak a little bit, but sometimes it bled pretty good. I mean, it was embarrassing for myself because you never want to be bleeding out of your butt in front of people, but they all knew (the reason)."

Remarkably, McMurray turned in his best season as an Illini to that point, hitting a career-best .348. The right-handed batter also led the 2010 team in RBI (39), homers (six) and doubles (14). And even though he had to abandon traditional sliding techniques, McMurray stole a career-best nine bases in 10 attempts while using a headfirst approach.

Such production supported McMurray's contention that he could play effectively through the pain. And there was plenty of that, he now admits.

"There wasn't any good days," McMurray said. "(The cysts) were pretty much inflamed all last year during the season. There really wasn't a good time."

****

Relief finally arrived last June, when his long-delayed trip to the operating table took place. The pilonidal cystectomy turned out to be more challenging than anticipated, with his surgeon finding and removing seven cysts — most of them internal.

"He didn't think it would be that big (of a procedure)," McMurray said, "but once he went in there he had to make a bigger cut than he thought it would actually be."

McMurray's recovery time was revised upward — from two months to six. That knocked him out of practice last fall, but he was cleared to resume training in January.

He has started all 23 games this season, ranking as the team's co-leader in RBI (17). Heck, he's even back to sliding feetfirst — something he did last weekend at Penn State to break up a double play.

"I feel great now," McMurray said. "The scar's healed up. The scar tissue is strong now.

"I feel like a human being."

Series preview: Iowa (11-15, 1-2) at Illinois (9-14, 1-2)
When: 6:05 p.m. today; 6:05 p.m. Saturday; 1:05 p.m. Sunday, at Illinois Field
Probable starting pitchers: Game 1 — Illinois’ Kevin Johnson (1-3, 3.56 ERA) vs. Iowa’s Jarred Hippen (1-3, 3.51); Game 2 — John Anderson (3-2, 3.41) vs. Nick Brown (3-2, 2.85); Game 3 — Corey Kimes (1-3, 6.67 ERA) vs. Matt Dermody (2-3, 5.89)
Taking note: It’s only the second weekend of the Big Ten race, but whichever team loses this series will need to dig itself out of a hole to reach the six-team league playoffs. ... Iowa won last year’s series in Iowa City 2-1 after dropping the opener. ... Sixth-year Illini head coach Dan Hartleb is 7-6 all time against the Hawkeyes, including 3-1 at home. ... Since going on a season-best five-game winning streak, Illinois has dropped its last four games. Iowa has won its last two games to halt a season-high four-game slide. ... Hippen, a 2010 All-Big Ten second-teamer, has allowed 49 hits — including 17 for extra bases — in 41 innings. However, the Rock Falls native is coming off a solid outing, holding Michigan State to three earned runs in seven innings in a 7-2 loss. Teammate Brown ranks seventh in the Big Ten in ERA. ... Three Illini pitchers are among the Big Ten’s top 14 in ERA: Will Strack (10th), Anderson (11th) and Johnson (14th). ... Iowa center fielder Trevor Willis leads the conference in triples (five). The senior has 13 in his career.