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One to watch

BASEBALL

Friday-Sunday vs. Indiana

At Illinois Field

The last time these teams met, the Hoosiers were knocking the Illini out of the 2008 Big Ten tournament in an elimination game. That 14-7 outcome was highlighted – at least from Indiana's perspective – by Josh Phegley's mega-performance at the plate. The Hoosier catcher went 4 for 4 with two home runs, a double and six RBI.

Phegley is back, this time as a Baseball America preseason first-team All-American and the publication's preseason choice as Big Ten Player of the Year. BA is big on Phegley's teammates, too, predicting that Tracy Smith's Hoosiers will win the Big Ten and reach the NCAA tournament.

So far, Indiana hasn't exactly inspired confidence in those picks. Although Phegley was hitting .400 with six homers through Tuesday, the Hoosiers have struggled to a 10-15 start. Particularly puzzling is the rocky pitching of Matt Bashore. A year ago, the junior right-hander was a first-team All-Big Ten choice after going 7-3 with a 3.59 ERA and leading the league in strikeouts. In seven starts this year, Bashore is 1-3 with a 6.53 ERA.

While Indiana enters 1-1 in the Big Ten, No. 26 Illinois (17-5) tops the standings at 3-0 after a series sweep of Michigan State last weekend. For the Illini, the eye-opening development was a remarkable display of pitching depth in the absence of their top two starters. Minus Phil Haig (groin) and Ben Reeser (back), a trio of youngsters making their Big Ten starting debuts put the clamps on the Spartans. Sophomore Lee Zerrusen and freshmen Will Strack and Bryan Roberts combined for three wins and a 1.57 ERA. Strack was particularly impressive, earning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors after throwing a nine-inning shutout Overall, the UI pitching staff turned in a miserly 1.33 ERA, albeit in sub-freezing wind chills that favored the pitchers.

Haig and Reeser are expected back on the mound this weekend.

Game times are 6:05 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Illini of the Week

SCOTT LANGLEY

Golf

Mononucleosis could keep this Illini sophomore down for only so long.

A little over 2 1/2 weeks after his worst performance of the season, Langley was back on top of his game last weekend for a 2-stroke victory at the Florida Atlantic University Spring Break Invitational in Delray Beach, Fla.

Opening with a 6-under-par 65, the Manchester, Mo., native broke par in all three of his rounds en route to a 205. The victory was his second of the school year and third of his Illini career.

"Scott just keeps getting better and better," UI coach Mike Small said. "He has mono and he won the tournament. It just shows how tough he is."

Langley, who was named Big Ten Golfer of the Week on Wednesday, was diagnosed with the illness after struggling through the General Jim Hackler Championships on March 8-9 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Shooting his highest 54-hole score of the school year – 235 – Langley tied for 59th and clearly wasn't himself.

Medically cleared to return to the links last weekend, the 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year opened with his second-best round of the school year and followed with a pair of 1-under 70s in windier conditions.

"He had a great first round and the next two rounds he played steady, solid golf," Small said. "He didn't make mistakes. He stayed focused and stayed on task."

Runner-up Jonathan Bowers of Northwestern was the only golfer within 5 shots of Langley by tournament's end. The 14-team field included golfers from five other Big Ten schools.

"He beat them pretty good," Small said.

Planting seeds

For the sixth year in a row, Bob Starkell has guided his Illini women's gymnastics team to an NCAA regional berth. For the first time ever, No. 14 Illinois enters the postseason as a seeded team.

"This is new territory, being a third seed," Starkell said. "I definitely think we're more excited about the opportunity. There's a feeling we do have more of a legitimate chance than last year."

That chance arrives at 8 p.m. Saturday, when the Illini will be in Seattle for the West Regional. The six-team field includes No. 2 Utah and No. 11 Auburn, which are seeded ahead of Illinois.

Each of the six regionals nationwide includes three seeded teams. The top two finishers in each regional advance to the NCAA Championships on April 16-18 in Lincoln, Neb.

Illinois never has reached the national tournament as a team, although it barely missed doing so last year. The 2008 Illini placed third in the South Central Regional, 0.45 point behind runner-up Oklahoma.

"That was probably one of our No. 1 goals before each of the last two years – to have this team be the first to make it to the (national) finals," Starkell said.

The Illini coach expects a different mindset from his veterans entering this regional, particularly after his team scored a school-record 196.750 points in its most recent meet while placing second at the Big Ten Championships.

"Last year, coming off a fairly decent season, I think going in they were hoping to get lucky and advance," Starkell said. "This year, I think they are more confident."

The Illini will be in familiar surroundings this weekend. Earlier this season, they competed at the Bank of America Arena – site of the West Regional – in a quadrangular meet. Illinois finished second to host Washington that day.

"So we'll have a slight advantage, being on their equipment (again) in their venue," Starkell said.

Starkell concedes that Utah appears to be a cut above in the West Regional field. But if his Illini execute up to their capabilities, their 10th-year coach will gladly take his chances in the chase for second place.

"This is probably the most consistent team I've had," Starkell said. "We have a lot more depth to go along with our talent. This team is capable of being the best team I've ever had."

Future Illini excels

One of Starkell's future gymnasts won a pair of events last weekend at the USA Gymnastics Illinois State Meet in DeKalb.

Jacklyn Kantecki, a senior at Chicago Queen of Peace who signed with the Illini last fall, finished first in vault and floor exercise in the Level 10 Senior B division. The division is open to gymnasts born between April 1, 1991, and Sept. 30, 1991.

Kantecki, a member of the Naperville Gymnastics Club, scored 9.750 points in vault and 9.625 in floor. The Bridgeview native also placed third in all-around with 38.025 points while qualifying for the USAG Region V Championships. That meet takes place Friday through Sunday at Lincolnshire.

Kantecki is a two-time Level 10 national qualifier who last year finished eighth in the all-around and tied for fifth in floor exercise.

Clearing hurdles

In her Illini outdoor track and field debut last weekend, Deserea Brown wasted no time showing why her new coach was so excited to add the transfer's talents. Brown, a two-time NCAA Division II national champion and 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials participant, qualified for regionals in her first 400-meter hurdles race as an Illini.

"She's extremely talented," UI coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said. "I was fortunate enough to get her in her senior year. I wish I had her longer."

The transfer from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in late May by placing second in her signature event at the University of Central Florida Invitational in Orlando. The Flossmoor native, who has a career-best clocking of 56.82 seconds, finished in 1:00.72. But Buford-Bailey warns not to read too much into the latter time.

"It was warm but extremely windy," the Illini coach said. "There was a very strong headwind. Everything we practiced went out the door because you couldn't run a normal stride pattern in those conditions.

"To qualify first time out with that kind of headwind was kind of impressive. We're definitely working toward a plan, which is for her to be a national finalist."

Look for Brown to make an impact in other events, too. In Orlando, she also placed fifth in the 100 hurdles and ran on Illinois' third-place 1,600 relay team.

Next up for Brown and selected other Illini is a trip to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Relays, which began Wednesday.

Hit the beach

The Illini volleyball team will leave the confines of Huff Hall and take its game outside onto the sand later this month. Coach Kevin Hambly, inspired by the NCAA's debate over adding sand volleyball as an emerging sport, has decided to give it a trial run on April 18 at the campus intramural sand courts at First Street and Stadium Drive.

The sport is known on the professional and Olympic levels as beach volleyball.

"Most of our girls have never played beach," Hambly said. "It's just to try it out, something we want to experiment with."

UI players will rotate through different pairings for 2 on 2 competitions. The individual with the best overall record will be declared the champion, or as Hambly is dubbing it, Queen of the Beach. The event, open to the public free of charge, will run from 8 a.m to approximately noon.

Beach volleyball is particularly popular in California and that has spurred the NCAA to consider its addition as a championship sport. The "emerging" designation allows schools to form varsity teams and play intercollegiate schedules. However, it takes 40 institutions per division to sponsor the sport before the NCAA would hold a national championship in that division.

Hambly likened indoor/sand volleyball to cross-country/track and field, where distance runners participate in two sports. Volleyball teams would play indoors in the fall and beach in the spring.

Sand volleyball has yet to be approved as an emerging sport in Division I. A January vote by the 31-member Division I Legislative Council was narrowly defeated, but the panel is scheduled to hold another vote on the issue this month.

Hambly isn't sure there's enough support to gain approval.

"I'm reluctant to say it's going to pass," he said.

The number

88.2

Career winning percentage of Illini wrestler Mike Poeta. The senior 157-pounder finished his career with a 105-14 record and the No. 2 winning percentage in school history behind Matt Lackey (.896).

The list

The Illinois men's golf team tied the eighth-lowest 54-hole score in school history last weekend (847) en route to winning the Florida Atlantic University Spring Break Invitational at Delray Beach, Fla. Three of the top nine all-time UI scores have been achieved this school year. The top 10:

SCORE TOURNAMENT DATES

831 D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate Oct. 12-13, 2008

836 Nestle Purina Classic Oct. 7-8, 2002

837 D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate Oct. 7-8, 2007

840 Northern Intercollegiate Sept. 18-19, 1998

843 Windon Memorial Classic Oct. 5-6, 2008

843 Northern Intercollegiate Sept. 28-29, 2002

845 Henry Griffitts/Baylor Invitational Oct. 29-30, 2001

847 FAU Spring Break Invitational March 27-29, 2009

847 Big Ten Championships May 8-9, 2004

850 Alister MacKenzie Invitational Oct. 13-14, 2003

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