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Moline's Musings

Sullivan on the Radio

Posted by: Brian Moline

Thursday, April 16, 2009 12:46 PM

I'm filling in for Steve Kelly on Sportstalk tonight and tomorrow. My guests tonight will be Jay Jaffe from Baseball Prospectus and Illinois softball coach Terri Sullivan. Sullivan should be in good spirits after her Illini swept a doubleheader from the Indiana Hoosiers last night at Eichelberger Field. The Illini were coming off a disappointing weekend in Columbus were they were swept by the nationally-ranked Buckeyes. With the wins, Illinois improves to 24-12 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten, which is good for fourth place.

It was another big night for freshman Monica Perry, who became the Illini's single season strikeout leader with 186 punchouts in just 184.1 innings of work on the season. She broke Amanda Fortune's record, which had stood since the Illini's Sweet 16 season of 2004.

Another tough test awaits the Illini this weekend, as top-ten opponent Michigan rolls into town. The Wolverines are 30-9 on the season, 6-2 in the Big Ten. They feature the conference's top pitcher in Nikki Nemitz. Below are the Big Ten's pitching leaders in ERA. Check out the numbers for Nemitz.

INDIVIDUAL PITCHING
Minimum 10 IP App ERA W-L Sv IP H R ER BB SO
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Nemitz-MICH.............. 28 0.77 18-5 1 146.0 64 30 16 23 219
Hill, Jackie-PSU.......... 17 0.85 9-5 0 99.1 58 19 12 26 97
Weil-IOWA................. 35 1.16 17-7 3 174.1 79 42 29 40 246
Reeder-OSU................ 25 1.34 17-3 0 120.1 83 31 23 36 134
Rzegocki, Suzie-PUR... 30 1.45 17-9 0 173.2 119 50 36 64 148
J. Taylor-MICH............ 25 1.52 12-4 1 124.2 83 33 27 29 175
Zust-IOWA................. 25 1.54 16-4 0 122.1 88 39 27 54 105
Bodeker-OSU.............. 20 1.68 12-3 4 91.2 70 26 22 21 123
Hassett-MINN.............. 41 1.98 20-17 0 236.1 155 87 67 105 336
Delaney, Lauren-NU..... 32 2.12 24-7 0 204.2 137 84 62 121 253

Oh, and if you happen to touch Nemitz for a run or two, you might have to deal with Jordan Taylor, who's no picnic.

It's another big weekend for the Illini, who have yet to defeat one of the conference's heavy hitters in league play, as they're 0-4 against Ohio State and Iowa. All seven of their wins have come against teams currently in places 8-11 on the Big Ten. It's great that the Illini have taken care of business against teams that they should beat, but they could use a signature win or two against teams like Michigan and Northwestern to cement their spot in next month's NCAA Tournament.

Hope you can tune in tonight. Thanks for reading.

bmoline@wdws.com