Before I begin, I just want to say that I want to do what Anup Sinha does. How awesome does that weekend series between Georgia and LSU sound in front of a packed house in Athens. This after watching UNC-Georgia Tech the weekend prior. I need to move south.
But alas, I'm here in the Midwest and despite temps hovering in the mid-40s at game time and a stiff west wind that made it feel at least 10 degrees colder, they were playing ball in Champaign as Bradley took on Illinois. Bradley had won the last five meetings between the two schools, but Illinois came away with an 11-9 win thanks in large part to junior shortstop Brandon Wikoff.
Wikoff became the first Illinois player since 1990 to hit for the cycle to lead the Illini to the nonconference win.
The gritty shortstop led off the third inning and came around to score on a single by Pete Cappetta, which was the start of a five-run outburst. After the Illini batted around in the third, Wikoff again led off to open the fourth and promptly belted a 2-1 fastball over the right-field fence.
He later added a two-run triple in the fifth and completed the cycle with an RBI triple in the seventh.
Most of the country is no doubt unfamiliar with Wikoff. The best comparison for him is David Eckstein, both size-wise (5-foot-8) and ability wise. Wikoff is a dirt-bag. He'll do whatever it takes to win and he's constantly aware of the fact that he has to prove to people that he can play at higher levels.
As a senior at Bartonville Limestone -- alma mater of Chicago White Sox slugger Jim Thome -- Wikoff earned Player of the Year honors from my employer, the Peoria Journal Star, as a junior, when he hit .464 As a senior, he upped his average by more than 70 points to .539. This in a Mid-Illini Conference that placed two teams in the top four at the IHSA state finals and had one team -- Chillicothe Illinois Valley Central -- finish 40-2 and ranked in the top 50 in the nation in some prep polls.
Despite those exemplary numbers, Wikoff didn't garner so much as a sniff in the 2006 draft. Not a single phone call from an MLB team. Such is life when you're 5-foot-8.
So on to Illinois, where he was plugged into the starting lineup immediately. In fact, he has started 134 of the 136 games in two-plus seasons in Champaign. Over that time, he has turned into one of the Big Ten's top hitters. As a junior, he hit .369 and drove in 61 runs from the No. 3 hole.
So far this year, he is hitting .421, including a pair of four-hit outings in the last four days, and has 18 RBIs for the Illini (19-7).
Right now, Crosschecker has him pegged as a Tier 2 guy, somewhere between rounds 4-10 and two scouts last night narrowed it to rounds 7-9. And every scout has said, "If he was just 6-foot..."
Guess Wikoff will just have to prove he can play all over again.
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