By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Westfield, IN - Team Illinois played the second of their three games during Day 3 of the PBR Future Games. The Illinois squad matched up against Team Wisconsin and ultimately fell 7-4.

Two bad innings did in Team Illinois, giving up four runs and three runs in two separate frames.

Despite giving up a total of seven runs there was plenty to like out of the four arms who took the mound for Team Illinois. First out of the gates was LHP Cole Kirschsieper (Lincoln-Way East, 2019). Kirschsieper showcased a loose, quick arm and fastball up to 88 mph. Next in line was RHP Michael Gurka (Joliet Catholic, 2019). Gurka, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-hander, pounded the zone in his two innings of work, touched 88 mph and flashed a breaking ball with swing-and-miss action.

Big 6-foot-5, 205-pound, RHP Tyler Statler (Hononegah, 2019) was the next hard throwing right-hander. Statler worked two clean innings and sat 85-88 mph, touching 89 with his fastball. RHP Jack Mahoney (St. Viator, 2020), the final arm to throw for Team Illinois, put himself on the map as one of the top 2020 arms in Illinois. Mahoney pounded the bottom of the strike zone with a fastball that had run and sink, sitting 86-88 mph, touching 89.

The Illinois offense did their damage in two separate innings, scoring two in the second and two more in the fourth inning. INF/OF Clark Elliott (Barrington, 2019) continued to look locked in at the plate. Elliott smoked a ball down the third baseline that the Team Wisconsin third baseman made a nice play on. In his second at-bat he laced a ball right back up the middle, off of the pitcher's leg and ran a 4.36 down-the-line.

C/3B Casey Kmet (St. Viator, 2019) also took some of the best at-bats on the day for Team Illinois. The physical right-handed hitter lined a ball to right-field in his first at-bat and later scored a run. In his second at-bat he hit one of the hardest balls of the day, a line drive right at the third baseman. He later flew out to right field and was a 4.44 down-the-line.

1B/3B Charlie Allison (Rock Island, 2019) finished the day 1-for-2 with a line drive single into left-center field. He also reached on an error that was hit sharply at the shortstop.

Team Illinois concludes the PBR Future Games with their third and final game at 6:00 pm against Team Indiana. The 6:00 pm game will be the final game of the event.

Make sure to check out our running Day 1 Scout Blogs with notes on every game at the Future Games

Day 1 Scout Blog

Day 2 Scout Blog

A full schedule and pitching rotations can be found HERE.

For a full Illinois Future Games Roster CLICK HERE.

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