Coach Dan Hartleb announced the official 2012-2013 Illinois Baseball schedule earlier this week.
You can find the schedule here at the FightingIllini.com website or download it pdf form.
It’s a “competitive” schedule says Hartleb:
“I am extremely excited about the quality of our 2013 schedule. We will be playing a number of teams that are annually at the top of their respective conferences and are regular participants in the NCAA tournament. This will give us a chance to put together a strong résumé with a competitive RPI figure and wins against quality opponents, which will help us as we look forward to postseason play. We will be challenged each and every weekend against a number of good teams that will present different styles of play.”
A quick breakdown of the 2013 Illini baseball schedule:
- Season Opener: Tennessee Tech 2/15
- Home Opener and Conference Opener: Nebraska 3/22
- Last game: Penn State 5/12
- Big Ten Tournament (yeah, we’ll be there!): 5/16-18
Other Highlights:
- Annual Spring Trip: Southern Illinois 3/15-18
- Battle at Busch: Missouri 4/2
Illinois will once again be participating in the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, NC in the fourth weekend of February. The next weekend, they will be in Arlington, Texas for the UTA/Hilton Invitational.
It’s the Baylor series in early March that will probably be considered the toughest for the Illini. Last checked, they were ranked fifth in the polls and were 48-15 for the 2012 season.
There seems to be a dearth of midweek home games especially towards the end of the season. It might be a trend as I noticed that tailed off late season as well. That said, the guys play Eastern Illinois and Illinois State twice (each once at home) and Southern Illinois at home. Speaking of SIU, we’ll be playing them a total of five times in 2013 with the Spring Trip included.
Plenty of opportunities to establish a rivalry with the ol’ alum of Coach Hartleb.
Let’s hope for no snow- or rain-outs! Go Illini!