Illinois baseball to face top Michigan this weekend

 

At this point in the season, every game counts.  Illinois travels to Ann Arbor this weekend to play Michigan who is tied for the top spot in the standings in the Big Ten.  It will be a three-game series and with just one more series left after this one, Illinois needs to eke out every win they can to ensure a favorable Big Ten Baseball Tournament placement and a possible NCAA Regional bid. 

Illinois is currently 27-16 with a 11-7 conference record while Michigan has celebrated a 20-game win streak which lasted over a month.  That streak is over and Illinois is hoping they can capitalize on that. 

Pitching Probables

Friday: Quinn Snarskis (5-1, 3.21 ERA)

Saturday: Andy Fisher (4-2, 4.36 ERA)

Sunday: Ty Weber (4-3, 3.58 ERA)

Quinn Snarskis is coming off another great start with help from the Illini’s offense during last Saturday’s 11-3 game against Ohio State.  Unfortunately, he was the only pitcher who benefited from a win over the Buckeyes.

Closer Joey Gerber is looking to tie Tyler Jay’s single season team record for saves.  At 13, he is just one away.  At 21 career saves, he is also just three away from tying Jay’s career team record. 

 

 

Michigan has had an up and down year.  Towards the beginning of the season, Michigan suffered a six-game losing streak.  By March 14th, they had an overall record of just 3-14.  Then just before the Big Ten season started, Big Blue caught fire.  Michigan went a whole month from March 16 to April 22 without losing.  Their record during that time?  20-0. 

Since then, they have been at the top of the Big Ten standings.  However technically, Minnesota can claim rights to first place since the two teams are now tied with a 14-3 conference record and Minnesota now has a superior overall record.  Because Michigan lost a series to Iowa two weekends ago, the top spot is in contention. 

Big Blue has good hitting (.287) and stingy pitching (3.36 ERA).  It’s been 15 years since Illinois has won at Ann Arbor.  This will be a good weekend to reverse that trend.

 

Follow the games:  @IlliniBaseball  || WDWS AM-1400  || Fighting Illini Sports Network || Live Stats

 

Random Ramblings

As an employee of the University of Illinois, I am seeing lots of graduating seniors who are walking around campus in their caps and gowns.  Five seniors who won’t be participating in this weekend’s graduation ceremonies are Jackson Douglas, Andy Fisher, Joey Gerber, Ryan Haff and Sean Leland.  They still have something else to accomplish in Ann Arbor. 

Those five players will get their due next weekend during Senior Day.  That said, it is another testimony to what effort these guys go through for their team. 

 

Two Big Ten players are tied for third in the nation with 18 homeruns.  Yes, one is Bren Spillane.  That is a given.  The other is Scott Schreiber who plays for Nebraska.  Not to get ahead of myself but Illinois will host the Cornhuskers in the last weekend of the year.  Keep an eye on the wind that weekend.  Balls will be flying out of the park!

Spillane still paces the entire nation with a .950 slugging percentage thanks not only to his two homeruns last weekend but also every other hit in between (he is 4 for 8 in his last two games). 

Not to add to the pressure but can Ben Troike continue his streak and reach base in every game this season?  With six games left, it is a real possibility.  Troike’s story of reaching base in 48 straight games is one of the most underrated ones in college baseball.  Looking through his game stats, I noted one against the Spartans in which he went 0 for 5 with no walks.  However, he was hit by the pitch that day keeping the streak alive. 

Most of Troike’s games are very productive though.  In fact, he has at least two hits in sixteen games this year.  Last weekend, two of those hits went yard!

Both Troike and his double play combo teammate Michael Massey are sophomores so we have a lot more production coming from them!

 

Go Illini!!