On Tuesday night, Illinois baseball (6-4) favored their fans with a win for the home opener win against the Chicago State Cougars (2-11). The Cougars gave their all but they didn’t have Branden Comia seen above sliding into third after hitting a triple.
 | Chicago State (2-11) | 8 |
 | Illinois (6-4) | 11 |
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Comia went 4 for 5 with two doubles, a triple and four rbis. He extended his hitting streak to seven games and increased his batting average to .429. Caleb Larson (1-0) got the win in relief and Garrett Acton earned his fifth save of 2020 which leads the nation.
Joining Comia in the attack was Danny Doligale who scored three times and drove home two runs with a base hit in the fifth inning. Taylor Jackson hit safely and walked and scored both times. He’s reached base in each of Illinois’ ten games.
Random Ramblings
At March 3rd, Tuesday’s game was the earliest Illinois has hosted an opening game in its 141-year history. I don’t think we could have expected a nicer day. The sun was out and we had mild temps for most of the game. I’m glad we could enjoy some Illinois baseball this early!
I have to give kudos to the Chicago State crew. They hit the ball hard and gave our boys a challenge. There’s always something about midweek games. While we can keep an undefeated and ranked team scoreless, we have historically has issues with these Tuesday games.
Fun Stats
Ouch! Five players were hit by the pitch on Tuesday. Chicago State didn’t help their cause by walking nine Illini either.
Speaking of Jacob Campbell (above), he didn’t have a hit this season till Saturday. Now he has four hits in his last three games.
Branden Comia accounts for 28 of the 97 total bases for the entire Illini team so far this year.
Next up
Illinois returns to North Carolina for a three-game series against the Elon Phoenix (6-6). A little trivia: MLB umpire Joe West (yeah, him) is an alum of Elon.
Way to go, Illini!