Just last week, I was wondering last week when this year’s baseball schedule would be released. Sure enough, Coach Hartleb announced at an online press conference the state of the 2021 Illinois baseball season.
The good news is that schedule has been finalized pending last minute changes and of course, weather. You can see the announcement and the schedule at fightingillini.com. There are some differences from years past, however.
One, the schedule pits the Illini entirely against Big Ten teams with no non-conference games. Another, there will be no Big Ten Baseball Tournament this season. If there is no Tournament, what is the goal? Coach Hartleb was clear in the press conference. He said:
Bottom line, get into the NCAA tournament so we can get the national championship.
Due to Covid restrictions, there will be no fans allowed at home games at Illinois Field. It’s certainly understandable but that will be a tough pill for some hard-core Illini fans to swallow.
There is a change in the Big Ten schedule this season. The Big Ten will experiment with a three-team pod style schedule for three of the weekends. Illinois Field will host three teams for two weekends this season.
2021 season up close
- 44 games
- 12 Big Ten teams
- Five home weekends at Illinois Field
- Opening weekend: March 5-7 vs Ohio State in Greenville, S.C.
- Home opening weekend: March 26-28 vs Northwestern
- Season finale weekend: May 28-30 vs Rutgers at Piscataway, N.J.
The FightingIllini.com has already updated their website to reflect the new schedule. Times and pod schedule details are forthcoming.
Go Illini!