Four Illini baseball games at home this weekend!
This weekend, Illinois baseball will host both Michigan State (11-11) and Purdue (6-15) at Illinois Field. Coming off a disappointing 0-2 weekend against Indiana which included a no-hitter, Illinois hopes to improve their 8-12 record.
This will be the first and only pod weekend that Illinois Field will host in 2021. Illinois will play each team twice. In addition, the Spartans and Boilermakers will play each other twice. With the increased number of games, the pod weekend will extend to Monday.
On the mound
Nathan Lavender started the year in the bullpen. After proving himself, he earned a spot in the rotation and so far, he’s keeping up the momentum. He sports a 3-0 record with a 2.45 ERA. FightingIllini.com says Nate holds the top spot in the conference with this stat: 11.33 SO/BB. Nate will be starting against Michigan State on Saturday.
Andrew Hoffman who did not make a start last weekend due to inclement weather will take the mound on Friday. Riley Gowens will bring the heat on Sunday. No word yet on who will pitch on Monday.
| Illinois Field | Champaign, Illinois |
| Friday, April 16 | 6pm CT Saturday, April 17 | 1pm CT |  11-11 |
| Sunday, April 18 | 4pm CT Monday, April 19 | 3pm CT |  6-15 |
Random Ramblings
Please note: Though some players’ family members are able to attend, Illinois is still not yet opening home games for general admission.
Illinois has one definite advantage during this weekend. They will play one game per day. Purdue and Michigan on the other hand, will each need to squeeze four games into three days. This reminds me of the schedule used by Big Ten Tournament. On occasion, a team will play an opponent then play another. The next day, they’ll wake up and play one more. That is essentially what Michigan State will be doing.
Illinois will be playing one game each day from Friday to Monday. Simple as that.
Indiana’s no-hitter against Illinois came with a another sad note. Branden Comia’s on-base streak came to an end last weekend after reaching base for 37 straight games. That streak goes back to May 19th, 2019.
Ben Troike 
Kyle Hudson
Only Ben Troike (57 games) and Kyle Hudson (38 games) had longer streaks in Illinois history. Nice work, Branden!!
Let’s go, Illini!