If it weren’t for one inning on Friday, Illinois (18-19) would have swept the Iowa Hawkeyes (22-16) this past weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, everything seemed to go just right. Timely hitting coincided with excellent pitching as the Illini won both games and Illinois came away with a 2-1 series win for the weekend.
This was the first weekend that Illinois had played in front of fans. Easing restrictions, Iowa opened up Duane Banks Field at 50% capacity for the three games.
Friday
 | Illinois | 4 |
 | Iowa | 5 |
Both starters including Illinois’ Andrew Hoffmann were lights out on Friday night. By the end of the 7th inning, the score was 2-1 Iowa. That one run was courtesy of Nathan Aide’s solo homer.
Illinois added three runs in the top of the eighth on a Kellen Sarver double and a Cam McDonald 2-run base hit.
Unfortunately, Iowa took the lead with three runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth.
Saturday
| Illinois | 14 |
| Iowa | 1 |
Nate Lavender was back on track this weekend. In six innings, he struck out a career high 13 batters while allowing only one run. That earned him his sixth victory this season.
Lavender had plenty of support on Saturday. The Illini scored 14 runs including six in the third inning and five in the seventh inning. No round-trippers were used in this victory. Kellen Sarver (above) continues his torrid pace by driving in three runs on a double and a single. Jackson Raper, Cam McDonald and Jacob Campbell also contributed two hits in the win.
Ryan Kutt pitched a perfect three innings in relief for a save.
Sunday
Riley Gowens added another to his W column. He put in a solid start by striking out nine batters in five innings allowing three hits and two runs. Relievers Alex Vera, Ty Rybarczyk, Cole Kirschsieper got the job done pitching four scoreless innings in the win.
Justin Janas raised his batting average to .385 by going 5 for 5 on Sunday. Illinois put together a four-run rally in the fifth rally. Ryan Hampe (above) had big part in that with a two-run homer scoring Janas. Later in the inning, Taylor Jackson roped a 2-run single for a couple insurance runs.
Random Ramblings
Are college baseball fans excited to watch the game now? The numbers don’t lie.
Attendance figures for this weekend at Iowa:
- Friday: 1,022
- Saturday: 1,165
- Sunday: 1,132
Saturday’s and Sunday’s games were sell-out games at Duane Banks Field. While this was an away game at Iowa, I’m still glad to see (but not too surprised) college baseball fans are flocking back now that restrictions are being lifted.
After this weekend, Justin Janas is now the conference leader in batting average and on-base percentage. His performance this weekend has extended his on-base streak to 19 games.
With his win on Saturday, Nate Lavender is tied for second in wins in the Big Ten with six.
Next up
Illini fans will not have to wait long for the next matchup. Back in April, a Sunday game against Indiana was rained out. The midweek makeup game will be played this Tuesday in Bloomington, Indiana.
This coming weekend will be the last regular season home series of the year. Illinois will be playing Penn State for three games starting Friday.