After a successful Big Ten weekend plus a wild and raucous midweek victory, Illinois baseball welcomes the Northwestern to Illinois Field this weekend to continue the fun.
Illinois won two games against Iowa after losing the first game last weekend. Illinois continued their success against Illinois State on Tuesday. After giving up four runs in the first inning, the Illini responded with six in their half of the inning. When everything was said and done, Illinois won 11-9. Kellen Sarver was driving force with 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 rbis and a homer.
After starting out the season 7-10, Illinois is now 16-14. Most importantly, they reside in second place in the Big Ten standings with a 7-2 record. No time to get hot than the conference season!
On the mound
Coach Hartleb and Coach Allen are going with the same three hurlers this weekend. Cole Kirschsieper leads the team with a 2.85 ERA and four wins. He’ll start us off on Friday.
Jack Crowder (1-1, 7.25 ERA) takes the hill on Saturday and Riley Gowens (3-1, 5.00 ERA) gets the call on Sunday.
| Northwestern Wildcats | 15-13 (4-2 Big Ten) |
| Illinois Field | Champaign, Illinois |
| Friday, April 15 | 6pm CT Saturday, April 16 | 3pm CT Sunday, April 17 | 1pm CT |  |
| WDWS AM-1400 | B1G+ | Live Stats |
Random Ramblings
With any luck, we’ll have decent weather this weekend for the series if a bit cloudy. Friday’s game weather looks to be in the 60s with little chance of precipitation. Saturday looks to markedly sunnier.
For those who missed it, two Illini hitters have some streaks going on. Cam McDonald (.333) keeps getting on base like nobody’s business. At this point, he’s reached 30 games. Branden Comia (.323) now has a 14-game hit streak cooking.
Tuesday’s midweek game against Illinois State was one for the annals. After ISU scored four runs before the Illini came to bat, I wondered about the prospects of a win for the good guys. Then Illinois scored six in the bottom half of the first. It was one of those games.
Thanks in part to Kellen Sarver’s 3-hit, 3-rbi performance, Illinois survived the rollercoaster game 11-9.
Let’s keep the wins comin’!