This weekend, the Illini baseball team travels to Conway, South Carolina. Illinois (6-4) will face host Coastal Carolina (8-4) for a three-game series for their last series before coming home to the friendly confines of Illinois Field.
At 6-4, Illinois has won two straight road series with plenty of offense. So far, they have scored 78 runs in ten games.
Let’s take a look at last weekend…
Beating the BearKats
Let’s just say that Illinois has an abundance of team players. It’s looking like the team won’t have to rely on a few players to contribute. Everyone is chipping in.
Case in point, Christian Smith was slotted to play second base on Friday night and he responded by going 4 for 4. Smith hit two doubles and a triple.
Thanks to the bullpen crew of John Lundgren and TJ Constertina who pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, Illinois won 8-5 Friday.
Jack Crowder earned win #1 on Saturday thanks to a decent outing (two runs in 5 2/3 innings) and an extended relief effort by Alex Vera who pitched the balance of the game for the save.
Crowder and Vera were certainly helped by the long ball on Saturday. Camden Janik, Drake Westcott, Coltin Quagliano and Jacob Schroeder all went yard. Schroeder also contributed a double. Illinois won by the score 8-3.
On Sunday, things were looking like a sweep but Illinois fell victim to a six-run rally by Sam Houston. Six Illini pitchers saw work that day. Drake Westcott knocked out a 3-run homer in the losing cause. By the time the game was over, Sam Houston was in double digits and defeated the good guys 10-6.
On to this weekend.
The Matchup
The Chanticleers are a perennial opponent of Illinois since 2014 excluding the Big Ten-only 2021 season. Historically, the Illini have held their own against the sometimes-ranked Chants with an 8-9 record.
The good news? Illinois has won three of the last four games versus Coastal.
 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers |
| 8-4 |
| Friday 5pm CT Saturday 1pm CT Sunday 11:30am CT |
| Live video | Live audio | Live stats | @IlliniBaseball |
On the mound
There is a slight change in the starting rotation this weekend. On Saturday, Illinois is going to test the resolve of freshman righthander Julius Sanchez.
- Friday: Riley Gowens (0-0, 5.79 ERA)
- Saturday: Julius Sanchez (0-2, 6.30 ERA)
- Sunday: Jack Wenninger (2-0, 5.40 ERA)
The complete schedule for the weekend can be found at the Fighting Illini website.
Random Ramblings
In case you were wondering like I was… What is a Chanticleer?
I am so excited to finally see the Illinois baseball team in action at Illinois Field next Tuesday! The scheduled game time is 3pm against Indiana State. The long term forecast predicts it will be a cold day (40 degrees) but sunny and I am perfectly okay with that.
Branden Comia continues to reach base. Currently, he has a 50-game on-base streak going back to last year.
With the two wins last weekend, Coach Dan Hartleb now has 512 wins with the Illinois program. He only needs six to reach Lee Eilbracht’s all-time Illinois record of 518.
With the team finished with their road trip, there is roughly a 50-50 chance that Coach will get his record-breaking 519th win at home. Now, that would be exciting!
Go Illini!