Winning is fun. Illinois baseball hopes to continue the trend this weekend.
Illinois (5-6) is finding their winning ways! Now that they are, they are headed south once more, this time to face #8 Tennessee (13-1). Games will be played March 8-10 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville.
After a nice, neat midweek win against Eastern Illinois last Tuesday, the Orange and Blue won two of three at the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina. That included a 10-inning nail-biter versus Western Michigan which Illinois took 8-6. Illinois took the weekend win with a 12-6 scrubbing of Michigan State.
Illinois wasn’t able to defeat tough Florida State but they did battle. Down 7-0, they were able to tie it 7-7 in the sixth inning. FSU proved to be too tough as they won 13-7 in nine frames.
Diesel fuels the Illini
As you no doubt heard, Drake Westcott was a major player over the past week. The Big Ten honored Westcott with the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week award. This is the first weekly honor for an Illini baseball player in 2024 and Drake’s second honor overall.
Very impressive stats for Drake! Of particular note, three of those walks came at the hands of Florida State hurlers in Saturday’s loss. They weren’t taking any chances!
…and now, Illinois visits Tennessee.
Weekend preview
This will be the last of the away non-conference series before Illinois heads up to Illinois Field in a little over a week. The Illinois-Tennessee matchup will take place at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville. Enjoy the view, boys!
Here is the Fighting Illini weekend preview against the Volunteers.
Tennessee
W-13 L-1
Friday 5pm CT
Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Saturday 12pm CT Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Sunday 12pm CT Watch | Listen | Live Stats
The #8 Vols are 13-1 and have won their last twelve games.
From what I have seen, the atmosphere at Lindsey Nelson Stadium is very intense. Tennessee has a very loyal fan base.
Offensively, the Vols are hitting .327 and slugging .626. They know how to score! Their pitching is good enough to let the hitters do their thing.
This stuck out at me in the Fighting Illini preview…
Illinois is set to face a Top-10 opponent in a three-game series for the first time since 2015, when the Illini traveled to Stillwater, Okla., to face Oklahoma State. The Orange and Blue took two of three games in that series.
Overall, the Illini are 0-2 against ranked opponents this season and went 2-3 in such contests last season.
Ranked opponent or not, there is always hope. That’s the nature of baseball.
This will be quite a series.
On the mound
Here’s who Illinois has scheduled to be on the mound this weekend. Right now, the coaches are playing by ear for the Spartans game.
| Friday | Jack Crowder | 0-0, 7.07 ERA |
| Saturday | Logan Tabeling | 0-1, 5.40 ERA |
| Sunday | TBD |
Logan Tabeling had a solid start against Western Michigan last weekend. He allowed just two runs in five innings while striking out seven Broncos.
No starter set for Sunday. My guess? Either Cooper Omans or Regan Hall.
Random Ramblings
The Big Ten Network has announced its television schedule for the 2024 baseball season.
In addition to the Big Ten Baseball Tournament, BTN will broadcast sixteen regular season games. Of those, two of them will be Illinois affairs.
| Sunday, March 31 | Penn State | Illinois | 3 p.m. |
| Friday, April 26 | Illinois | Maryland | TBA |
The Penn State game on March 31st will be held at Illinois Field.
Clutch
I can’t help looking at the Big Ten baseball leaderboard. It’s a curse.
While I was perusing the page, I see the name of Coltin Quagliano pop up on the Runs Batted In list. Sure enough, Quags is hitting .267 with .267 but is leading the team with 14 rbis.
That ranks for tied for fifth in rbis in the conference.
Clutch.
Looking ahead
Next Tuesday, Illinois will play an away midweek game at Indiana State. For the weekend following (March 15-17), the Illini come home to Illinois Field and host Southern Indiana.
Go Illini!