It’s the last scheduled home series at Illinois Field. If you have been waiting for the right time to see this magical Illinois team, this is it. The Illini will be hosting rival Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend for three games.
Illinois (28-16, 13-5 Big Ten) holds first place in the Big Ten after winning the last two games against Ohio State last weekend. Iowa (26-18, 13-8 Big Ten) is just a few notches down in fifth place. The top five spots in the Big Ten standings are separated by just a couple games.
Friday: Ohio State 7 Illinois 5
This game was back and forth all game. Between the bottom of the third till the top of the seventh, each team scored at least one run each half inning.
Ohio State finally prevailed with a couple extra runs.
Vytas Valincius contributed a solo homerun and Brody Harding scored three runs on two hits.
No photos from me from Friday night. It was my 60th birthday and my wife came with me to the ballpark! I figured for everything she puts up with for doing this website, I owe it to her to sit next to her for one game.
Saturday: Illinois 10 Ohio State 5
Don’t worry, my wife came again on Saturday and got to see the Illinois in all their splendor. The team got all those runs back and then some.
Productive hits by Valincius and Harding (again!) in the third inning got Illinois off to a solid lead which was supplemented by another by Cal Hejza in the fourth.
Then the fireworks came. Connor Milton continues his amazing 2024 season by hitting a two-run homerun in the seventh inning. Jacob Schroeder then followed that up by hitting a three-run dinger in the next frame.
Payton Hutchings earned his fourth win of the season and Joe Glassey pitched two perfect innings to clinch the win.
Sorry, honey… I had to take photos of this game. Sure glad I did, too!
Sunday: Illinois 12 Ohio State 2
Illinois won Sunday’s game in Illini-style with a run rule victory. Up 10-2, Ryan Moerman doubled home Drake Westcott and Cal Hejza in the eighth inning and Orange and Blue fans got to go home happy.
A big part of this win? Brody Harding who collected five ribbies on three hits including a two-run homerun in the fifth. Drake Westcott contributed one of his patented dingers as well.
A big kudos to hurlers Sam Reed, Jake Rons and Regan Hall who kept the Bucks to two runs! Hall in particular, pitched three hitless, scoreless innings allowing just one baserunner.
See all my photos from the 2024 season in the IBR photo gallery.
Hawkeyes are a-comin’
Illinois has a three-game set against Iowa this weekend that has big implications for teams. Both are eyeing the Big Ten Baseball Tournament and their placement within the bracket.
Iowa definitely needs to win to stay alive and that is a good motivation.
Note that Sunday’s game has been moved from its usual spot to 3pm to accommodate the Big Ten Network broadcast.
We’ve had rain every day this week but right now, the weekend forecast is looking pretty decent. We may have similar weather to last weekend, partly sunny with highs in the 70s.
Here’s the Fighting Illini weekend preview.
Iowa Hawkeyes
W-28 L-18 (13-8 Big Ten)
Friday 6pm CT
Saturday 3pm CT
Sunday 3pm CT
BTN Listen Live Stats
Hawkeye Hootenanny: Iowa was ranked early on in the season but like Illinois, they just couldn’t get going for a while. But again like Illinois, once conference season started, something clicked. A 13-8 Big Ten record is good enough for fifth place in the standings right now.
Iowa is third in the B1G in runs scored, even higher than Illinois. On the other hand, Hawkeye pitching has given up slightly more runs as well.
It’s worth noting that this will be Iowa’s last regularly scheduled Big Ten series this season. If they want to take their fate into their own hands, they would do it this weekend.
One last thing… the Hawkeye is not a bird I’ve learned. Iowa has lied to us.
On the mound
It looks like Coach is still evaluating his staff as only Jack Crowder is scheduled for this weekend. Crowder will start on Friday.
| Friday | Jack Crowder | 4-1, 5.07 ERA |
| Saturday | TBD | |
| Sunday | TBD |
Reliever Payton Hutchings joins Crowder and Cooper Omans with four wins for the season for the team lead.
Random Ramblings
This fella had an incredible series against Ohio State.
Brody Harding played three full games and made only three outs. He went 8 for 11 with seven runs and six runs scored on a homerun and a double.
I know it was too much to ask for yet another Big Ten Player of the Week honor for an Illini but I was hoping.
On Friday, my wife and I sat next to Regan Hall’s grandmother. We got into a lovely conversation with her. She had traveled to Illinois from Albuquerque to hopefully see her grandson pitch. I caught up with her at Sunday’s game and she was thrilled to see Regan on the mound. And he was dealing!
For me, this is a slightly bittersweet weekend as it will most likely be my last time seeing these boys play. There are certainly parallels to the 2015 season but I can honestly say that I have never seen an Illinois team like this before.
For now, all I can say is…
See you at the ballpark!