Illinois baseball is coming home and hopes to reverse its four-game losing streak.
Illinois (5-10) is looking for a big weekend after losing three to then #8 Tennessee and following that up with a heartbreaking midweek loss at Indiana State.
Illinois seems to be hitting though and that’s a good sign. Take Camden Janik, for example. He has seven hits in the last week including a Tuesday homerun. Janik now bats .356.
Coltin Quagliano continues to drive in runs. He now leads the team with 16. Brody Harding is now riding a six-game hit streak raising his batting average to .288.
Finally, despite the loss, Jack Crowder reached a milestone last Friday against Tennessee.
Crowder is now at an even 100 strikeouts! He hopes to add more this weekend.
Coop pitches a gem in midweek contest
Just a shout out to Cooper Omans who really well in his start against Indiana State on Tuesday. Illinois ended up losing the Sycamores 7-6 but Omans was lights out during his start.
In six innings, Graduate lefty Omans struck out ten hitters while allowing just one unearned run and three hits.
In the early season, Omans is 2-0 with a nifty 1.53 ERA. That mark is good for third best in the Big Ten!
Nice work, Cooper!
Weekend preview
Starting this Friday, Illinois will hold its first home weekend series at Illinois Field. The Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana (8-8) will be coming to town.
This is the first matchup between Illinois and the Evansville-based university.
Keep an eye on Illinois baseball’s social media for any possible schedule changes. Right now, everything looks good but you know Illinois weather.
Southern Indiana
W-8 L-8
Friday 6pm CT
Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Saturday 3pm CT Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Sunday 1pm CT Watch | Listen | Live Stats
The Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana are 8-8 but seem to be in getting into a groove. They have won their last four matches. Not only that, they kept Tennessee on edge losing 2-1.
There’s not a lot of power on the Southern Indiana squad. Only three Eagles have gone yard. That said, they seem to have kept up with their opponents especially in the past two weeks.
It will be up to the Illini to break their four-game losing streak and break Southern Indiana’s four-game win streak.
Here is Fighting Illini’s weekend preview
On the mound
Here’s who Illinois has scheduled to be on the mound against the Screaming Eagles this weekend.
| Friday | Jack Crowder | 0-1, 7.58 ERA |
| Saturday | Jake Swartz | 0-0, 3.31 ERA |
| Sunday | Logan Tabeling | 0-2, 10.03 ERA |
Jake Swartz turned in a very solid start against #8 Tennessee last weekend. Through five innings, he allowed just two runs on hits.
Random Ramblings
Unfortunately, these last four Illinois losses garnered their share of negative comments on social media, mostly by our opponents’ fans and sadly, a few by ours. I want to remind those who are tempted to leave unthinking views on Twitter or Facebook that we are talking about student-athletes who have dedicated themselves to the game.
I am just an alum and a fan but I don’t like to see the sport of college baseball dragged down to that level. Honestly, one of the things I enjoy about college baseball is community. Despite the competition and rivalry every team and their players have, all players, coaches, families and most fans respect the game and support the efforts of each other.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Matt Antonelli’s YouTube videos come across my feed on occasion. I find him informative and interesting. I was a happily surprised to see Illinois featured on one of his videos regarding last weekend’s series against Tennessee.
Nice work by Cal Hejza and probably third base coach Adam Christ!
Illinois baseball promotional schedule – Illinois has announced their 2024 baseball promotional schedule. There are plenty of featured giveaways and fun events but of particular note, the annual Bleacher Bum BBQ which is always a popular event will be held on May 3.
Looking ahead
I know it’s hard to look ahead with a three-game series home series starting tomorrow. That said, there will be another home game next Tuesday. Illinois will host the Bradley Braves at Illinois Field at 6pm.
See you at the ballpark!
Go Illini!