Last weekend, Illinois baseball battled to win the last two games against the Elon Phoenix for another series win.
Illinois has now won seven of their last nine games and brings them to an 8-5 overall record as the conference season approaches.
 | Illinois | 6 |
 | Elon | 10 |
Danny Doligale, Branden Comia and Kellen Sarver combined for a 7 for 13 game but a five-run sixth inning helped the Phoenix rise up to come back on Friday.
| Illinois | 6 |
| Elon | 1 |
A nice performance by freshman Cole Kirschsieper on Saturday to even the series! Kirschsieper (3-0) pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings while striking out four. Ryan Schmitt finished out the balance of the game.
Leadoff hitter Taylor Jackson went 3 for 6 and Doligale, Cam McDonald, Brody Harding and Jacob Campbell all contributed two hits.
| Illinois | 8 |
| Elon | 7 |
On Sunday, Illinois staved off an Elon comeback so that Aidan Maldonado (1-2) could earn his first win. It was well-deserved as Maldonado gave up just one earned run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings.
He got a little help from teammate Garrett Acton who saved game six of the year. The big picture? This was Garrett’s 25th career save which breaks the all-time Illini save record. Congrats, Garrett!
Sarver was helping with the stick again with two hits and three rbis. He now ties Comia with the team lead in rbis with ten.
Random Ramblings
Shortstop Branden Comia has come out of the starting block hot and has been unrelenting. As of Monday, he has a ten-game hitting streak. That includes nine hits and six rbis in the last four games.
Comia also has a total of six multi-hit games this season.
A fun stat? Catcher Jacob Campbell (above) had no hits after six games this season. He followed that up with seven hits in the next six games.
Keep it up, Jacob!
Former Illini Coach Itch Jones was named to the MVC Hall of Fame.
For those not familiar with Jones, he was a former head coach of Illinois and a mentor of Coach Dan Hartleb. You may see him attend Illinois games. If he chats you up, pay attention. I guarantee you will learn something about the game of baseball.
Itch earned his award from his time at Southern Illinois (where Coach Hartleb was his protege). He is currently ranked 30th all-time in wins by a college baseball coach.
Congratulations, Itch!
Speaking of Southern Illinois, that is exactly where the Illini is headed next weekend. They will be playing in the stadium that bears Itch Jones’ name.
It will be a three-game series starting on Friday at 6pm.
Keep up the good work, Illini!