It’s one of my favorite times of the year! This week, Illinois will play its home opener at Illinois Field.
The Illini will host the Indiana State Sycamores at 3pm on Wednesday March 15. Note: this is a rescheduled time. This game was originally scheduled for Tuesday at the same time.
Illinois sports a 7-5 record after splitting two games with Coastal Carolina last weekend. Unfortunately, Sunday’s game could not be played due to the weather.
The games on Friday and Saturday were so similar. Take away one half-inning, you might think they were an exact copy. And oh yeah, Illinois would have won both games.
…but that’s not how baseball works.
On Friday, Illinois scored eight runs and had an 8-5 lead going into the seventh inning, but Coastal Carolina responded with a 10-run rally.
Cal Hejza contributed a two-run double and Cam McDonald hit a two-run homer. Also, freshman Christian Smith drove home two on a base hit.
Saturday, Illinois battled and Joe Glassey put in a phenomenal relief effort. It’s not often we see a reliever notch nine strikeouts but that’s exactly what Glassey did. Over 4 2/3 innings, he K’ed nine Chant batters while allowing just two hits. That kept the Illini offense in the game and gives Glassey a 2-0 record for 2023.
Speaking of offense, Ryan Moerman drove in four runs for the Illini on Saturday. Moerman and Camden Janik hit homeruns against the Chants. Jacob Schroeder and Cal Hejza all had multi-hit games.
In all, Illinois collected 14 hits on Saturday and took the win 13-3. Nice work all around, Illini!
Random Ramblings
In case you missed it, the baseball program announced their promotions for the 2023 season.
I’m a stat guy so I can’t help but look at the Big Ten numbers so far this season. Ryan Moerman’s 17 rbis this year is good for sixth in the Big Ten right now. Riley Gowens checks in at 3rd with 29 strikeouts.
I have updated Illinois Baseball Report’s photo gallery and you can find the landing page here as well at the link on the navigation bar up top. From there, you can view photo galleries from this season, past seasons, or curated galleries of individual players.
Now that the home season is almost upon us, you will be seeing new photos soon. Enjoy!
See you at the ballpark!