There will be lots of Illini sports in town this weekend. Most fun of all of course, will be baseball in my humble opinion. It’s the best show in town!
Illinois will conclude their seven-game homestand with three games against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Illinois (15-18, 4-8 Big Ten) is coming off a long 12-inning affair against Eastern Illinois on Tuesday night. Bad news, Illinois lost 1-0. The good news? We saw some good pitching.
In particular, starter Julius Sanchez looked sharp as he pitched five scoreless innings.
Minnesota clocks in at 10-24 with a 4-5 conference record. Like the Wildcats of Northwestern, the Gophers started out the season in pretty rough shape. They lost their first 11 games. To their credit, they rebounded a bit, and have won 10 of their last 23.
It’s been a long while since we’ve seen the Golden Gophers here in Champaign. The last time they have traveled south for a series was in 2016.
On the mound
Our boys on the hill this weekend…
Friday: Riley Gowens 1-2, 6.00 ERA
Saturday: Jake Swartz 1-2, 5.55 ERA
Sunday: Jack Wenninger 4-3, 5.08 ERA
A look at the weekend
Please note that there is a time change for Friday’s game.
 Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| 10-24 (4-5) |
| Friday 3pm CT Saturday 3pm CT Sunday 1pm CT |
| Live video | Live audio | Live stats | @IlliniBaseball |
Check out the weekend preview by FightingIllini.com.
Random Ramblings
If three baseball games isn’t enough for you, Illini Sports has so much more this weekend. Fighting Illini are dubbing it “Spring Sports Fest”. There will be thirteen events over the span of three days.
This video was played on the scoreboard last Friday when Coach Dan Hartleb was formally recognized for breaking the all-time wins record for a baseball coach at Illinois.
Personally, it brought back a lot of memories for me. Since I started following Illinois baseball about the same time Coach Hartleb took on the head coaching position, I knew a lot of those people. In a lot of cases, I still do.
Congrats to Cam McDonald who played in his 200th game for Illinois on Tuesday. He and Branden Comia have become the face of Illinois baseball now. Cam has racked up an impressive career (and it’s not over yet!).
If you’re wondering, Branden Comia is only eleven games behind Cam at 189 games played.
See you at the ballpark!!