8-1! That is Illinois baseball’s record at home so far this season. They hope to add to that this weekend against the Northern Illinois Huskies in a non-conference series at Illinois Field.
Illinois won two of three at Minnesota last weekend and on Tuesday, they returned home to Illinois Field. Against Illinois State, Vytas Valincius had his way. He hit safely three times and drove in four runs including a three-run homer. Both Coltin Quagliano and Drake Westcott also contributed three hits.
The bullpen was spot on Tuesday. In 4 1/3 scoreless innings, they allowed just three hits. The end result was another slugfest as Illinois won 10-6.
Just a few photos from the night
Bring on the Dawgs!
That brings us to this weekend’s non-conference series against Northern Illinois (11-21).
The weather at Illinois Field looks good this weekend if a little windy on Friday.
Here’s the Fighting Illini weekend preview.
Northern Illinois Huskies
W-11 L-21 (6-9 Mid-American)
Friday 6pm CT
Saturday 3pm CT
Sunday 1pm CT
NIU News: Despite their 11-21 record, the Huskies are coming off an exciting 14-12 win against our mutual rivals Eastern Illinois. They apparently can score runs. Colin Summerhill has already reached 11 homers for the Huskies this early in the season.
On the mound
It looks like Illinois has settled on a weekend rotation. Same as the last couple of weekends. What works, works.
I just noticed that Cooper Omans is ninth in the conference with a 3.55 ERA!
| Friday | Jack Crowder | 1-1, 5.49 ERA |
| Saturday | Cooper Omans | 2-1, 3.55 ERA |
| Sunday | Jake Swartz | 1-1, 5.40 ERA |
Random Ramblings
From Fighting Illini’s website…
During the Illini’s season-high seven-game winning streak from March 24 – April 6, the offense scored 10 or more runs in six-straight games to begin the winning run.
It was the first time the Illini had 10+ in six-straight contests since a seven-game game stretch from May 27, 1895, to April 4, 1896.
Let’s start a new streak!
Big news for former Tyler Jay! He’s been called up by the New York Mets! He is going to the show!
Here’s a good breakdown from former Illinois sports information director Matt Wille…
It’s been a long road for Jay who was an integral part of the 2015 Big Ten champions who got as far as the NCAA Super Regionals. Last year, he made it to AAA and this year after one appearance, the Mets organization saw enough to bring him up.
Tyler Jay was something special when he was with Illinois.