Illinois Series Notes

RobHowe

Administrator
Illinois emailed me their notes. I'll add Iowa's on here when I get them:

Fri. 4:05 p.m. CT

LHP Fisher (3-1, 3.25)

RHP McDonald (1-3, 4.83)

Sat 2:05 p.m. CT

RHP Weber (1-0, 1.52)

LHP Baumann (0-2, 6.23)

Sun. 1:05 p.m. CT

TBA

RHP Judkins (2-2, 1.77)

TIME CHANGE
Friday's series opener was changed to a 4:05 p.m. CT start time, two hours earlier than originally scheduled.

PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 25 Illinois baseball team begins Big Ten season this weekend with a trip to Iowa. The teams are scheduled for three games Friday-Sunday at Banks Field.

Illinois (17-5, 0-0 Big Ten) had a bye during last weekend's Big Ten opening slate. The Illini will finish the season with eight straight Big Ten weekends.

Iowa (12-10, 0-3 Big Ten) was swept in a three-game series at Indiana last weekend but rebounded with a 4-2 win over Bradley on Tuesday. The Hawkeyes lost 3-2 to Indiana on a walk-off single in the ninth in their Big Ten opener last Friday before falling 13-1 and 7-1 on Saturday and Sunday.

Illinois is visiting Iowa City for the first time since 2016. The Hawkeyes have won three straight series against Illinois, but in the last nine years the teams have split 18 games, 9-9.

Dave Loane has the call for all three games on the Fighting Illini Sports Network. Iowa will provide a video stream via BTN Plus (subscription required).

NOTES
• Illinois is back in the D1Baseball.com poll at No. 25 in the nation. The Illini were also No. 25 on Feb. 25.
• Illinois is currently ranked No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the same ranking as last week, and No. 26 by the NCBWA.
• Illinois has won 10 of its last 12.
• Illinois has swept five of its first six weekends. The Illini swept three of its first four weekends for the first time since beginning to regularly play February games in 1982.
• Illinois is 16-2 on the weekends (Fri.-Sun.) and 1-3 during the week (Mon.-Thur.).
• Illinois started the season 14-3, tied for the best start through 17 games in the last 60 years (Started 16-1 in 1959). The 14-3 start tied for the sixth-best 17-game start in program history.
• Illinois is 16-1 when allowing six or fewer runs, the only loss coming Tuesday at Indiana State.
• Illinois is 15-0 when leading or tied after seven innings.
• Illinois hitters are reaching 43.1 percent of the time when leading off an inning (84/195).
• Illinois has a fielding percentage of .979, equal to last year's single-season program record (.979).
• Illinois started the season 6-0 and was ranked No. 25 by D1Baseball before dropping three of four games against No. 20 Coastal Carolina (0-1), Connecticut (0-1) and Northeastern (1-1) to start March. The Illini have won 10 of 12 since the 1-3 weekend at Coastal.
• Illinois center fielder Zac Taylor has missed the last nine games with an injury. He was leading the Illinois’ offense in average (.400), slugging (.760), hits (20), doubles (7), triples (1), homers (3), runs (15) and stolen bases (12) when he went down.
• Hitting streaks: Massey 7, Sarver 5
• Reached base streaks: Sarver 10, Massey 7, Van Scoy 5
 
Hawkeyes Win B1G Home Opener Over No. 23 Illinois


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Four eighth-inning runs on two hits and four walks, propelled the University of Iowa baseball team to its first Big Ten win -- an 8-4 victory over No. 23 Illinois on Friday afternoon at Duane Banks Field.


The Hawkeyes pounded out 13 hits and were led by senior Mitchell Boe (3-for-5 with three runs) and junior Austin Martin (3-for-3 with 2 RBIs), while all eight of Iowa’s runs were scored with two outs.


“Two-out hitting is huge,” Martin said. “A lot of times it can determine who wins and loses games, but today we did a good job of staying with our approach and trusting what we’ve been doing all offseason.”


Senior Chris Whelan, who scored the game-tying run in the seventh and had the game-winning RBI in the eighth, was the spark plug for Iowa late in the game.


Whelan doubled to deep left center in the seventh and came around to score on a pinch-hit single by Trenton Wallace to tie the game at four. In the bottom of the eighth, Whelan drew a full-count, bases-loaded walk to put the Hawkeyes on top 5-4.


Following Whelan’s walk, pinch-hitter Grant Judkins found some green in centerfield on a bloop single that scored two more Hawkeye runs. Senior Justin Jenkins completed Iowa’s four-run eighth inning with another bases loaded walk to push the lead to 8-4.


Illinois’ pitchers walked four -- two intentionally -- in the eighth.


Redshirt junior Grant Leonard (2-1), who relieved freshman Drew Irvine in the seventh inning, pitched 1 1/3 innings to earn the win.


Starting pitcher Cole McDonald allowed four runs in six innings on eight hits and three walks. Iowa had built a 3-0 through four innings with two runs in the third and one in the fourth, but Illinois quickly answered scoring one run in the fifth and three in the sixth that put an end to McDonald’s day. Six of McDonald’s eight hits were surrendered in his final two innings of work.


Trailing 4-3 after six innings, Iowa scored the final five runs of the game to secure its eighth comeback win of the season.


“This team fights,” Boe said. “On this field, it’s tough to beat us. (After being swept last weekend at Indiana). We were going to go out and bounce back. We knew that was a good team. The way that we responded was big for us and it was awesome.”


QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER

Guys talked a lot about going out, having fun, and playing hard and stop living and dying with every pitch. That’s generally what happens when you’re trying too hard. All you can is do is play hard and try to have fun and usually good things will happen. I’m glad we got to see the results today.


“The plan we had today for (Andy) Fisher today was solid as long as we executed and the guys did. He’s a tough guy to get to and our guys stuck to the plan and got him out of the game fairly early, which was big.”


OF NOTE…

  • Today’s win marked the third win over a top-25 opponent and 11th since the start of the 2018 season.
  • Martin reached base in all five of his plate appearances and had three hits in his first three at-bats to record his team-leading 11th multi-hit game of the season. It’s the third time this season Martin has had three or more hits in one game.
  • Pinch-hitters Trenton Wallace and Grant Judkins stepped up big, combining for two hits and three RBIs.
UP NEXT

Game two of the series is tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. (CT) at Duane Banks Field. Sophomore Cam Baumann (0-2, 6.23) will get the nod for the Hawkeyes
 
Hawkeyes Clinch Series Win Over No. 23 Illinois


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A strong, six-inning pitching performance by sophomore Cam Baumann and a two-run single by senior Tanner Wetrich in the second were enough for the University of Iowa baseball team to take game two, 2-1, over No. 23 Illinois at Duane Banks Field on Saturday afternoon.


The Hawkeyes' win clinched the series victory -- their second over a top-25 ranked foe this season.


“It’s big to get back into the race in the Big Ten,” head coach Rick Heller said. “You open the season up 0-3 (in the conference) and that’s not something you want to do. We had to come back and do something this weekend. So far so good. Hopefully, we can come out and do the same thing tomorrow.”


After redshirt freshman Connor McCaffery singled to start the second inning, junior Ben Norman joined McCaffery on the bases after being hit by the pitch. The runners advanced into scoring position via a Chris Whelan sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single by senior Tanner Wetrich.


“I was trying to be aggressive,” Wetrich said. “I’ve been falling behind the last few weeks with first-pitch fastballs. I was trying to jump on a fastball. He hung a curveball and I put a good swing on it to drive two runs in.”


Wetrich’s one-out single proved to be the game-winning hit and Iowa led 2-0 until the top of the fifth when Illinois scored one run on three singles.


Baumann (1-2) allowed his fifth and final hit in the sixth inning, but erased it on a 6-4-3 double play to hand the game over to the bullpen with a 2-1 lead. The Fairfield, Iowa, native had his fastball working and used the weather to his advantage to earn his first win of the season.


“I threw 80 percent fastballs the whole game,” said Baumann, who struck out four and recorded his first quality start of the season. “My ball was moving and they had a hard time hitting it. The double play ball was there and it was huge. It got me out of some situations and also helped me go six innings today.”


Sophomore Trenton Wallace relieved Baumann in the seventh inning and pitched the final three innings to earn his first career save. The Rock Island, Illinois, native closed the game out, allowing only one hit, while striking out five.


QUOTING HEAD COACH RICK HELLER

“It wasn’t an easy day for the offense with the cold weather and how the wind was blowing. It was tough to get much going in the air. Cam (Baumann) gave us a good start. We felt like it was going to be a good matchup for Cam with a type of day it was with his fastball -- especially if he can pitch inside to their right-handers. He was able to do that a majority of the day. Trenton (Wallace) came in, did an awesome job and closed it out.”


OF NOTE…

  • Sophomore Izaya Fullard singled in the first inning to extend his hitting-streak to nine games.
  • Wallace extended his scoreless innings streak to 8 1/3 innings, dating back to his midweek start against Chicago State.
  • Iowa is looking for its series sweep over a ranked opponent since 2015 when the Hawkeyes took three games from No. 19 Indiana.
UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. (CT) with junior Grant Judkins (2-2, 1.77 ERA) starting on the mound.
 

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