After rallying from an early three-run deficit against Indiana State during its home opener on Tuesday, the Illinois baseball team hopes to continue its winning ways this weekend with a four-game series against Ohio State.

The series begins today at 4:05 p.m. at Illinois Field, and will continue with a doubleheader Saturday at noon and a single game on Sunday afternoon.

The Illini have won three-straight games, seven of their last nine and are currently 10-5-1. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, have won ten straight and are currently 13-4.

Illini head coach Itch Jones knows that the Buckeyes will be tough but thinks his team is more than capable of getting some wins if they play their best.

“They’re (Ohio State) playing good baseball; they’ve been good, they’ve won the Big Ten or been a contender for the last five or six years, so their kids know what it takes to win.

“Our kids are still trying to learn what you have to do for nine full innings in good competition to get there,” Jones said. “So we’re hoping that these kids we have this year are more experienced and that they can turn things around.”

Junior Brian Blomquist is expected to start Friday and senior Jim Conroy will most likely start the first game on Saturday. Jones also plans to start junior James Morris in one of the final two games of the series after Morris’ impressive outing Tuesday, when he pitched over five innings of no-hit relief in a win against Indiana State.

Jones also hopes to see as many fans as possible at the games this weekend, but knows not to expect too much.

“We’ve already played sixteen games and no one even knows we’ve played a game yet,” he said. “We’ve got to win some games and get people excited to come out for baseball, because even this week’s going to be a tough week because everybody’s where they probably should be, at the Final Four.

“We hope those that can’t buy a cheap ticket to go to the basketball game maybe will come out and buy a cheap ticket out here and go to the baseball game,” Jones said.