The Illini welcome Indiana and Purdue to Champaign this weekend at Eichelberger Field.

The Illini won the first two games of their six-game home stand Wednesday by sweeping a doubleheader against Loyola.

“It was one of the best efforts all year,” said head coach Terri Sullivan. “By this time of year, we should always be playing at that level.”

Sophomore pitcher Mary Miller had a complete game two-hitter in the first game and improved her record to 11-7 with a 3.41 ERA.

“I took the game one pitch at a time,” Miller said.

Another contributor for the Illini on Wednesday was sophomore catcher Brittany Koester, who hit her first home run of the season to win the second game for the Illini 10-1 in five innings.

The Illini defense, which has been the weakest point, went errorless in both games.

On Friday and Saturday, the Illini play Indiana. The Hoosiers come to Champaign with an overall record of 10-25. They lost their midweek game to Louisville 1-0 on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

The Hoosiers also lost both of their conference games last weekend against Michigan State and come into the weekend losers of five of their last seven games.

“They have been in this position before, but they always come ready to play,” Sullivan said.

Offensively, the Hoosiers are led by junior catcher Tory Yamaguchi who leads the team in batting average (.312), home runs (6) and RBIs (17).

The pitching staff is led by junior Megan Roark, who despite having an 8-13 record, has an ERA of 2.51 and 175 strikeouts in 167 innings.

On Sunday, the Illini face Purdue in a doubleheader.

The Boilermakers come in with a record of 25-12, but they are 1-4 on the road. They have won seven-straight games including a doubleheader sweep against Butler on Wednesday.

“They have a good leader in (Andrea) Hillsey, and they play consistent softball,” Sullivan said.

Senior second baseman Hillsey is hitting .398 to lead the Boilermakers. She is second in home runs and RBIs behind sophomore leftfielder DaQueta Johnson who has seven home runs and 29 RBIs.

The Boilermakers’ pitching staff has a team ERA of 1.99. Junior pitcher Diana LaRiva has an 8-2 record with a 1.71 ERA. She has 107 strikeouts in 82 innings this year.

Despite the Boilermakers’ record, Sullivan kept things in perspective.

“Any team in the Big Ten can beat anyone,” she said.

Offensively, the Illini are led by junior first baseman Jenna Hall with a .341 average. Hall is one of the four Illini with a batting average above .300.

Freshman third baseman Shanna Diller continues to lead the team in home runs (5) and RBIs (30).

Junior centerfielder Rachelle Coriddi continues to lead the team in stolen bases with 13.

This weekend, Sullivan has simple goals for her team to be successful.

“We need to be aggressive and consistent,” she said. “We need to play to win innings and half innings and play fundamentally sound softball.”