Illinois plans to get its bats going again and its Big Ten season back on track against Ohio State and Penn State in Columbus, Ohio and University Park, Penn. this weekend.

On Tuesday night, the Illini’s powerful offense was victim to a stellar performance from Bradley starting pitcher Ashley Birdsong, who threw a complete game and held Illinois to just one run and four hits, striking out 11 in game two of a doubleheader. In game one of that doubleheader, the Illinois offense left nine runners on base in the loss.

But putting runs on the board this weekend could be easier said than done. Ohio State starting pitchers Jamee Juarez (9-8, 3.13 ERA) and Kim Reeder (9-6, 1.80 ERA) have combined to start OSU’s 32 games and lead the Buckeyes to an 18-14 overall record.

“A lot of our big hitters saw the ball well and just hit the ball right at people,” head coach Terri Sullivan said. “We’re going to come out ready to play hard. We know our offense is exciting, but you have to go up (to the plate) ready to hit.”

Illinois’ defense has recently been plagued by errors, committing seven in the Big Ten opener from March 31-April 2 and six on Tuesday night, but this number does not seem to phase Sullivan’s confidence in her fielders.

“We believe in what all our players can do out (in the field),” Sullivan said. “I don’t think we’ve lost a beat. (The errors we made) were weak errors and that’s a matter of focus.”

Ohio State is still unbeaten at home with a perfect record of 3-0, but Sullivan said playing at Buckeye Field is nothing special.

“I think any Big Ten team period you have to come to play,” Sullivan. “It really doesn’t matter if you’re on the road or at home. Some people would actually rather play on the road. They’re going to play hard and aggressive and we’ll do the same.”

Junior Megan Schwab leads the Buckeye offense with a .344 average, a .417 on-base percentage, a .531 slugging percentage and nine doubles, all of which rank among the Top 10 in the Big Ten. Senior Billie Carder leads the team with 18 runs batted in.

Sophomore catcher Hollee Haines, who was named Big Ten offensive player of the week for the week of March 27, anchors the Penn State offense. Haines has helped Penn State to one of the best starts in school history at 18-4.

Although Illinois lost both games of a doubleheader to Bradley on Tuesday, Sullivan said her team learned something from the experience and will apply those lessons to this weekend’s games.

“I feel that we left Bradley knowing that we’re tougher physically and mentally,” she said. “We’ll bring that this weekend against two teams playing for blood. When we are playing at our best and playing aggressively, I’m confident we’ll have four great games.”