Wow, what a rough weekend for the Illinois baseball team. Only days removed from blowing a five-run lead in an 8-7 loss to Bradley last Tuesday, the Illini lost three of four to conference rival Northwestern at home over the Easter weekend, falling to 16-16 overall and 4-8 in the Big Ten. Right from the get-go, this weekend’s games had a bad feel to them.

The Illini banged out a season-high 26 hits and scored 18 runs in the series opener against the Wildcats on Friday night, but amazingly lost 19-18.

In Saturday’s opener, the Illini blew an early three-run lead and lost 7-3. In the nightcap, they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh against the Northwestern bullpen to force extras, but the Wildcats pulled out a 7-6 win in 12 innings.

Sunday’s game was called due to bad weather in the seventh inning, with the Illini leading 3-1. The break allowed Illinois to stop its five-game losing streak, but the damage of the weekend had already been done.

Now, it’s time to see if first-year head coach Dan Hartleb and his young team can rebound; because if they can’t, this season could spiral out of control in a hurry.

Last year, the Illini scored a school-record 59 runs during a four-game sweep against the Wildcats at Illinois Field. The wins solidified the Illini as serious title contenders in the Big Ten and pushed Illinois into the national rankings for the first time.

Fast forward a year and the results of the Northwestern weekend might not be the same, but one thing is – this is a turning point in Illinois’ season.

If the Illini can somehow recover from this weekend’s losses and stabilize their season, they still have the talent to compete in the Big Ten. A repeat conference title now seems unlikely, but the team could still salvage a .500 conference record and a top five seed in the Big Ten Tournament in late May.

But if the young Illini are unable to turn their luck around, and their current slump turns into an all-out skid, then they’re in for a rough stretch of games ahead. After next weekend’s four-game series at home against Iowa, the Illini will play three of their final four Big Ten series on the road. They will also play the Big Ten Tournament on the road at the home of the regular-season conference champs.

Which means, they’ve got to get things back together, and fast.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was afraid this team wouldn’t have the offense to compete, but obviously, as evidenced by Friday night’s scoring explosion, that’s not going to be the case.

Now, the pitching seems to be the problem. Luckily, Hartleb is a former pitcher and knows how to handle a pitching staff, so he should be able to get his young arms back on the right track.

Which leads to the one area of the team which can’t be coached – experience. This Illini team is filled with junior college transfers and underclassmen, and while most of them might have experience at their old schools, a Big Ten Conference schedule is new to most of them.

If they handle it well, then they should be fine. But if they struggle, there’s no telling what will happen next.

One thing is for sure, sooner or later, we’re going to have to find out.

Lucas Deal is a junior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].