The last time Illinois squared off against a ranked ball club the results were not promising.

That game came back on Feb. 29 against a 22nd-ranked Baylor team that picked Illinois pitching apart, scoring 20 runs on 21 hits and four walks.

But that same Illinois team has matured quite a bit over the course of the season, and head coach Dan Hartleb thinks his team’s growth will markedly change the outcome of this weekend’s series against the Michigan Wolverines, ranked No. 23 in the nation by Baseball America.

“Michigan is a very good opponent,” Hartleb said. “They were one game away from the World Series last year, so they’re a good test for us.

“But if you look at last year, even two years ago, we’ve played very well against them. We match up well and we’ll have to play well to beat them. At the same time, they’re going to have play well to beat us, too.”

The Illini (18-8, 6-2 Big Ten) split last year’s series with the Wolverines (18-8, 7-1) and enter this weekend just one game behind them in the conference standings with two things working in their favor: Illinois Field and defense.

Illinois is averaging 11.2 runs in its four home games and only committed two errors in those games.

In fact, the Illinois defense is the best in the Big Ten, committing the fewest errors with only 22.

The next closest team, Purdue, has committed 32.

“We’re fortunate to have one of the best defenses, not only in the Big Ten, but in the country,” sophomore pitcher Wes Braun said. “We know we got seven guys behind us that will do their job for us. It gives us confidence knowing we can count on them.”

“I think we’re just a very steady team,” added Hartleb on the team’s defense. “We’re not flashy, just very solid at every position. We can make the routine play, and that’s one of the most important things in baseball. If you can make the routine play it gives you an opportunity to win every day and helps your pitching tremendously.”

Michigan’s greatest asset is its pitching, which has combined to strike out 214 batters in 222 innings, tops in the Big Ten.

Wolverine starters Zach Putnam, Chris Fetter and Travis Smith are a combined 9-1 with a 2.66 ERA.

And the Illini can be sure they’ll be seeing them this weekend.

“We’ll just approach them like we approach anybody else,” Hartleb said. “We’re very capable of beating any pitcher at any time. They will have to throw good pitches against our offense.”

The offensive matchup should be an interesting one, as Michigan leads the Big Ten in home runs, while Illinois’ approach is a little different, swiping 54 bases and hitting a Big Ten-best .334.

“We saw their pitchers last year, so we know what to expect,” senior designated hitter Daniel Webb said. “We’ll just keep on doing what we’ve been doing.”

The series is scheduled to begin Friday night at Illinois Field with the first pitch set for 6:05 p.m.