ST. LOUIS — When Pete Cappetta took the field for Illinois on Wednesday night in a regular-season nonconference game against Missouri, there was something entirely irregular about this 7-4 loss to Missouri.

The distance from the pitching mound to home plate was the same 60 feet, 6 inches that the Illini are accustomed to. The 90-foot base paths were exactly the same as any other field they have played on. Even the 400-foot distance from home plate to the center field fence was nothing unusual.

The dimensions may have been the same when the 6-foot-2 second basemen stepped into the batter’s box for batting practice; however, this game was anything but normal. Surrounding Cappetta and the Illinois baseball team was the 43,975-seat Busch Stadium, home of the 10-time world champion St. Louis Cardinals.

Cappetta described his experience at Busch Stadium as surreal.

“My first thoughts were of Albert Pujols and how he stands in that same (batter’s) box that I was standing in,” Cappetta said. “It’s just such a great place to be, and overall, it’s a great atmosphere.”

The Illini traveled to St. Louis to take on the Tigers in what was ticketed as the “Battle at Busch” while the Cardinals were busy fending off the Reds in Cincinnati. This is the second straight year the Cardinals organization has opened up its home to collegiate baseball teams prior to its home opener as a warmup for their gameday staff.

Also in attendance for Wednesday night’s contest was Cappetta’s father, Tony, who made the 279-mile journey from his home in Lisle, Ill., to see his son play on a big-league field for the first time.

Tony Cappetta sat about 20 rows behind home plate, camera in hand, as his son scored the Illini’s first run of the game in the second inning on a single by shortstop Josh Parr.

“It’s just an awesome experience,” he said. “You look up and you see his picture on the scoreboard, and his name and everything, it’s an experience that as a father, you are really, really proud.”

Tony Cappetta said this is the materialization of a dream that started when his son was just a boy playing in little league outside of Chicago.

“He was really looking forward to it — it’s a dream come true for him,” Tony Cappetta said. “All those years playing on smaller fields, little league and high school fields, and now, to play on a Major League field, he was really looking forward to it.”

Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb was glad that Illinois was welcomed by the Cardinals and would gladly accept the invitation next year.

“I hope it’s something that we can continue to do,” Hartleb said.

“It’s a good event — a great ballpark. You have a lot of fans on both sides of the river here, and I think it’s something the Cardinals would like to do and we would still like to do.”

Pete Cappetta summed up his experience at Busch Stadium: “It was amazing. Everything is top of the line. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better field and better atmosphere.”