Illinois baseball will continue its nonconference schedule this weekend, traveling to Middle Tennessee, Coastal Carolina and UNC Wilmington this Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. 

The Illini find themselves coming off a tough 1-2 start to the season in a trio of games against Kansas last weekend. Sophomore pitchers Cole Kirschsieper and Payton Hutchings threw one-run ball in seven and six inning appearances last weekend respectively, so they will likely draw two of the starts this weekend.

The third starting spot, however, is up in the air. Last week head coach Dan Hartleb suggested there may be adjustments made in that respect, as last Saturday against Kansas the Illini gave up 12 runs. The starter, Jack Wenninger, gave up 6 runs in just 1.1 innings.

“We need to do a little bit better job in our Saturday start,” Hartleb said. “That was not what we needed or what’s expected, so we need to make some adjustments there.”

Middle Tennessee is 1–4 so far this season and has been struggling on both sides of the ball, averaging 3.2 runs per game and allowing 6.6. Star shortstop Fausto Lopez has started the year red-hot for Middle Tennessee hitting .412. He will likely factor in as a key player to watch in the matchup. 

Coastal Carolina has fared a bit better this season with a 3-1 record. Offensively, they’ve started incredibly strong, averaging 7.75 runs per game. However, they’ve struggled defensively and with their pitching, allowing a porous 5.25 runs per game. Despite the rocky overall defensive numbers, Coastal Carolina has gotten elite pitching out of senior Michael Knorr so far, as he went 6.1 innings without giving up an earned run against Kent State last week. If he draws the start, Illinois may struggle to get runs on the board. 

UNC Wilmington has started the year with a perfect 4-0 record and will likely prove to be Illinois’ largest challenge as they close out the weekend. They’re averaging 8 runs per game in their four wins, including two victories over the same Middle Tennessee squad the Illini will face on Friday. Although the team has been on fire offensively, they have allowed 4.75 runs per game so the Illini should have a reasonable chance to get going with their own bats. Second baseman Brooks Baldwin, UNC Wilmington’s leadoff hitter so far, has been batting .350 so far this year so it will be imperative for the Illini to keep him quiet early. 

Illinois junior catcher Jacob Campbell made it clear last week that the Illini have made it a goal to do better than last year’s 22-22 record. 

“We don’t put in all the work that we put in the offseason to just be mediocre,” Campbell said. “We got pushed very hard and a lot of guys responded well to it, so I think just right there without even having to talk about it everyone was kind of just on the same page about the fact that we aren’t going to have another mediocre year. And I know how we started, going 1-2, but I know that’s not affecting anyone right now. We know that we’re going to be just fine.”

If Campbell and the Illini are to back up their talk, they’ll need to put forth a strong weekend to climb back above .500. If the Illini let the losing record grow, it will grow increasingly difficult to turn it around as conference play slowly approaches.

@WesHollenberg

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