Illinois baseball hosts neighboring Eastern Illinois in midweek matchup
Ryan Moerman keeps an eye out after stealing second base on Friday. The Illini will be facing off against Easter Illinois on Tuesday, so far the team has not been doing so well with their recent fourth series loss.
April 18, 2023
Illinois (15-17, 4-8) continues its homestand with a midweek game against the Eastern Illinois Panthers (19-13) at Illinois Field. The Illini are coming off their fourth series loss in a row, this time to the current Big Ten leaders the Indiana Hoosiers.
Illinois won the first game, on a rocket to center field by senior designated hitter Jacob Schroeder, who put his team up 7-5 on Friday. However, the next two games were not as rewarding for the hosts.
Indiana won the first game of a Saturday doubleheader 6-4 and then lit up the Illinois pitching staff in a 16-3 win later that day. Head coach Dan Hartleb was unpleased with the team’s performance in the latter of the two games.
“We did not have good fastball command,” Hartleb said. “We were up in the zone too much.”
The Illini are nearing a desperation point in their season. With just four games left against Big Ten competition, the team has little margin for error. However, this matchup with the Panthers provides a unique challenge for the Illini.
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The Panthers have played 25 games on the road. While this is a road game in technicality, it is a short drive, so they will likely have a solid presence in Champaign. The Panthers are 15-10 in away games and the Illini are 3-6 at home. The Illini fans showed up this past weekend, and Hartleb was pleased to see it.
“It’s really nice,” Hartleb said. “Especially when you look up in the stands and see the type of crowds we got.”
Looking at the numbers, the Illini pitching numbers have once again gone down an ugly path. The pitching staff has an earned run average of 6.23. The lineup is still hitting .277 with an on-base plus slugging percentage of .855.
The visiting Panthers have a team ERA of 4.58, and that could bode well for them, as the Illini bats struggle when runners are in scoring position. Those struggles were certainly on display this past weekend.
The lineup went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position, which is well below the standards the team needs to play at if they want to go far this season. When runners were on base in general, the team went 13-for-51, about 25%.
“We have to get better,” Hartleb said. “We’ve got to learn from our mistakes.”
The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Illinois Field.
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