Illinois baseball winds up for 3-game series against Ohio State
April 27, 2023
Illinois (18-18, 7-8) will load up their bats and travel to Columbus, Ohio to play a three-game series against the Ohio State Buckeyes (20-20, 3-12) this weekend.
Illinois is coming off of a loss against Bradley in a rescheduled match in Peoria on April 25. Their last conference matchup resulted in a sweep against the Minnesota Golden Gophers last week.
Illinois and Ohio State hold similar batting averages, ranking 9th and 10th place in the Big Ten, respectively. The difference in their averages is a measly 0.001 %, with 2.71 for the Illini and 2.70 for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes have prime players for the Illini to beware of. Possible starters for Ohio State could include sophomore left-handed pitcher Gavin Bruni and graduate right-handed pitcher Jonah Jenkins. Bruni has struck out 43 batters in 37.0 innings tossed. Jenkins has an ERA of 3.08, even with Ohio State ranking tenth in the conference with regard to pitching.
Another honorable mention is sophomore infielder Tyler Petteroni. He has been batting .320 and has recorded 40 hits.
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The Illini have standout figures to go up against the Buckeyes. Redshirt junior Jacob Schroeder is a strong force with a batting average of .318 this season. Schroeder has hit 12 home runs with 33 RBI.
Schroeder currently leads the Illini in home runs and RBI, making him an integral player for the team.
The last time the two teams competed, they played a four-game series over three days with a doubleheader on their second day. Ohio State won three of four games in that matchup, which occurred in 2021. The Buckeyes did not play the Illini last season.
The games at Bill Davis Stadium will change the record of both teams, but the series is not expected to alter either teams’ conference ranking greatly. Overall, Illinois is ranked ninth in the conference and Ohio State is ranked last in 13th place.
The teams will face off at 5 p.m. CDT on Friday, 1 p.m. CDT on Saturday and 12 p.m. CDT on Sunday. All the games will be streamed live on B1G+.
