After a weekend sweep over Northern Illinois, the Illini (20-13) take their four-game win streak into their fifth-straight home game, with another in-state program coming to Champaign. The Southern Illinois Edwardsville Cougars (13-23) have not been to Champaign since 2009, and they’ll look to cool down a blazing Illini lineup.
The Illini hit 15 home runs over the weekend, scoring 52 runs in a three-game series against the Huskies. A team batting average of .439 and 24 walks contributed to an utterly dominant weekend. The sweep marked Illinois’ 13th win in its last 15 outings, moving to 11-1 at home as well.
In the Sunday finale, the Illini hit eight home runs, three coming from redshirt junior infielder Drake Westcott and three from graduate catcher Jacob Schroeder. The power surge led Schroeder to his second Big Ten Player of the Week nod in the last three weeks. Illinois is also the only team in the Big Ten to have over 50 home runs in 2024 and multiple hitters with at least 10.
The Cougars split four games last week, taking a road win against the Missouri Tigers, but dropping two of three against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. They’ve been hitting well overall, with a .277 batting average as a team, but have had issues maintaining a consistent winning pattern with the pitching staff struggling.
The Cougars’ pitching staff carries an earned run average of 8.31, and their walks and hits per innings pitched of 1.97. On the basepaths, SIUE is a threat, with a success rate of 75% on 65 steal attempts. Meanwhile, the Illini rarely take their bags, stealing just 18 bases on 26 attempts.
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The Illini batters have boosted their team average to .295, with an on-base plus slugging percentage of .903. They’ve scored 268 runs in 33 games, but the pitching has still struggled throughout the season. The pitching staff has an ERA of 6.26 and WHIP of 1.57, but as long as the offense can produce the way it has, head coach Dan Hartleb will have plenty of time to work with his pitching staff to get their command and efforts under control.
The Big Ten leading Illini will throw the first pitch to the Cougars on April 16 at 6 p.m. at Illinois Field. The probable starters are sophomore left-hander Sam Reed for the Illini and left-hander Garrett Helsel for the Cougars. Following this matchup, the Illini will host the Northwestern Wildcats for a Big Ten weekend series and close their season-long nine-game home stand with a fifth and final in-state program, the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
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