Illinois baseball (24-13) is set for a three-game series at Maryland (26-16) after wrapping up a season-long eight-game homestand with a commanding 12-1 victory over Western Illinois. The Big Ten leaders improved to 15-1 at home, winning 12 straight games at Illinois Field. This upcoming series is an opportunity for the Illini to improve their 4-8 road record.
“We play a lot of games on the road so we should be prepared,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “You just have to take every game one at a time … our guys will be ready to go.”
Coming off of a 10-game road stretch, Maryland went 4-6 across this period but is 11-3 with home-field advantage this season. Maryland lost its series at Northwestern the weekend before Illinois swept Northwestern in Champaign.
Illinois paces the Big Ten with only two losses against conference opponents, with its only defeats coming from Minnesota and Indiana. Sitting in ninth place in the conference, Maryland has a 6-9 record in the Big Ten with just one conference series win over Michigan State.
Meeting 22 times in program history, the Illini have a 10-12 all-time record against the Terrapins but hold a 4-2 advantage when playing them on the road. The Illini lost 7-4 in their last matchup against the Terrapins in 2022.
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Scheduled to take the mound for the Illini is senior right-hander Jack Crowder on Friday, and graduate student lefty Cooper Omans on Saturday, with Sunday’s pitcher still to be announced.
Crowder improved to 3-1 on the season after dealing 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts in the win over Northwestern last Friday. The senior carries a 5.03 earned run average into the weekend and is on a streak of two consecutive quality starts with four on the season.
Holding a 3.55 ERA and 4-1 record in 2024, Omans has struck out 43 batters in 45.2 innings of work. The lefty starter tossed seven innings in his last appearance, allowing just one run off of two hits in the win over Northwestern on Saturday.
Maryland has redshirt senior right-hander Logan Koester (4-5, 6.44 ERA) set to take the mound on Friday, junior lefty Omar Melendez (3-1, 4.78 ERA) scheduled on Saturday and freshman righty Joey McMannis (0-1, 4.95 ERA) slated for Sunday.
Junior infielder Eddie Hacopian spearheads the Terrapin offense with a .391 batting average and seven home runs on the season. His brother, freshman utility player Chris Hacopian, is the only other Terrapin regular with above a .300 batting average and has a team-best 10 dingers this season. The brothers follow in the footsteps of their father Derek Hacopian, who played ball for Maryland in the early 1990s.
The Illini offense has been dominant in recent weeks, winning 19 of their last 22 outings and averaging 10 runs per game across that stretch. Alternating behind the plate, graduate student Jacob Schroeder and junior Camden Janik lead the Illini bats with .370 and .362 averages, respectively.
Senior outfielder Connor Milton had a breakout performance last weekend, going 9-for-12 across three games with two doubles, three home runs and eight RBI.
First pitch of game one of the series is set for 4 p.m. on Friday and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network, with games two and three streaming on B1G+. Coming up, Illinois will host a rematch against Indiana State on Tuesday evening after losing 7-6 on the road in mid-March.
