Illinois (14-11, 4-5) picked up its first Big Ten series win against Michigan State (17-10, 4-5). The series win was crucial after Illinois lost to Michigan (15-12, 7-5) and Northwestern (12-13, 5-4).
These wins moved the Illini up to No. 10 in the conference, tied with the Spartans with a conference record of .444. There are still a lot of games left in the season to get back in the upper half of the conference. Iowa (17-9, 10-2) and UCLA (22-5, 10-2) sit at No. 1 in the Big Ten, and No. 14 UCLA could pose a major challenge to Illinois later in May.
A team effort
A major struggle for Illinois throughout the season has been outhitting its opponents. This was even seen in the team’s wins over Western Illinois (6-17) and its lone win over Michigan.
This result was different, however, as Illinois outhit Michigan State in two out of three games over the weekend. The only game in which Illinois’ bats underperformed was the series finale. There, the Illini lost in eight innings, 14-4, and got outhit 16-6.
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In the wins, however, the team put together a well-rounded effort from the plate to get runs on the board. Those runs came in large bunches, too. During the first game, Illinois put up six runs in the eighth inning. Then, in the second game, Illinois put up nine runs in the seventh.
Sophomore outfielder Collin Jennings had a big impact on the first game. He went a perfect 3-3 at the plate, which included a double, a home run, two walks and four RBI. His home run showed up in the eighth inning and scored two additional runners.
During the second game, Jennings continued to tear through Michigan State as he went 2-5 with a double and two RBI.
“The offense’s first game did an unbelievable job,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “We had a big inning in the second game. To me, the game, the day goes to Colin Jennings, just offensively, what he’s been doing recently. He’s locked in.”
From mound to mitt
Illinois had one of its best outings of the season during this series. Every starting pitcher who took the mound went at least four innings each. Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Ben Plumley went the longest the entire weekend with six innings in game two.
Plumley allowed only three hits and one run total during his time on the mound. From this, he lowered his ERA to 5.88 and improved his WHIP to 1.57 for the season.
“The pitching in the second game, I thought Ben Plumley, that was the best six innings in a row that we’ve had pitched all year,” Hartleb said. “I’m not just talking about one person, I mean just six strong innings, location in and out, command of multiple pitches, down the zone, all the things we ask and talk about.”
Mother nature strikes again
Before the start of the eighth inning, mother nature struck its ugly head and caused a 44-minute rain delay. The delay happened just before Illinois had an explosion of offense to help propel it to a victory.
“If it were that easy, I’d make sure we had some type of delay all the time,” Hartleb said. “I said this in between games, we’ve gone through a little bit of a phase where we’ve gone to the ballpark to see what’s going to happen.”
The weather was the initial reason game one started later than what was expected. First pitch was originally slated for an 11:02 a.m. start but got pushed back to 12:30 p.m.
Returning home for Illinois
Illinois will return to Champaign for a midweek contest against Illinois State (12-14). First pitch comes at 6 p.m. at Illinois field. This will be the start of a four-game home stretch that sees Illinois also taking on Maryland (14-14, 3-6) in a weekend series. The game will be broadcasted on Big Ten Plus and can also be found on radio on 1400 am WDWS.
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