It has not exactly been a smooth road for Illinois (12-11, 4-5) over its last couple of games. After scoring 25 runs in the first two games against Rutgers (14-10, 3-3), Illinois’ offense crumbled in Sunday’s series finale and stranded 15 runners in a 5-1 loss to Missouri (17-9) on Tuesday.
This weekend, the Illini are heading east for their fourth series in conference play. Their opponent is the Penn State Nittany Lions (7-16, 2-4), who have also struggled as of late. On Wednesday — their most recent non-conference game —they fell 9-0 to the Bucknell Bison (11-11).
Although Illinois is 2-6 on the road, facing a team that is nine games below .500 could be the get-right series that it needs to get the ball rolling again. Here is what Illinois needs to do this weekend in State College, Pennsylvania.
More consistency in batter’s box
College baseball is an unpredictable beast. A game could end 1-0 and take less than three hours, or one team could put 21 runs on the board. Illinois has gone through both of those extremes in recent weeks.
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Looking at the numbers, the Illini sit at 9-2 when scoring five runs or greater, including winning six out of seven games when scoring in double digits. Meanwhile, when scoring four or fewer, they are 3-9.
For the most part, pushing that fifth run across has been a key to victory. When the Illini bats are lighting it up and plating runners, they find a way to win.
For example, Illinois scored 13 runs in the first game against Rutgers and 12 in the second. Even though the pitching allowed a substantial amount of runs, the Illini won those games thanks to the bats. Once they cooled off on Sunday, things went downhill in the 8-3 defeat.
Set the tone, win innings
Braggin’ Rights didn’t go as planned for the Illini, and part of it was because they did not outscore the Tigers in any innings. They got off to a sluggish start, falling behind 4-0 in the first inning.
Even after plating a run in the sixth inning to cut into the deficit, Missouri came right back and pushed the lead back to four. Missouri would stay in the lead for the rest of the game.
Winning an inning or two can mean the difference between victory and defeat. On Friday against the Scarlet Knights, the Illini scored nine runs in the first, winning that inning with a resounding spark. Getting off to a fast start like that is big for setting the tone.
Throw strikes, control the game
Like the hitting, the Illini pitching has also resembled a seesaw as of late. Against Minnesota (17-8, 2-4) two weeks ago, Illinois was a force to be reckoned with. In the Rutgers series, balls were flying off the visiting team’s bats like there was no tomorrow.
A starting performance like freshman left-hander Aidan Flinn’s against Rutgers, where he gave up no runs in five innings, is what Illinois needs to see more consistently from its rotation. Combine that with a bullpen outing like the one on Friday from senior left-handers Sam Reed and Reed Gannon, and that will help the team stack wins as conference play rolls along.
It is simply a matter of the Illini finding consistency from its arms. Once a pitcher is in his rhythm, it’s hard to knock him off of it. If they can do this all weekend long against the Nittany Lions while the bats do their part, they can win this series and get back on track.
