Brandon Hohl thinks the air is weird inside Irwin Indoor Facility. It doesn’t get recycled very well during a two- or three-hour practice. Sometimes the lighting feels weird. That makes it difficult to see the ball off the bat. Right field has a thin, black screen running through it when the Illinois baseball team takes live batting practice, so sometimes the right fielder has to play the ball off the screen, which doesn’t create any kind of carom, and the ball just dies.

Those are just some of the problems with trying to play an outdoor game indoors.

But the Illini have made the most of it. They try to get outside to the turf at Illinois Field whenever the weather even remotely allows it.

Even then, Illinois pitchers overpower the hitters some days. Other days, Illinois hitters overpower the pitchers.

Head coach Dan Hartleb said it’s reached that point where it’s just time to play somebody else.

Illinois is ready to open its 2013 campaign with its first-ever meeting at Tennessee Tech on Friday. It’ll begin an opening-season stretch of 18 consecutive road games.

“It’s an adjustment,” center fielder Justin Parr said. “You have to mentally prepare to travel and be a little bit worn down from that. It’s just a different schedule and style. After that first week, you just adjust.”

It’s been nine months since Illinois was left out of the Big Ten Tournament because of a rulebook technicality. Illinois finished in a three-way tie for sixth place — and the final spot in the Big Ten Tournament — with Minnesota and Ohio State, two teams the Illini won the head-to-head season series with. But the tiebreaker prioritized record against Big Ten common opponents instead of head-to-head.

It stung then, missing the postseason for just the second time in eight years. But last year was thought to be a bit of a rebuilding year anyway for a team that was coming off a Big Ten Championship in 2011.

Illinois had to replace nearly all of that team and began last year with 18 players on the opening-day roster that had never played an inning of college baseball.

This year’s Illinois team returns loaded with talent and experience. The MLB first-year player draft could have hurt Illinois, but its ace, Kevin Johnson, and leader in batting average, Jordan Parr, decided to return despite being drafted.

Gone is last year’s starting center fielder Willie Argo, who holds the record for most stolen bases in program history.

“I think the thing we need to understand is that one person doesn’t have to fill his shoes,” Hartleb said. “Everybody just has to do a little bit better job than they did a year ago and we’ll be in good shape.”

Filling his role in center field will be Justin Parr, who is moving from left field to center field. His brother, Jordan, is switching positions from first base to left field, a move he’s ecstatic about. Last season was the first time in his career he’d played first base. Illinois wanted to move him to the outfield to utilize more of his athleticism. Senior Davis Hendrickson will start at right field to give Illinois a strong veteran outfield presence.

The Illini bring two new starters in the field, as freshman catcher Jason Goldstein won the opening day starting job. Goldstein was ranked the No. 4 high school catcher in the country by Perfect Game and will be Illinois’ first freshman catcher to start opening day since 1992. Left-handed freshman Ryan Nagle will start the season at first base for Illinois.

The young Illini will be surrounded by experience, as Hohl will start at third base for the fourth straight season. And Illinois returns the 2012 nation-best double play combination of Thomas Lindauer and Reid Roper. The Illini led the nation in double plays per game with 1.3.

The talk of all the depth for Illinois has the players excited and expectations are high. However, the Big Ten coaches picked the Illini to finish sixth in the Big Ten in the preseason coaches’ poll.

Hartleb dismissed any meaning to preseason rankings.

“This team should be hungry,” Hartleb said. “We had every opportunity to put ourselves in a position to be in the tournament last year.

“Just because you have experience, doesn’t mean you win. You have to go out and use that experience to be successful.”

Jamal can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @jamalcollier.