Thomas Lindauer has felt the need to explain himself all week. It’s been eating away inside at him ever since Sunday, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. Yet people keep asking.

“How’d you guys do over the weekend?”

He had to answer it in class, and again when he went to study table.

Lindauer doesn’t want to be rude, although he’s a little annoyed. He knows people are going to ask him because they care and want to see if he and the Illinois baseball team did well.

So he reluctantly answers, informing those inquiring that the Illini lost two out of three in their opening series to Tennessee Tech, even though he thinks Illinois is better than the Golden Eagles.

In the back of his head, he thinks of how the Illini have got to get better.

Lindauer is off to a nice start himself; he started in the ninth spot of the lineup with an on-base percentage of .385, scored three runs and knocked in three more. His favorite part of the game is playing defense, and he was a part in the turning of two double plays.

The Illinois shortstop is usually a bit more reserved, but he’s a fast talker when he speaks. He quickly re-assures everyone that Illinois will be all right, and that this is a good team.

That bothers him even more.

“Getting real tired of telling everyone we played bad this wknd and we will be fine … I want to win NOW! #Illini #Illinibaseball #BeElite,” Lindauer tweeted from his account (@ThomasL19) at 11:38 a.m. on Monday.

So as Illinois travels to Greenville, N.C., to compete in the 10th-annual Keith LeClair Classic, the team will be looking to bounce back from back-to-back one-run losses.

Thursday’s opener against East Carolina (0-3) begins a four-day tournament against four different teams. Illinois (1-2) will send Kevin Johnson to the mound after starting the only game the Illini won this year. 

Johnson went six innings, struck out six and allowed only one earned run last Friday.

Ohio, New Mexico State and Boston College round out the rest of the field, and the Illini will matchup with them Friday through Sunday, respectively.

Both freshmen starters, Kevin Duchene and Nick Blackburn, will make their second starts on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Both pitchers didn’t make it out the fifth inning in their season debuts last weekend and received no decisions.

Sophomore John Kravetz is expected to make his first start of the year Saturday.

Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb especially likes these series in which Illinois can play four games against multiple opponents.

“It doesn’t let you get a false sense of security,” Hartleb said. “You have to do things correctly, and that’ll give us a gauge what we continue to work on and improve on. I want to get the best competition early.”

The more games the Illini play, the easier it’ll be for them to form a routine, as last week Hartleb thought players were too “jumpy and excited.”

That resulted in elevated pitches, 28 strikeouts during the three games, 32 men left on base and what Hartleb deemed a lack of composure in pressure situations.

Hartleb tries to get his players to focus on consistency during practice and especially emphasized it this week, albeit a short turnaround. The team bus left for North Carolina on Wednesday.

This weekend gives the Illini another chance, four more games to erase a notion of a slow start.

Lindauer wants to have results to talk about next week.

And he doesn’t want to have to explain himself again.

Jamal can be reached at [email protected] and @JamalCollier.