Illinois baseball has postponed Tuesday’s game against Illinois State due to heavy snow accumulation. The teams are expected to reschedule the game at a later date, though no makeup date has been set at this time. 

It’s the second time this season that Illinois has had a game canceled due to weather; Illinois’ series against Southern Illinois was cut from four games to three earlier this month. 

The snow caused the University to cancel classes Monday for the first time since February 2011. The cancellation comes amid a seven-game home stand for the Illini, their longest home stretch of this season. 

The weather hasn’t been particularly kind to the Illini all season; earlier this year they had to endure snow delays in Tennessee and 40-to-50 degree temperatures in Texas.

The Illini have been forced to hold nearly all of their practices inside Irwin Indoor Facility. Head coach Dan Hartleb won’t use it as an excuse, saying “everybody else is dealing with it too.” 

Thirty-one of the 35 players on roster are from the state of Illinois, so they are accustom to enduring unfavorable weather. 

The Illini are currently scheduled to play at Illinois State on April 16, and the make-up game will be scheduled in addition to that contest.

Hartleb wanted to give his team a break, to try and calm some of the nagging injuries that can build up during the season. The Illini spent the first five weeks of the season playing all their games on the road, before this past weekend.

“There’s times where you have to give guys some rest both mentally and physically,” Hartleb said. “You got to take care of your athletes.”

One of the players who will benefit from the time off is freshman catcher Jason Goldstein, who jammed his glove-hand thumb during Friday’s 9-5 lost to Nebraska. 

He remained in the game after having his hand wrapped in tape, but would eventually be lifted in the bottom of the eighth.

Hartleb said after Friday’s game that he would’ve pinch hit Goldstein, who’s batting average currently sits at .170, late in the game regardless.

However, Goldstein did not appear in either game of Saturday’s doubleheader, although backup catcher Kelly Norris-Jones is the usual catcher for Game One starter John Kravetz. 

Hartleb said right now Goldstein is day-to-day. 

“He has some soreness and we’re going to be cautious with that so that we don’t set him back,” Hartleb said.

Illinois has reason to be careful with Goldstein, who came into the year ranked as the No. 4 catcher in the country. He has started 14 games this year for Illinois.

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