It’s like looking in a mirror.

Illinois (11-25, 1-11 Big Ten) will host Indiana (19-24, 3-10) for a three-game conference series this weekend — including a rescheduled double-header on Saturday due to the poor weather conditions striking Urbana this week. While the Illini have traveled down a similar road as the Hoosiers this season, they are looking to swerve towards the better path after their series matchup.

Indiana has played 10 games against top-25 opponents this season, nearly mirroring Illinois’ non-conference schedule, which included nine matchups against top-25 teams.

Like Illinois, Indiana lost the majority of those games — their two victories coming over No. 24 Georgia Tech in a two-game sweep.

The Hoosiers have lost 11 of their last 15 games and have had trouble on the road all season, posting a 1-8 record away from home. But Illinois has struggled at home this season (4-10) and has had a plethora of problems as of late — losing 13 of their last 14.

Head coach Terri Sullivan admitted the team hasn’t lived up to the high expectations both players and coaches had entering the season.

“No one is feeling sorry for themselves,” Sullivan said. “There have been games where we’ve been pretty bad and there are games where we’ve been pretty good, but not good enough.”

Illinois will also seek to exploit a weak Indiana pitching staff in order to reinstate confidence in the team’s struggling offense.

Hoosier pitchers have posted a 3.49 ERA, allowing more hits (337) and runs (184) than their combined opponents this season; however, the Illini will have to find a way to energize their troubled offense in order to do so.

“I think we can take it to Indiana,” outfielder Alex Booker said. “This is the weekend we turn it around.”

Booker said the team has been primarily working on offense in practice this week — attempting to wake up a drowsy run-producing line-up.

Illinois finds itself in last place in the Big Ten for hits (208) and runs scored (101) — in addition to recently dropping into last place in the overall conference standings.

The Illini offense has a team batting average of .229 – a strikingly low comparison to Indiana’s offense, which is batting .252 and includes five hitters above a .300 average.

Indiana is led offensively by senior Amanda Wagner and sophomore Brianna Meyer. Meyer has .330 batting average and leads the team with 27 runs scored — over one fourth the number of runs the entire Illini team has scored all season.

But the real threat comes from Wagner. The infielder has batted .471 and leads the team with 48 hits — 14 of which have been doubles.

Senior pitcher Pepper Gay said the Illini pitching staff doesn’t feel any pressure going up against Indiana’s tough offense.

“The Big Ten conference is known for having good hitters,” Gay said. “You just have to make the hitters work to get their hits.”

Illinois’ biggest troubles this season have come from inside the circle. What by now sounds like a broken record to the Illini pitchers, walks have bogged down the team’s season.

Gay has thrown more walks (117) than the entire Indiana pitching staff (85) so far this season. And as a team, Illinois has allowed more than double the amount of walks (208) than Indiana has (85) this year.

Yet, the confidence remains high for the Illini pitching staff.

Gay said the team is looking to sweep Indiana after a good week of competitive scrimmages in practice – beginning the Illini’s process of climbing back up the Big Ten standings.

“Anything can happen,” Booker said. “We can make a run for it.”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @Neumannthehuman.