| Illinois vs. Northern Illinois | |
|---|---|
| When | April 12-14 |
| Where | Champaign, Ill.(Illinois Field) |
| Live Video | B1G+ | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. |
| Radio | WDWS AM-1400 // FightingIllini.com |
| Live Stats | FightingIllini.com |
| Notes | Illinois | Northern Illinois |
| Shop | Online Store | Auctions |
| Social Media | @IlliniBaseball  |@IlliniBaseball  | Facebook  | YouTube  |
| Probable Starting Pitchers | |||||||||
| Day | Illinois | Northern Illinois | |||||||
| Fri. 6 p.m. CT | RHP Jack Crowder (1-1, 5.49) | RHP Ty Brachbill (3-3, 7.34) | |||||||
| Sat. 3 p.m. CT | LHP Cooper Omans (2-1, 3.55) | RHP Andrew Brouwer (3-4, 6.13) | |||||||
| Sun. 1 p.m. CT | RHP Jake Swartz (1-1, 5.40) | TBD | |||||||
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois baseball continues its season-long nine-game homestand with a three-game weekend set vs. Northern Illinois. First pitch from Illinois Field in Friday's series opener is set for 6 p.m. CT.
The Orange and Blue are coming off of a midweek win over Illinois State, 10-6, on Tuesday at Illinois Field. Vytas Valincius fell just a triple shy of the cycle and drove in a season-high four runs.
RHP Jack Crowder (1-1, 5.49) is set to get the ball in the opener, with LHP Cooper Omans (2-1, 3.55) and RHP Jake Swartz (1-1, 5.40) set to follow in the rotation.
PROMOTIONS
A full state of promotions are on deck for the weekend at Illinois Field. Friday is Food Truck Friday, featuring local food trucks, and Sunday the Illini will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. The first 150 fans will receive a commemorative Jackie Robinson baseball.
Free admission for all games at Illinois Field and fans are encouraged to check out the gameday guide for updated stadium policies and current parking map.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Northern Illinois
- Record: 22-10-1 (H: 17-3, A: 3-3-1, N: 2-4)
- Last: L, 9-3 (3/19/16 at Carbondale, Ill.)
- Illini have dropped five of last seven
- First meeting in Champaign since March 19, 2003
NOTES
WEEKEND ACTION VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Illinois baseball continues a season-long nine-game homestand with a series vs. in-state rival Northern Illinois.
All three contests can be streamed on B1G+.
Scott Beatty will call the action for the Illini on the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (1400 AM/93.9FM) on Friday and Sunday while Mike Reis will call Saturday's contest. Streaming, audio, and stats links are also available at FightingIllini.com.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Northern Illinois enters the contest 11-21, coming off of a 14-12 midweek victory at Eastern Illinois. In the Huskies last weekend series, they were swept by Bowling Green in a three-game in Dekalb, Ill. Northern Illinois has gone 10-17 in road contests this season.
INF Eric Erato leads the Huskies at the plate with a .344average to go along with seven doubles and 17 RBI. Among starters, RHP Adam Brouwer leads on the mound, going 3-4 with a 6.13 ERA (27 ER/39.2 IP) to go along with 33 strikeouts.
The Huskies went 10-43 last season, including a 5-24 record in MAC play.
ALL-TIME SERIES INFO
Illinois leads in the all-time series 22-10-1 and have gone 17-3 in games played in Champaign. The two teams split a two-game set in Carbondale, Ill., in the last meetings between the two programs on March 18-19, 2016. The Illini dropped the finale of that series 9-3.
This will be the first meeting in Champaign since March 19, 2003, where Illinois dropped a 12-10 ballgame. This will be the first series at Illinois Field since 1992 and is set to be the first three-game series between the programs since 1965.
Northern Illinois has won five of the last seven matchups overall, dating back to 2003.
MIDWEEK ROUND-UP
Illinois captured its 10th win in the last 12 tries with a 10-6 victory over Illinois State on Tuesday.
Vytas Valincius, Camden Janik and Drake Westcott all had three hits in the contest, with Valincius homering and driving in a season-high four runs. Coltin Quagliano picked up two hits and also went yard.
Will Lavin earned the win out of the bullpen, tossing 1.1 shutout innings, allowing just one hit. Ben Plumley and Korey Bunselmeyer each worked 1.0 scoreless frames in relief, combining to yield one hit and strike out three batters.
B1G WEEKEND IN MINNEAPOLIS
Illinois continued its hot start to Big Ten play by taking two of three games at Minnesota to improve to 7-2 in conference play. The Illini have won eight of the last 10 matchups overall and have won seven-straight series between the programs in Minneapolis.
The Illini batted .348 as a team, tallying five doubles and a home run. Three different Illinois batters hit at least .500 over the weekend with five posting batting averages over .300.
Cal Hejza led the way going 6-for-12 (.500) at the dish with two runs scored, a double, three RBI and four walks. Hejza posted an overall slash of .500/.625/.583 and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games after the first game of the doubleheader on April 6.
Cooper Omans tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball in the first game of the doubleheader on April 6 to lower his ERA of a starter to 3.68 in six starts. Payton Hutchings tossed 3.2 shutout frames out of the bullpen on April 5 and Joe Glassey picked up his third save of the season after 2.0 scorelessinnings in the twin bill opener on April 6.
ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS
During the Illini's season-high seven-game winning streak from March 24 - April 6, the offense scored 10 or more runs in six-straight games to begin the winning run.
It was the first time the Illini had 10+ in six-straight contests since a seven-game game stretch from May 27, 1895, to April 4, 1896.
Following an 8-3 defeat to Southern Indiana on March 17, the Illini have scored 112 in their last 12 games, an average of 9.3 per game.
JANIK JAMS
Camden Janik put together another solid weekend at Minnesota, going 6-for-16 (.375) with a run and a double, tallying multi-hit performances in the first two games of the series. He then followed that up with a three-hit performance on Tuesday vs. Illinois State, tallying one RBI.
Janik enters the weekend vs. Northern Illinois on a nine-game hitting streak and has gone 20-for-42 (.476) during that span with four doubles, a home run and eight RBI. Janik has raised his batting average from .341 to .372. The junior has six multi-hit games during that span, which included a season-high four hits on March 24 at Indiana.
Janik leads the Illini in batting average (.372), which is the ninth-highest average among Big Ten hitters. His 1.037 OPS is tied for the highest on the team among qualifiers and tied for 15th-highest among conference batters.
The Wauconda, Ill., native, is also one of the toughest outs in the country, striking out just five times in 121 at-bats. His K AVG. of 24.2 ranks second-best in the nation. His five strikeouts are also tied for the fewest among batters that have taken at least 121 at-bats this season. Janik is the highest ranked catcher in that category and the only one ranked in the Top 10.
SCHRO SHOW
Jacob Schroeder's offensive surge continued over the weekend at Minnesota, going 4-for-10 with four runs and three walks for an overall slash of .400/.538/.400. He then went 1-for-4 with a run scored vs. Illinois State on Tuesday.
Schroeder had his career-high 10-game hitting streak snapped in Saturday's finale, but the redshirt senior has still hit safely in 11 of his last 12, going 18-for-42 (.429) during that span with four doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI. During this 12-game stretch, the Chicago native has raised his season average from .174 to .328.
Schroeder has also boosted his OPS to 1.101, which ranks sixth-highest among Big Ten hitters. He also ranks among conference leaders in slugging (.657, 4th).
CALIFORNIA HEJZA
Cal Hejza continues to put together his best season at the plate in his career, going 6-for-12 (.500) with two runs scored, a double, three RBI and four walks last weekend at Minnesota. Hejza posted an overall slash of .500/.625/.583 and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games after the first game of the doubleheader on April 6.
Hejza has improved his batting average by 72 points from last year, his on-base percentage by 84 points and slugging by 47. The senior has 36 hits this season, six away from matching his best single-season mark (42, 2022).
The Oswego, Ill., native, is tied for the team lead with six three-hit games and ranks third on the team with nine multi-hit performances overall.
MEAN JOE GLASSEY
Joe Glassey earned his third save of the season in the first game of the doubleheader at Minnesota on April 6 by tossing 2.0 shutout frames and striking out two batters.
Glassey has earned a save in two of his last three relief appearances, both multi-inning efforts. He allowed one run over 3.2 innings of work in the doubleheader finale on March 30 vs. Penn State, whiffing six batters.
The Lindenhurst, Ill., native, has lowered his season ERA from 7.07 to 5.40 over his last three appearances, spanning 6.0 innings.
GOOD OMANS
Cooper Omans turned in another solid start on April 6 at Minnesota, allowing just one run on two hits over 5.0 innings of work while striking out four.
Omans has 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA (12 ER/29.1) with 28 strikeouts in his six starts, with the Illini going 3-3 in those games.
The Oviedo, Fla., native's overall ERA of 3.55 ranks ninth-lowest in the Big Ten among qualifiers and his opponent average of .210 is the sixth-lowest mark among qualifiers. He also ranks among conference qualifiers in hits allowed (25, 4th), runs allowed (14, 2nd) and earned runs allowed (13, T-2nd).
UP NEXT
Illinois continues its homestand with a midweek matchupvs. SIUE. First pitch is set for 6p.m. CT.
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