University of Illinois
Minnesota
No. 22 Minnesota Awaits @IlliniSB in First B1G Road Trip
April 7, 2016 | Softball
Illini and Minnesota set to play three-game series on April 8-10 in Minneapolis, Minn.
| Illinois (23-12, 3-3 Big Ten) at No. 22 Minnesota (24-10, 5-1 Big Ten) | |
|---|---|
| When & Where | April 8-10, 2016 // Friday: 3 p.m. CT // Saturday: 1 p.m. // Sunday: 12 p.m. // Jane Sage Cowles Stadium // Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Game Coverage | Live Stats: Friday // Saturday // Sunday | Live Video |
| Full Game Notes | Illinois |
| Statistics | Illinois | Minnesota |
| Series History | Illinois leads, 18-15 // Last: L, 3-2; 3/22/2015 // Streak: Lost 10 |
| Social Media | @IlliniSB  | #Illini | Facebook  | @IlliniSB  | YouTube  |
Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini softball team returns to Big Ten Conference play this weekend with their first conference road trip of the season to Minneapolis, Minn., to face league leader and 22nd-ranked Minnesota in a three-game series on April 8-10 in Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Game times for the three contests are set for 3 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively, and will be streamed on BTN Plus.
Friday's game time was originally set for 6 p.m., but with cold weather forecasted for the evening, the game was moved up to 3 p.m.
The Illini took a break from conference action with a midweek game against Illinois State on Tuesday, earning a 7-1 win over the Redbirds behind strong performances from juniors Jade Vecvanags and Nicole Evans and sophomore Annie Fleming.
Vecvanags (10-8) earned her 10th win of the season after holding ISU to just one run on four hits in six innings of action and did not allowed a Redbird hit for the first four and two-thirds innings of the game.
Evans and Fleming paced the Illini offense with Evans' equaling a team-high for hits in a game with a 4-for-4 effort at the dish to go along with two runs and two RBI, while Fleming went 3-for-3 on the night, knocking her first home run of the season and adding two RBI and a run.
Illinois owns a 18-15 advantage in the all-time series with the Gophers and is 7-6 against Minnesota away from home, but have not won against the Gophers since 2012 and will look to snap a 10-game losing streak this weekend.
Illini Notes
- In league play, the Illini are coming off a disappointing conference series loss to Rutgers last weekend. After run-ruling the Scarlet Knights, 8-0, in six innings on Friday night, the Illini dropped back-to-back contests to RU - a heartbreaking 10-5 loss on Saturday in eight innings and a 3-1 setback on Sunday that saw UI held to just one run and three hits in the series finale.
- The Illini opened Big Ten Conference action with a 2-1 series win over Nebraska on March 25-26 and ended an impressive streak for the Huskers as NU had not lost a Big Ten road series in the last three seasons until last weekend, with its last league road series lost coming in May of 2012.
- With 16 triples on the season, the Illini rank second in the NCAA with 0.46 three-baggers per game. Fleming leads the Illini, is the co-leader in the Big Ten and sits fifth in the NCAA with five on the season, while Bauch is right behind Fleming with three triples this season to rank in a tie for fifth in the conference. On the flip side, the Illini pitchers have not given up a three-bagger in 35 contests this season.
- The Illini's 16 triples sets a program record for triples in a season, passing the previous record of 15 in 2005.
- Fleming's five triples this season ranks third all-time in program history and have pushed her into the top-10 in career all-time rankings as she is tied for ninth with five career three-baggers.
- Fleming has been on fire as of late and is hitting at a .615 clip with a 1.231 sugging percentage in her last four games. She has collected eight hits - including three doubles, a triple and a home run - to go along with a team-high six RBI and 16 total bases, while also registering a 1.000 fielding percentage with six assists and four putouts.
- Junior Nicole Evans has knocked a team-high eight homers in 2016, wihile also registering the most RBIs with 35 and the most doubles with 12. In the Big Ten, Evans' numbers rank third in doubles, tied for fourth in homers and sixth in RBI.
- Sophomore Carly Thomas leads the Illini and ranks in a tie for fifth in the conference with 45 hits, while also sitting second on Orange and Blue with a .360 batting average, 29 runs, 11 doubles, five home runs, 22 RBI and 75 total bases. She has also totaled a team-high 15 mulitple-hit games.
- Thomas currently owns a 14-game reached base streak, while senior Remeny Perez currently owns the Illini's longest current hitting streak at nine games.
- The Illini lead the Big Ten Conference with 314 hits, 60 doubles, 16 triples and 496 total bases on the season, while also ranking in the top four in several other offensive categories, including sitting second in batting average (.328), sacrifice bunts (25) stolen bases (60), third in runs (208) and are fourth in slugging percentage (.518) and RBIs (180).
- Along with being one of the top offensive units in the Big Ten, the Illini also rank highly in the NCAA and sit in the top 50 in doubles per game (12th, 1.71), batting average (21st, .328), slugging percentage (22nd, .518), double plays per game (28th, 0.46), stolen bases per game (33rd, 1.71), scoring (39th, 5.94) and win-loss percentage (50th, .657).
- The Illini have been stealthy on the base paths and are 60-for-78 in stolen base attempts with senior Kylie Johnson pacing the Illini with a 14-for-15 mark. Along with Johnson, Illinois has five other players with at-least five stolen bases with senior Allie Bauch and sophomore Jill Nicklas second on the team with seven stolen bases.
- For the sixth time in program history and the first time since 2010, the Fighting Illini reached 20 wins in the month of March after earning their 20st and 21st victories of the season over Nebraska on March 26.
- The Illini's 11-0 five-inning win over East Carolina on March 6 marked an historic occasion for the softball program, as it was the 500th victory in the history of the program.
- The Illini, who have posted seven run-rule victories (Central Michigan, Penn, East Carolina, IUPUI, Seattle, Nebraska, Rutgers) this season, are outscoring their opponents 208-133 and are averaging just under six runs per game.
- In the Illini's season-opening tournament in Miami, Fla., UI registered a 5-1 win over then-No. 10 Florida State on Feb. 13, with the victory over the Seminoles marking the first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 4 Michigan on April 25, 2014 at Eichelberger Field. It was also just the seventh win against a top-10 foe and just the fourth win against a top-10 team not named Michigan.
Scouting the Gophers
After being on the road for the first eight weeks of the season, the No. 22 Gophers will open their home schedule this weekend against the Illini. Minnesota is 24-10 on the season and is tied with No. 1 Michigan for the lead in the conference standings with a 5-1 mark. The Gophers opened conference play with a sweep of Purdue, before taking the series against Northwestern, 2-1. Up until the series finale loss against the Wildcats, the Gophers had won seven-straight.
Offensively, the Gophers are led by Sam Macken, who leads the team with a .350 batting average, 42 hits, 15 doubles, six homers and 28 RBI. As a team, the Gophers have connected on 35 home runs with seven players with at least three home runs to their name. In the circle, Sara Groenewegen, Nikki Anderson, Kylie Stober and Hannah Evavold have combined for second lowest ERA in the B1G. Groenewegen owns an 18-4 record with an ERA of 1.87 with 15 complete games, while also leading the Big Ten and ranking third in the NCAA with 193 strikeouts this season. She is the active strikeout leader with 764 in her career.
Next Up
Illinois next returns to Eichelberger Field for a midweek doubleheader against Big Ten Conference rival Northwestern on Wednesday, April 13. First pitch for game one is slated for 5 p.m. CT, with game two to follow approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of game one. Both games will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network.
