| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
Michigan |
| Fri. 2Â p.m. CT |
RHP Quinn Snarskis (5-1, 3.21) |
LHP Tommy Henry (7-1, 3.26) |
| Sat. 1 p.m. CT |
LHP Andy Fisher (4-2, 4.36) |
LHP Ben Dragani (6-0, 2.30) |
| Sun. 11 a.m. CT |
RHP Ty Weber (4-3, 3.58) |
RHP Karl Kauffmann (6-2, 2.80) |
SCHEDULE CHANGE
Friday's game has been moved to 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT due to weather in the forecast.
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois baseball team heads to Ann Arbor, Michigan, this weekend for a three-game series against Michigan. The Wolverines are tied for first in the Big Ten Conference with Minnesota.
Every game is important at this point for Illinois (27-16, 11-7 Big Ten), which is squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. Both D1baseball.com and Baseball America list the Illini as the second team out of the NCAA tournament as of Wednesday.
Illinois has lost three straight series to three projected tournament teams - Grand Canyon, Indiana and Ohio State. The Illini have fallen from No. 27 to No. 57 in the RPI with a 6-8 record against the top 50 and three games against top-50 Michigan on deck.
Michigan (31-14, 14-3 Big Ten) has won four straight and seven of its last 10 following a 20-game winning streak March 16-April 22. The Wolverines continue to accumulate wins but have been hindered in the RPI by a poor schedule, as 25 of their 31 wins have come against teams with RPIs of 149+. Illinois is the first team Michigan will play that is in the Big Ten's top five.
The Wolverines are projected to be an NCAA tournament team but still have work to do as a No. 3 seed, according to D1Baseball.
The Friday and Saturday games will be broadcast on BTN2Go and Sunday's game will be televised nationally on Big Ten Network. Dave Loane has the radio call for all three games on the Fighting Illini Sports Network and WDWS 1400-AM.
NOTES
• Five Illini are missing their graduation ceremonies this weekend: Jackson Douglas, Andy Fisher, Joey Gerber, Ryan Haff, Sean Leland
• Illinois is 103-139-2 all-time against Michigan, including 44-68 in Ann Arbor.
• Illinois is looking for its first series win in Ann Arbor since 2003.
• Illinois and Michigan split their last two series with Michigan winning 2-1 in Ann Arbor in 2017 and Illinois winning 2-1 in Champaign in 2016.
• Illinois is at No. 57 in the RPI. The Illini have been as high as No. 27 on April 16. Michigan is No. 44.
• Illinois is 11th in the nation in fielding percentage (.980). Michigan set the Big Ten fielding percentage record of .983 last season.
• Illinois has eight fewer errors than any other Big Ten team (Illinois 34, Minnesota 42). Michigan has the second-most errors in the Big Ten (64).
• Illinois is 27th in the nation home runs per game (1.12) and 35th in doubles per game (2.05).
• Illinois leads the Big Ten in homers (48) and is second in slugging (.441) behind Indiana (.445).
• Illinois is 19-1 when leading after four innings and 16-1 when leading after three.
• Illinois is 18-4 when scoring first.
• Illinois is 9-4 in one-run games.
• Illinois is 26-9 when scoring three or more runs.
• Ben Troike has reached base in all 43 games this season. His current reached base streak is 48 dating back to the final five games of last season, the longest active streak in the Big Ten.
• Bren Spillane's 18 home runs are the most by any Illini outside of the 1990s and tied for fourth all-time. Spillane is one home run away from tying Scott Spiezio (1992) and Forry Wells (1994) for No. 2 in Illinois single-season history.
• Bren Spillane entered the weekend as the Big Ten leader in batting average, slugging, OBP, OPS, homers (tied) and RBIs. He ranks second in doubles, third in runs, 11th in steals and 12th in hits.
• Bren Spillane's 134 total bases are five away from cracking the Illinois single-season top-10 list.
• Bren Spillane ranks among the NCAA leaders in nearly every major category: 1st slugging (.950), 1st OPS (1.464), 3rd HRs (18), 4th batting average (.418), 7th OBP (.514), 9th total bases (134), 29th RBIs (52), 36th doubles (17)
• Bren Spillane is currently slugging .950. The last NCAA player to finish a year with a slugging percentage over .950 was Rickie Weeks (Southern U.) .995 in 2002.
• Bren Spillane is on pace to break Illinois' single-season and career slugging percentage records.
• Bren Spillane is on pace to break the Big Ten record for slugging in a season (.913, Darrin Fletcher, Illinois, 1987).
• Bren Spillane ranks 16th in Illinois history in career batting average (.351) after entering the season with a career batting average below .300.
• Bren Spillane was named Perfect Game/Rawlings and D1Baseball Midseason National Player of the Year.
• Michael Massey has more assists without an error than any player in the nation (130).
• Ryan Thompson is t-40th in the nation and second in the Big Ten in wins (7-3).
• Joey Gerber, who has been up to 97 MPH, is t-4th in the nation with 13 saves. His 13 saves ranks second-most in an Illinois single season, one away from Tyler Jay's record of 14.
• Joey Gerber's 21 career saves are tied for third-best in Illini history (Tyler Jay 24, Jeff Richards 23, Jeff Innis 21).
UP NEXT
Illinois finishes the regular season May 17-19 at Illinois Field against Nebraska (22-24, 6-10 Big Ten).
