| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
Florida Atlantic |
| Fri. 5:30 p.m. CT |
RHPÂ Snarskis (0-0, 4.91) |
RHP Sanderson (1-0, 0.00) |
| Sat. 3 p.m. CT |
LHP Fisher (0-0, 3.18) |
RHP Sandberg (0-0, 2.08) |
| Sun. 11 a.m. CT |
RHP Watson (1-0, 0.00) |
RHP Ruff (0-0, 5.79) |
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois baseball teams' early-season travels continue this weekend with a three-game series at Florida Atlantic beginning Friday night.Â
Illinois (3-0) is looking to carry momentum from an opening weekend sweep in North Carolina, which included a 5-2 win over No. 20 Wake Forest. The Illini did it with strong pitching, clean defense and timely hitting, while outscoring opponents 20-5 in the first three games. It is Illinois' fourth 3-0 start in the last 20 seasons and the first since the 2015 Big Ten championship team.Â
The pitching staff, which returned 98% of its starts and 97% of its wins from a year ago, left Wake Forest with a 1.33 ERA and .179 batting average against. The bullpen was brilliant, going 11 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 13.Â
Illinois will go with the same starting rotation as last weekend: RHP Quinn Snarskis, LHP Andy Fisher and RHP Cyrillo Watson. The trio combined to go 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings in their first starts of 2019.
Scott Beatty has the radio call for all three games on the Fighting Illini Sports Network and WDWS 1400-AM. FAU will provide a video stream ($7/24 hours or $11/month) at FAUSports.tv (register).
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
The Owls got off to a 3-0 start with an opening-weekend sweep over Cincinnati. FAU used two come-from-behind victories on Saturday and Sunday to close the weekend, before falling at Miami (Fla.) 11-3 on Wednesday.
Florida Atlantic was picked to finish third in the always strong Conference USA behind No. 21 Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech. Senior sidearm right-hander Zach Schneider, a second team All-American last year, was picked as the top relief pitcher in the conference's preseason poll.Â
NOTES
• Illinois' starting pitchers » 1-0, 2.35 ERA, 15.1 IP, 12 H, 4 BB, 16 K
• Illinois' bullpen » 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.2 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 13 K
• Opponent are 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position against Illinois this season.
• Illinois' true freshmen hit .296 (8-27) with six runs scored and four RBIs in the first three games of the season. The class was ranked No. 22 in the nation by D1Baseball.com and No. 24 by Baseball America, Illinois' first-ever top-25 recruit class. C Jacob Campbell (No. 25) and RHP Aidan Maldonado (No. 49) are both among the top 50 freshman in the nation according to Baseball America.
UP NEXT
Illinois has an intriguing four-game weekend at Coastal Carolina with matchups against No. 21 Coastal, Northeastern (twice) and Connecticut. Coastal is the in the top 25, Connecticut beat No. 4 Louisville two out of three games to start 2019 and Northeastern earned an at-large bid to last season's NCAA tournament.
