University of Illinois
Indiana State
No. 25 Illinois Travels Tuesday to 19-2 Indiana State
March 25, 2019 | Baseball
| Illinois (17-4) vs. Indiana State (19-2) | |
|---|---|
| When | March 26 at 5 p.m. CT |
| Where | Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Tickets | $6-$11 |
| Live Video | ESPN+ ($) |
| Radio | Fighting Illini Sports Network | WDWS AM-1400 |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Notes | Illinois |
| Shop | Online Store | Auctions | Publications |
| Social Media | @IlliniBaseball  | #Illini | @IlliniBaseball  | Facebook  | YouTube  |
| Probable Starting Pitchers | |||||||||
| Day | Illinois | Indiana State | |||||||
| Tue. 5 p.m. CT | RHP Maldonado (0-0, 4.32) | TBA | |||||||
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Two of the top teams in the region will face off Tuesday when the No. 25 Illinois baseball team travels to Indiana State. No two teams in the Midwest have won at a better rate than the Illini and Sycamores.
Illinois (17-4) is off to one of its best starts in program history and is ranked No. 25 by D1Baseball.com. The Illini have played the No. 23 schedule in the nation leading to an RPI of No. 5, behind only Oregon State, UCLA, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
Indiana State (19-2) has secured its best start in program history after winning 19 of its first 21 games. Like Illinois, Indiana State owns five series sweeps, including three straight wins over Rutgers last weekend.
The Sycamores are winning at an impressive clip thanks to excellent pitching, similar to Illinois. The Illini own a 3.34 team ERA with a .217 batting average against, while Indiana State has a 3.10 team ERA and .216 batting average against.
Tuesday will be the second meeting between the two clubs, as they got together in the fall for a scrimmage at Illinois Field. Illinois and Indiana State played to a 5-5 tie September 22 in a 13 1/3 inning game after Illinois led 5-0 through nine innings.
Dave Loane has the call on the Fighting Illini Sports Network. Indiana State will provide a video stream via ESPN+ (subscription required).
NOTES
• Illinois is back in the D1Baseball.com poll at No. 25 in the nation. The Illini were also No. 25 on Feb. 25.
• Illinois is currently ranked No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the same ranking as last week.
• Illinois is No. 5 in the RPI as of Monday morning with the No. 23 strength of schedule.
• Illinois and Indiana State played to a 5-5 tie September 22 at Illinois Field in a 13 1/3 inning game. Illinois' first nine pitchers combined to throw nine scoreless innings and allow only three hits. The Illini held a 5-0 lead through the first nine frames in front of about 40 scouts during the teams' scout day.
• Illinois has swept five of its first six weekend series. The Illini swept three of its first four for the first time since beginning to regularly play February games in 1982.
• Illinois is 16-2 on the weekends (Fri.-Sun.) and 1-2 during the week (Mon.-Thur.).
• Illinois started the season 14-3, tied for the best start through 17 games in the last 60 years (Started 16-1 in 1959). The 14-3 start tied for the sixth-best 17-game start in program history.
• Illinois is 16-0 when allowing six or fewer runs.
• Illinois is 15-0 when leading or tied after seven innings.
• Illinois hitters are reaching 45.1 percent of the time when leading off an inning (83/184).
• Illinois has a fielding percentage of .979, equal to last year's single-season record (.979).
• Illinois started the season 6-0 and was ranked No. 25 by D1Baseball before dropping three of four games against No. 20 Coastal Carolina (0-1), Connecticut (0-1) and Northeastern (1-1) to start March. The Illini have won 10 of 11 since the 1-3 weekend at Coastal.
• Hitting streaks: McDonald 7, Massey 6, Korte 5, Sarver 4, Comia 4, Taylor 3
• Reached base streaks: Sarver 9, McDonald 7, Korte 6, Massey 6, Taylor 5, Comia 4, Van Scoy 4, Campbell 3
UP NEXT
Illinois begins Big Ten play this weekend with a trip to Iowa (11-10).
