| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
GCU |
| Fri. 7:30 p.m. CT |
LHP Fisher (1-1, 4.50) |
RHP Mechals (3-0, 0.49) |
| Sat. 3 p.m. CT |
RHP Weber (0-0, 0.79) |
RHP Ohl (1-1, 7.43) |
| Sun. 2 p.m. CT |
RHP Watson (1-0, 3.12) |
RHP Scalzo (0-3, 9.42) |
SCHEDULE
Phoenix is in Mountain Standard Time and does not observe daylight savings. The first two games of the trip - Friday and Saturday - will have a local time one hour behind Central Time. The Sunday game, which comes after the state of Illinois observes daylight savings, will start at 2 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MST.
FRIDAY, 7:30 p.m. CT / 6:30 p.m. MST at Grand Canyon
SATURDAY, 3 p.m. CT / 2 p.m. MST at Grand Canyon
SUNDAY, 2 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. MST at Grand Canyon
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois baseball team visits Grand Canyon this weekend in its first trip to the state of Arizona since 2001 and its first games in the Phoenix area since a five-game series at Arizona State in 1958. Illinois looks to avenge a 2-1 series loss to GCU last season in Champaign.
Illinois (7-3) started the season 6-0 and was ranked No. 25 by D1Baseball last week before dropping three of four games against No. 20 Coastal Carolina (0-1), Connecticut (0-1) and Northeastern (1-1) last weekend. The Illini are currently ranked No. 30 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
The trip to Phoenix is Illinois' final road swing before the home opener March 15 against Southern Illinois.
Scott Beatty has the radio call for all three games on the Fighting Illini Sports Network and WDWS 1400-AM. Grand Canyon also offers a free live stream via its YouTube channel at GCU.tv.
ILLINOIS IN ARIZONA (5-3)
3/31/1958 at Arizona State (W, 10-9)
4/1/1958 at Arizona State (L, 10-4)
4/2/1958 at Arizona State (L, 6-0)
4/3/1958 at Arizona State (W, 3-1)
4/4/1958 at Arizona State (W, 12-8)
2/23/2001 vs. BYU (W, 7-1, at Tucson, Ariz.)
2/24/2001 vs. Washington (W, 10-9, at Tucson, Ariz.)
2/25/2001 vs. Kentucky (L, 6-2 at Tucson, Ariz.)
NOTES
• Zac Taylor leads Illinois' offense with a slash line of .366/.422/.707, three homers, five doubles and seven RBIs. Taylor has also stolen nine bases and has multiple hits in six of the first 10 games.
• Michael Massey, a Preseason All-American, has been unable to play defense this season due to an injury but has still started every • game at DH.
• Kellen Sarver leads Illinois in hitting at .385. Sarver has hit safely in six straight games and reached safely in the last seven games. He started the season in a battle for playing time at first base.
• Illinois has a fielding percentage of .980, slightly ahead of last year record-setting pace. Illinois set the single season program record for fielding percentage of .979 last season.
UP NEXT
Illinois hosts Southern Illinois next weekend, including the home opener Friday, March 15 at 4 p.m. CT.
